All retailers have been impacted by online — including specialty retailers. By definition, specialty retailers are not trying to be all things to all people, so their focus is an advantage. However, all retailers still face the same challenges, regardless of category – they must offer products shoppers want and deliver a store experience that satisfies customers.

I think there’s a fundamental error in the purpose of specialty stores in the article. This statement: “It might have once seemed normal to spend an entire afternoon to go to ten different stores in search of the perfect polka-dot shirt. That’s an absurd proposition for many shoppers today, who would rather spend ten minutes searching online for what they want.” is not what specialty stores are all about. Specialty stores are meant to have narrow and deep assortments designed for a particular lifestyle. So if all you’re looking for is a “polka dot shirt” a specialty store is not for you. If you’re looking for a shirt to wear on Casual Friday that can also be worn to a bar after work and that suits your taste and lifestyle, a specialty store is for you. Chico’s, at its peak, was exactly that. A place where women of a certain age and size could find some interesting options for their work and play lives. Most specialty store woes we’ve seen over the past couple of… Read more »

This study tells us there is no safe segment in retail that’s endearing itself in shoppers’ hearts – all are equally demonstrating some high-performance outliers while the majority are still failing to gain relevance in shoppers’ lives. Specialty retailers have one advantage – and that’s in their brand. Department stores are losing ground because shoppers would rather go directly to the brand’s own store to buy a product if possible than to visit a department store. Shoppers feel they get more value this way and something more unique. However, the article is right – too many specialty retailers have been complacent and failed to enhance their in-store experience from fear of spending too much money too quickly. Time waits for no one, however, and specialty retailers need to ramp up now or they won’t be around to reap the benefits later. Unlike dept stores, their store footprint lends itself to more rapid deployment of new digital experiences and they should have more agility in their organization to deliver on this, but only if they act… Read more »

Specialty retailers have been affected more by online disruption for two reasons. On the positive side of things, they’ve adapted their businesses more thoroughly than other retail verticals. The first segment of retail that diversified their business was specialty retail. The first segment of retail to offer click-and-collect functionality to integrate online and brick-and-mortar shopping was specialty retail. Because of their focus, they’re able to evolve faster to accommodate online disruption. On the negative side of things, they now have vast competition where there was minimal competition before.

Product is not the fix — really? At the end of the day, after the store renovations, after the mobile apps, after the gathering spaces and after the showrooming … money finally changes hands based on product. AND the quality of the experience along the path to purchase. But if the product isn’t right, then all the backflips along the path to purchase are for naught. Seems to me obsessing over the right product is the right thing to do. PLUS getting path to purchase right. Path to purchase is now trickier than finding a parking spot at the mall.

The challenge with specialty retail has been to remain relevant, trendy, interesting and up to the challenge of a changing marketplace. Specialty retail fundamentally is the best space to drive experiential retail, however it could quickly go south. As history has proven, once dominant specialty retailers such as Borders Book Shop, RadioShack, Circuit City, and others didn’t last too long once they lost touch with the changing customer preferences, and marketplace shifts.

With that said, specialty retail represents fertile ground for retailers, digital native brands and direct-to-consumer models. The key success factor is to keep the experience interesting. Digital native brands such as Casper, Warby Parker, Bonobos, Away, and others are focusing on the experiential side while driving new product innovations. We should expect the DTC specialty retail trend to continue with Nike’s House of Innovation and others whose store locations not only serve as a place to connect and to sell to customers but also drive new and interesting experiences.

The title “specialty” retail is the hint behind my answer, which is “it depends”. The nature of specialty retail is specializing in a particular product category and bringing to it, in the best cases, a point of view that is relevant to a significant population of consumers. As Paula states, the most important aspect of success is for the specialty retailer to sell what people want. Let’s make that a given for the purpose of this discussion. Then connecting effectively to the consumer creates relative success. And that’s where online disruption impacts specialty retail. The key to harnessing digital disruption is understanding what the customer naturally does, or wants to do, and then investing in digital solutions to ease that activity. Click and collect, shoppable Instagram posts by influencers, seamless shopping between online and in-store, and live chat are a few of the more positive online interventions which if leveraged by specialty retailers prove positive. And when not embraced, tend to prove negative. My view is that the specialty category of retailers will be the… Read more »

Too few specialty retailers have adapted to the challenges of the digital era. Many think their USP still lies in stocking loads of stuff – something that was true 20 years ago but is no longer valid in an online world where consumers have extensive choice at their fingertips.

In reality, the USP is now in curating and editing a range that is relevant and novel and selling this in an engaging and stimulating environment with strong customer service. Some retailers like REI get this, which is why they do so well. Sadly, many do not.

While I agree with the premise, I don’t agree with the prescription “innovations, from mobile apps to gathering spaces and showroom stores.” The only thing a brick-and-mortar retailer has going for it is its people. Fix the people, fix the customer experience. Ignore it and you end up burning through hedge fund money chasing the latest technology. Fix the people, fix the experience.

In a world where customers can have everything at once, specialty retailers are struggling to create an experience worth the trip (and the investment in full-price merchandise).

It’s more difficult for specialty retailers to get customers to download an app to engage with their brand through mobile than it is for, say… a department store with more comprehensive offerings. Because of this, specialty retailers need to focus on social media imagery and outreach to connect with new age consumers in meaningful ways.

Being a former specialty retailer, it pains me to say that specialty, in general, are the laggards of the retail world right now. Where’s the innovation? Why are they still relying on the next delivery to save themselves ala 1990? Why are there rotating leadership attendants? Why did you not knock off Bonobos? The list goes on and on while meantime, AMZN creates a new private clothing label every week.

Sad to say, but unless something happens pretty quick (and the closing anchor situation doesn’t help at all), this is a category that’s ripe to go either A) all on line MUCH smaller or B) to the Third Wave newcomers, who seem to get it.

I struggle to generalize about the differences between speciality retailers and broader line merchants when it comes to the “disruption” that has (rightly) impacted the industry. In our experience as well as our research, there are broadline merchants that do very well and there are those that fail and the speciality categories are quite the same. If anything, the specialty retailers have an advantage in that they are focused, or by definition, specialized.

The real issue in terms of the degree to which their business is disrupted or disrupting comes down to how focused on customers they are and how this translates into their brand relevance and customer experience.

Show me a retailer in any category that is focused on customers and I’d bet they are doing pretty well, regardless of who and what they are up against.

Too many specialty retailers are laggards when it comes to anything technology or consumer behavior driven. They tend to be product focused rather than consumer centric. They are often oblivious to the online disruption or evolution of marketing technology. They don’t know about the customer who never walks in their door.

They see only what’s immediately in front of them from their knowledge of what’s behind them.

Mom & pop shops with limited costs of business will do fine. But specialty chains without their ear to the ground are going to get run over by the train approaching from the other direction.