Finally, there are those retailers that bring radical levels of product design, channel control or consolidation to the table. Luxottica, for example, is estimated to control 40 to 60 percent of the global eyewear market, making it almost impossible to do business in the optical category without doing business with Luxottica. Retailers that so thoroughly control access and distribution within a category carry obvious value to consumers as a go-to destination.<\/p>\r\n

Other retailers create products that become so dominant in their categories that they become a magnet for associated products. Apple is one obvious example. If you make iPhone cases or any other tech accessory, chances are you\u2019d clamour to obtain space in an Apple store because Apple contributes radical levels of design to both its products and its stores.<\/p>\r\n

But what\u2019s particularly interesting is that, in most cases, the same retailers that create radical value for consumers also tend to create equally radical levels of value for the brands they partner with.<\/p>\r\n

In becoming a cultural flagbearer for the environment, Patagonia brings to its brand partners an army of loyal and highly engaged army of customers to whom they otherwise wouldn\u2019t have such easy access.<\/p>\r\n

Retailers like New York City-based Camp create elaborate in-store theatre and events for parents and children, but in doing so also provide hands-on and contextual opportunities for children to engage with their brand partners\u2019 products; opportunities that simply can\u2019t be delivered online or in other conventional toy stores.<\/p>\r\n

B8TA, arguably one of the most successful retail startups in the market, brings an entertaining and tightly curated selection of unique products to their customers \u2014 products not easily found elsewhere \u2014 but in doing so, also offer access to a robust data-set to their brand partners, providing them with intelligence and insights they wouldn\u2019t otherwise have access to.<\/p>\r\n

The Allure Store not only delivers an authoritative level of beauty expertise to their customers, they also act as a marketing fly-wheel for brands, producing radical levels of compelling product content and in-store activations, all of which would carry significant cost if brands were to produce it themselves.<\/p>\r\n

The common thread here is that these retailers are fundamentally changing the conversation they\u2019re having with their brand partners. For too long, we\u2019ve assumed the retailer-brand relationship to be transactional \u2014 purely based on volume, margin and incentives. But brands today are asking for more. They want market intelligence; they want (at the very least) co-ownership of the consumer relationship; they want their unique brand stories articulated and animated with excellence and their prices treated with integrity.<\/p>\r\n

Retailers that appreciate this shift and deliver radical value back to brands will do infinitely better in the long-term than those retailers who do nothing but extract value from the relationship. Because, in the end, retailers that do not become a source of radical value for brands will awaken one day to find their sales floors empty of branded goods.<\/p>\r\n

Doug Stephens is the founder of Retail Prophet and the author of three books on the future of retail, including the recently released \u2018Resurrecting Retail: The Future of Business in a Post-Pandemic World.\u2019<\/i><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bad retailers will never run out of customers. History suggests that there is always a segment of the consumer population willing to trade down if they believe they can save a dollar or two. Some retailers, like long-beleaguered J.C. Penney, have spent decades proving this thesis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[365],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-customer-experience"],"yoast_head":"\n