Retail Execs ID Four Major Challenges To Growth

Success in retail can come in many forms, but most merchants face similar challenges on their ways up and down the sliding scales of revenue and profitability. In a new study, retail executives identified four of the most pressing obstacles to continued growth — with familiar faces all over the place.

Demandware announced on Tuesday (April 5) the findings of its most recent report, “Finding Retail Growth: A View from the Corner Office,” from an Economist Intelligence Unit survey, which picked the brains of 300 retail executives around the globe on what they considered the most pressing challenges facing modern retail. In no particular order, the rate of globalization, increased security threats, evolving consumer preferences and the need to compete with worldwide online marketplaces were named as the most common issues confounding the top minds in retail.

While there are certainly many more obstacles in retail than these four, Demandware also identified what the most innovative brands are doing to overcome all they confront. So-called “high performers” localize their energies into three main categories — geographic expansion, strategic partnerships and new stores and formats — to get themselves over the growth hump. If there’s any ace in the hole these high performers possess, it might be a willingness to go big on tech budgets, as 82 percent of these retailers indicated plans to spend more on tech compared to just 56 percent among so-called “low performers.”

Rob Garf, vice president of industry strategy and insights for Demandware, explained that new trends in the retail space require a flexibility of the merchants operating within them.

“This data tell us that the democratization of retail — with seemingly unlimited consumer access and control — has triggered the next wave of growth for those that adapt and change,” Garf said in a statement. “Retailers can no longer rely on more store locations and larger footprints for growth; they must embrace the reality of reaching customers wherever, whenever and however they demand.”