Retailers Face Increasingly Sophisticated Online Competition

BURLINGAME, Calif. -- Within the next eight years, retailers will face a rash of Web-based competitors “that will be pretty capable,” Tom Rubel, president of TNS Retail Forward, Columbus, Ohio, said yesterday at “Retailing 2015: New Frontiers,” a conference sponsored by his company. That new competition will require retailers to develop a multi-channel strategy “that encompasses new ways to reach consumers in-store, including a significant amount of infrastructure for in-store media. In the future, shopping will be a more immersive experience with a greater level of accountability.” For suppliers, the next eight years will be all about viability, Rubel said -- “the ability to see if your programs are being executed at store level, with fewer out-of-stocks because they will have a better idea of what consumers want combined with the ability to do more on a virtual basis.” -- Elliot Zwiebach