The Marco Retail Ecosystem
The diagram visualizes retail considerations from end to end. The center of the diagram describes customer actions and experiences within the ‘store’ environment, whether the environment is a physical store or a browser interface. This is the heart of retailing. Brand owners control the four quadrants of the ‘store’ – environment, operations, merchandising and R&D. Merchandising and R&D are increasingly important differentiators in customer-centered retailing.
Considerations in the outer two rings – marketing, communications and consumer dynamics – are generally outside the direct control of retail brand owners, requiring brand owners to adapt retail their strategy, planning and design initiatives to these externalities.
