Shifting Power Balance Between Brands And Retailers As Brands Diversity Channels

For decades, brands and traditional retailers have been joined at the hip, but that mutual dependency is starting to change. Consumers are purchasing ever more online: in 2016 and for the first time more shoppers (51 percent) made purchases online, up from 48 percent a year earlier (ComScore). And the range is extending, with e-commerce pushing into previously largely untouched categories, such as groceries and prestige. Some retail stores are having to scale back – this week Sears Holdings announced it would close nearly 150 Kmart and Sears outlets, while Macy’s plans to shut 68 stores by the middle of 2017, but for the most part, brands seem indifferent. Brands are increasingly investing to reach consumers wherever they can find them. "Ultimately, we don’t care how or where consumers get our products," said Sarah Ortman, National Associate Director at Clorox. "We just want to be where they are." As brands diversity their consumer contact points and make ever more sales in non-conventional channels, prospects for traditional stores continue to decline. [Image credit © Hybrid Images]