Jonathan Marek

RSR Research: Are We Beginning the Next Golden Age of Retail?

August 19, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
We sit today, in the second half of the first year of the 21st century's second decade, possibly on the cusp of a new golden age of retail. It seems as though surviving retailers are starting to pick up the customer's cadence and picking and choosing the best from retailing's finest hours. Are you encouraged that retail is heading in a healthier direction?      [more...]

I agree with Jesse. There have been continuous innovations in retail for the past 100 years, at least. I don't buy the "golden age" language any more than the idea that the Great Recession (or the late '90s internet boom before it) will "kill" retail as we know it.

Confident consumer spending and booming home prices? That's the recipe for Pottery Barn growth. An economic downturn? It's time for dollar stores and for own-brand innovation. Innovation in mobile devices that could change the store landscape? Enter Best Buy (and others).

Changes in the retail landscape are constant, permanent, and never stop building a better world for consumers.