December 01, 2014 Opinion piece
After a prolonged period of industry commentators advising retailers on the need to cut down on their total floor space, it seems that the pendulum is swinging back slightly towards a need for increased space again.
Which is not to say that retailers are expecting increased footfall as a result; the new race for space is all about dark stores, with some of the major supermarkets looking to double their amount of dark store floor-space in 2014.
So what is a dark store? Essentially they are simply areas assigned to the fulfilment of online orders, and in that respect are not entirely dissimilar to any other online retail warehouse. The key difference is that they are specifically designed to cover the fulfilment of online groceries, so the requirements for product preparation, storage and distribution vary from that of other product types.
The concept of a dark store itself is nothing particularly new; the first actually opened in the UK several years ago, but they seem set to become a key battleground in 2014 as customer behaviour continues to shift further towards patterns that require retailers across all sectors to provide a seamless cross-channel experience.
The main stumbling block for the growth of the online groceries sector has tended to be customer trust in the quality of any fresh produce fulfilled from an online warehouse, and cultivating a successful image in that area could prove to be a key differentiator for the supermarkets.
What is your opinion on dark stores, how do you think they will evolve? Join the conversation @gs1uk or on LinkedIn.