Bringing stores to shoppers – not shoppers to stores

The way we think about retail location is dominated by the idea that the primary role of the retail store or the retail centre is to attract the shopper to the location. An alternative paradigm exists of taking retailing to where there are people either at home or in crowds and this is likely to become more important for a number of reasons. Just because a crowd exists does not mean that the people in it can be easily converted to being shoppers. A number of factors will determine the likely levels of sales: the complementarity of the merchandise with the primary activity being followed by the crowd; the ease with which they can exit from that activity; the associated issue of how much time they perceive is available to them; and the level of crowding. Discusses two different examples of taking shops to “crowds”: the development of airport shopping and vending machines. Develops a model suggesting how retail sales might depend on the factors affecting whether the members of the crowd become shoppers.