There are various issues associated with retailing. Examples include leadership, overhead cost, labor, regulations, and customer buying trends among others. These factors pose challenges to retailers and act as determinants for perseverance and success. This paper will summarize and analyze two recent articles, which highlight retailing issues and then give a reflection on the factors regarding their compliance with the coursework. The articles that will be analyzed include RSMUS, “Top Trends and Issues for Retail in 2019: From Labor to Brand, here are the Issues to Watch in Retail” Published on January 7, 2019 and Petro Greg, “10 Predictions for Retail in 2019”, published on the Forbes Magazine on Jan 4, 2019.

The RSMUS discusses some of the local transformations that are likely to occur in 2019. According to the article, there are specific challenges that retailers are likely to face in 2019 going forward. Besides, they are likely to unearth new opportunities due to the evolving purchasing behavior of the consumers. One of the issues identified in the article is labor. According to RSMUS, retailers are likely to continue facing labor challenges due to competition from other sectors and a low employment rate that has been existing for an extended period now. Additionally, the article argues that retailers are likely to venture into technology to augment the pool of labor. For instance, the article predicts that retailers are expected to engage in cashier fewer transactions where customers will purchase products without interacting without paying through the counter. In this way, the article argues that more personnel will be dispatched to the sales department to improve the experience of shoppers. Some of the technologies identified in the article include facial recognition and finger biometrics. Another factor is the regulatory environment which includes rules, regulations and government tariffs. According to the article government tariffs will most likely lead to increased prices of products forcing retailers to device proper ways of managing their supply chain to reduce the effect of government tariffs. The article predicts the emergence of new strategies to control the market. Besides, it argues that consumer trends will change because they will have to make decisions to accommodate price changes effected by new tariffs and price wars. According to the article, ethical standards and labelling of food products will focus on food retail. Moreover, traceability will be enhanced by a technology involving the blockchain, which will shorten response time. The article encourages retailers to work with suppliers to face the challenges together. However, it cautions them that this may take an extended period. The fourth issue identified by the article is customers’ behavior of buying. The article argues that the buying trend will evolve continuously due to generational change. Notably, the article states that generation Z is tech savvy and will force retailers to resort to online platforms to connect with the customers.

Another article by Petro provides an overview of the issues that retailers should anticipate in 2019 and the coming years (para. 1). One of the issues identified in the article is consumer trends. According to the article, consumer trends are likely to change due to technological evolution. The article argues that sales and marketing trends will have to be personalized due to the private nature of the new crop of consumers consisting of new generation individuals. The article refers to this form of marketing as “zero party data” (para. 3). Another issue identified by Petro is the growth of the digitally oriented retail business. According to the article, digital companies will outgrow the traditional business by a more significant margin. This is attributed to their ability to meet consumer needs and preferences by interacting with them through various online platforms. The third issue in the article is the regulations. According to the article, the government imposed tariffs especially on imports will impact the retail industry may experience the increased cost of products which may be passed on to the consumers. The article argues that this decision will depend on retailers to choose the products they feel right to increase cost. Consequently, retailers may exit particular categories of products especially when they cannot generate profit. Another issue identified is the flocking of luxury brands by the millennials. According to the article, generation Z and the millennials will make about 45% of the target retail market for luxury products.

There are specific issues identified by both common articles. For instance, RSMUS (para 2) argues that retailers are most likely to shift towards technological approaches due to the changing consumer trends. Besides, it relates future price increase in the industry to tariffs imposed by the government on imports and other regulations. Similarly, Petro (para. 3), states that the retail sector is likely to experience a change in trends such as consumer preferences and marketing and promotion due to technological evolution. Additionally, it concurs with the argument that business tariffs will determine prices retail industry. Another issue that the articles agree on is the fact that labor trends are likely to change because of the technologically oriented market structure. These articles are in agreement with Laseter and Elliot (12), who argue that labor trends are likely to change due to technological changes such as the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Moreover, the author states that market trends are likely to change due to a shift in preference of the consumers, which will mainly be composed of millennials.

Generally, the common issues that are most likely to be experienced in the retail industry are associated with technological evolution and change in consumer preferences as generation Z and Millennials take a more significant share of the potential retail market. Besides, government tariffs and regulations are likely create an increase in product prices, which will be shifted on the consumer (Dzever et al., 6). Retailers need to device strategies to handle such challenges to ensure continuity.

Works Cited

RSMUS, “Top Trends and Issues for Retail in 2019: From Labor to Brand, here are the Issues to Watch in Retail” January 7, 2019. Accessed on March 18^th, 2019 from https://rsmus.com/what-we-do/industries/consumer-products/retail/top-trends-and-issues-for-retail-in-2019.html

Petro Greg, “10 Predictions for Retail in 2019”, Forbes Magazine, Jan 4, 2019. Accessed on March 18^th, 2019 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregpetro/2019/01/04/10-predictions-for-retail-in-2019/#595ad4a35f13

Dzever, Sam, Bhumika Gupta, and Poonam Garg. Analysing the relationship between social media analytics practices, customer engagement, and business performance in the Indian retail industry. No. has-01874552. 2018.

Laseter, Timothy M., and Elliot Rabinovich. Internet retail operations: integrating theory and practice for managers. CRC Press, 2016.