BY DAVID MALONEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
THE DC VELOCITY Q&A THOUGHTLEADERS
Chris Walton believes that the in-store experience is key to
brick and mortar’s survival. But in order to succeed, stores
will have to look very different than they do today.
AS E-COMMERCE CONTINUES TO CHIP AWAY AT BRICK-AND-MORTAR
retail sales, stores are going to have to reinvent themselves to keep customers coming in
their doors. To lure shoppers, savvy retailers are starting to focus on the total store experience, which may be even more important to a store’s future success than the products
themselves.
One person who continuously monitors the pulse of store-based retail is omnichannel
expert Chris Walton. The former vice president of merchandising for home furnishings at Target.com, Walton also ran Target’s “Store of the Future” project. Today, he
is the CEO and founder of Omni Talk, a blog centering on retail. He also partners on
an experimental technology lab, Third Haus, where new retail concepts are tested. He
spoke recently with DC VELOCITY Editorial Director David Maloney about the store of
the future and how it might look.
Q How have consumers’ shopping habits changed?
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INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS WALTON
The Store of the Future
