The Retail Store of the Future

Customer service goes 24/7

It's always been the case that a store can live or die by the quality of its customer service, but the rise of e-commerce options has changed the consumer's expectation of what good service is.

"The expectation of the consumer today is they can buy the product they want at the time they want it and get the information they need whenever they need it," Burke said.

No, that doesn't mean retailers must stay in their shops 24 hours a day, but it does require stores to start thinking outside the box. For starters, more retailers may begin to follow the example of such companies as Best Buy(BBY), which has launched a special Twitter account called the Twelpforce to answer customer questions and resolve complaints at all hours of the day.

Then there's the example of Ralph Lauren, which has come up with an innovative way to meet customer demands even after store hours. In 2007, the company debuted a touch-screen window at one of its London locations so consumers can literally window shop by browsing through products displayed on the screen and reserving items they want. In this way, customers can keep shopping even after the store's staff has gone home.

One German company is working on a way to make the interactive shop window a feature that can be used at other stores as well.

Focusing more on exclusivity
Ultimately, even if retailers make their bricks-and-mortar stores into exciting destinations and provide quality customer service, all this guarantees is that customers will choose to stop by the store to waste a few minutes before going elsewhere. To get customers to buy in the store rather than look for the same product elsewhere online, stores may need to begin offering items unique to the physical store.

"More than ever before, stores, and the products they sell, must offer consumers a status story," said Henry Mason, head of research and analysis at Trendwatching.com, a firm that analyzes global consumer trends. This could mean private-label options that aren't available elsewhere, or a jazzed-up version of an existing online product that can only be found in the store. In this way, retailers not only provide an added incentive for consumers to make their way to the store, but any consumer who buys these products becomes a walking advertisement for the bricks-and-mortar store.

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