As the well-worn proverb says, “necessity is the mother of invention,” the pandemic hit retail spaces particularly hard, pushing consumers to use ecommerce more as social and safety protocols increased. While there may be more stores open now, shoppers have found that the convenience and speed when ordering items online is invaluable even long after the protocols have gone. 

To take advantage of this, retailers have turned parts or all of their spaces into “dark stores,” which act much the same way a warehouse or fulfillment center would. The opportunity then arises for retailers to not only leverage a wealth of direct consumer data from these types of transactions, but also provide greater personalization and localization services. This itself sets off a bevy of offers and angles from which to engage their customers. The resources here discuss the dark store trend and how it will affect the future of retailing.