MSource sells its clients’ products into grocery store chains, convenience stores, and other types of retail.
Have you ever wondered how these organizations — from large, national grocery store chains, to local-owned specialty stores — make buying decisions?
- What issues are these brick and mortar retailers (as well as omni-channel retailers who also have e-commerce operations) dealing with in a rapidly evolving retail environment?
- How are new issues like home delivery, ordering online and picking up in the store (click and collect), and even cashier-less stores going to affect the industry?
- What is likely to keep changing, and what elements are likely to stay the same?
Remember that old phrase “location, location, location?”
As eCommerce continues its rapid increase, we understand the important role that physical stores and high-traffic locations, like shopping malls, will continue to play long into the future. We know how retail works; how large chains — including grocery and drug stores, mass merchants and specialty retailers — are structured and how they make buying decisions.
We also understand how retailers and restaurants are developing the online and offline services consumers are looking for. This convergence of online and offline shopping is often known as omni-channel. Examples of this are developments like Buy Online, Pick-up in Store (BOPIS, also known as Click and Collect), and same-day — and even one-hour — home delivery. Retailers and restaurants are quickly learning how consumers raised in the age of Amazon prefer to purchase products.
MSource understands the critical importance of physical location in the growth strategies of both product brands seeking to sell into retailers, as well as retailers and restaurants looking to expand into the right locations.
- Shopping Malls
Even as eCommerce continues its rapid growth, marquee, high-traffic shopping malls remain viable and will continue to be so in the future. Online consumer brands like Warby Parker (eyeglasses), Casper (mattresses), Harry’s Razors and many others have realized they need a physical store presence to build their brands (We’ve even written a book on the topic, “The Future of Omni-Channel Retail”). However, picking the right markets, the right malls and locations within them, and negotiating the best rent is a complex process. We’ve been there before, and can help you speed up this process and reduce your risk in leasing the right space for your concept. We’ve worked with all the leading shopping mall developers: Westfield, Simon, Taubman and General Growth Properties, to name a few. We understand how they make their leasing and merchandising decisions and we have relationships with their decision-makers.
- College Retail
College bookstores and on-campus convenience stores are a large market. Besides the foodservice aspect described here, most colleges and universities operate their own retail stores. These are for books, stationary, college logo apparel, sports equipment, and the like, as well as convenience foods and beverages. Some colleges operate these stores themselves, while others outsource them to businesses like Barnes and Noble and Follett. If you’ve ever wondered how college stores operate and how to access them for your products, we can help.
- Other Retail
As mentioned above, we’ve experience with many other types of retail channels and store types. We’ve sold into and leased space for travel retailers in airports and highway travel venues. We’ve also sold into major retail store chains – grocery, drug and convenience store chains. We can help you reach these store buyers, shorten your lead time, and reduce your risk.
