Simon Thompson, director of global business solutions, Esri, asks retailers to raise the bar and start reflecting local flavors and themes in the stores they open. “On my last drive across Kansas, it wasn’t the wheat fields or the flatness that amazed me but the repetitive retail landscape,” Thompson explains. “It seemed that every small town was a clone of the one I had just left—the same restaurant chains, grocers, drugstores, and general merchants.” Thompson asks those with an opinion to share their insight on the current “one size fits all” retail landscape via Spatial Roundtable, a forum sponsored by Esri to discuss important topics. Can retailers use location intelligence through geographic information system (GIS) technology and data to discover the differences between each town and city? Can we use this information to give these communities what they need to satisfy customer demand, create vibrant communities, and thrive? Or do we give in to, as Thompson describes it, “the Wicked Witch of the Great Recession”? Read More
