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Are Retailers Boring the Heck out of Shoppers?

Written by Tom Ryan

Photo: iStock / vectorikart

A recent Wall Street Journal article explored “how shopping got so boring” and placed the blame for a lack of retail innovation on fallout from the pandemic and retailers playing it too safe. Reasons given for the apparent bland offerings at retail included:
  • Vendors in the early stages of the pandemic shifted resources away from innovation amid significant uncertainty with some focusing on addressing shortages;
  • Pandemic-driven supply chain disruption eventually led to widespread excess inventories in the marketplace; 
  • Remote workplaces stifled collaboration and brainstorming for new ideas;
  • Inflationary pressures and the potential downturn led retailers to order conservatively and vendors to emphasize safer bets.
The Journal said that retailers recognize new items give shoppers a reason to buy, but it takes “months, if not years” to develop products. Amanda Mull, writing for The Atlantic, blames the ”sameness” seen in fashion on industry consolidation, making it more challenging for smaller, creative designers to compete. The success of fast-fashion, she said, has also led the industry to rely more on data and trend forecasting that lead to safer, algorithm-driven offerings at the expense of bold designs. Shawn Grain Carter, a professor of fashion business management at the Fashion Institute of Technology, told The Atlantic, “The days of the designer saying, ‘Look, this is what I’ve done, and this is your choice or forget about it’ -  those days have gone.” Many retailers coming out of the holiday quarter delivered cautious guidance for 2023 and stressed inventory discipline and expense controls amid a possible downturn. Target and Urban Outfitters were among the retailers touting the benefits of newness. Nordstrom said it plans to maintain increased reserves against buy plans to be opportunistic while planning for inventory turns to increase to at least 10 percent over 2022 to drive newness and flow. “Our strength is around newness and inspiring our customers to try something new and introduce new brands to them. We've had a lot of success over the years. And it's not necessarily exclusive products, but it's brands that aren't up and aren't widely distributed,” Erik Nordstrom, CEO, told analysts on the company’s fourth-quarter call.

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