Book Review: The Retail Revival

Over the Christmas break one of the books I read was “The Retail Revival” (ISBN 978-1-118-48979-6) by Doug Stephens a futurist in retailing from North America. The book is published by Wiley. The title is self explanatory, this book looks at the future of retailing in a changing world. It is upbeat, but points out that the “middle” will disappear quickly and no business can be average.

It promotes the idea, which I agree with, in that two styles of business will prosper. The one type of business will be the convenience business that revolves around reliable and quick service via online sales. The second type of business will be the ones that give the consumer a “remarkable experience” in store. Doug stresses that a remarkable experience is not a strategy, it is a result of getting 100’s of things right for the customer.

This book is well worth the read and starts a thinking process about the future.