The Evolution of Retail: "The Store Is Not a Channel, But an Operating System"
- reading time: 2 minutes
by Giacomo Guida - Senior Business Consultant Aviesse
A paradigm shift emerges from the Retail Summit 2025.
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The Marketing and Retail Summit 2025 highlighted a structural transformation. The store is no longer the end point of the customer journey. It is the central platform of retail architecture. The combination of e-commerce maturity, cost pressures, and the need for first-party data is shifting the industry's focus toward physical retail.
Ecommerce has reached saturation point in many categories . According to Deloitte, customer acquisition costs have increased 60% in the last four years. Online margins are being squeezed by logistics, returns, and last-mile costs, which have grown 20% year over year. Every percentage point of additional growth generates diminishing returns. The return to physical retail is an economic choice, not a behavioral phenomenon.
Why it is strategic
The store performs 4 functions that no other asset in the retail ecosystem is able to replicate with the same efficiency.
First. It's the omnichannel infrastructure. 45% of customers use hybrid formats such as pickup, returns, or ship from store. Without integration between inventory, transaction systems, and processes, omnichannel generates cost rather than value.
Second, it's the primary source of first-party data. McKinsey estimates that integrating physical and digital data increases conversion by 30% and reduces costs by 20% on average. In the post-cookie era, in-store data collection becomes a critical competitive asset.
Third, it's a high-margin media center. Retail media is growing globally at 22% annually and generating margins exceeding 60%. The combination of physical traffic and proprietary audiences creates a media inventory with immediate and measurable returns.
Fourth, it's a distributed microfulfillment center. Proximity reduces last-mile costs, increases delivery speed, and improves omnichannel profitability.
The disruption lies in the fact that the store is not a channel but an operating system . The strategic lever lies not in adopting new technologies, but in building an architecture capable of orchestrating omnichannel, data, and media. Models that don't integrate these dimensions don't generate sustainable value. The systemic risk is remaining exposed to rising costs and eroding margins.
My experience
In complex environments like GameStop, the store already functioned as a platform. Twenty percent of digital traffic converted in-store. Value-added services were placed in the highest visibility areas to trigger immediate conversion and capture unintended traffic from the shopping mall. The goal was to maximize value per square meter through services, data, assisted flows, and media inventory dedicated to partners.
In recent years, several leading consumer electronics companies have introduced services such as repairs, trade-in, and advanced support. These segments are characterized by growing demand and margins exceeding 50%. The brands' credibility and territorial reach could have led to a dominant position. The fact that these services have not become strategic levers indicates a limitation of the model. The missing lever is not the service itself, but the system's ability to capture its value. When a service fails to scale despite having the ideal conditions to do so, the constraint lies in the structure, not the demand.
My vision
Future competition will be between architectures, not channels. Retailers that integrate omnichannel, data, and media into a single operating system will build a scalable competitive advantage. Others will remain exposed to cost volatility and margin compression.
Customer experience must become an industrialized process. The underestimated economic lever is the ability of staff to generate insights, drive assisted conversions, and increase the service attach rate. The difference between perceived value and unwanted upselling depends on the quality of the consulting process.
The thesis is straightforward. Services don't fail because of a lack of interest. They fail when they aren't designed as part of the operating model.
What to do right away
First, map the store's assets as a platform: spaces, data, media inventory, and processes.
Second, integrate systems and information flows between physical and digital. Evidence shows a 15% increase in assisted conversion.
Third. Define services as responses to the customer's concrete economic needs.
Fourth. Standardize the customer experience into an end-to-end process.
Fifth. Measure real value through incremental KPIs: conversions, NPS, and increases generated by media and services.
Sixth. Build a governance structure capable of orchestrating the omnichannel architecture in a unified manner.
The store isn't a destination. It's the economic engine of retail. The competitive edge in the coming years will be determined by the ability to transform it into a platform.
Giacomo Guida - Executive Consultant | C-Level Strategy | Business Growth & Retail Transformation
Sources:
Deloitte Digital – Global Consumer Insights (2024)
McKinsey – The Future of Last Mile (2024)
McKinsey Analytics – Retail Omnichannel Performance (2023–2025)
eMarketer – Global Retail Media Forecast (2025)
Bain & Company – Assisted Selling Transformation (2024)
Marketing and Retail Summit 2025, Mark Up
Official presentations from retailers and consumer electronics leaders at MRSummit 2025