Editor's note: Catching the consumers’ eye

Retail is not dead; boring retail is dead.

That is what industry guru, Mack Elevation Forum founder and DSN partner Dan Mack told a packed house at the 19th annual Drug Store News Industry Issues Summit at New York City’s Plaza Hotel in late November. Moderating a panel of executives from such top retailers as CVS Pharmacy, Target, Walmart, Walgreens and Sam’s Club, Mack challenged them to explain to the audience what they were doing to remain relevant.

Mack is right on. If you do not start thinking outside the box now. your business will not survive in an increasingly complicated and competitive retail marketplace. Perhaps, more than ever before, traditional retailers must put their thinking caps on and develop merchandising and marketing strategies that will intrigue, yes, even seduce, consumers enough to stop staring at their computer screens and get into the car to go shopping.

To put it another way, the days of putting products on store shelves in a neat and orderly fashion, offering good — maybe even great prices and watching products fly into shopping carts is long over.

Do I need to make this point again?

With digital companies breathing down the necks of traditional merchants, and consumers collectively developing an acute case of attention deficient disorder spurred on by the likes of Amazon and others, now is the time for retailers to implement strategies that make their stores more and more interesting for consumers to shop. Increasingly, that means doing more than just offering products to consumers. As Mack and some of his panelists discussed, retailers, with the help of their suppliers, must develop programs that make consumers want — not necessarily need — to visit their retail chains.

That can mean many things. Some are as simple as in-store lighting, equipment and displays that make it easier for consumers to shop. Others are offering services to shoppers that encourage them to visit the store for something completely out of the ordinary. A third is to make the store a sort of neighborhood meeting place, where people can spend time chatting with each other.

Notice I am not talking about price points, product assortment and checkout speed. Those factors should all be accounted for at this point — if you are running your chain correctly. Now it is time to focus on what makes shoppers happy and eager to visit a store.

Trust me, if you do not do it, the guy down the street will. It is just a question of who wins over the consumer first and best.