by Brianna Crandall — October 3, 2016 — The Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM), the authority on retail, multi-site facilities management, has just released its annual review of the state of retail FM and key trends impacting the nation’s leading retailers and suppliers.
The report outlines five major trends driving the retail FM industry:
- The Facility Manager (FM) of the Future: The FM of the future is no longer a skilled tradesperson. They will manage multiple complex systems generating big data that must be analyzed, sorted and interpreted to ensure maximum return on investment (ROI) on every facilities investment. Training and recruiting future FMs is critical to the industry.
- Relationship Selling: The trend in successful retail FM marketing and sales is built around understanding retail FM needs, psychology, vertical markets, and establishing relationships, using case studies and testimonials, while delivering value — not selling products and services.
- Technology — Data Driven Decisions: The Internet of Things (IoT), cybersecurity, the digital ceiling, augmented and virtual reality, and nanotechnology are all driving retail facility management. Technology that delivers a proven ROI will continue to impact FM.
- The Regulatory Tidal Wave: Federal regulations can have the most impact on FM. However, new local, state and regional laws can cost millions and create a regulatory tidal wave that washes across the nation impacting thousands of retailers.
- The Evolution of the Shopping Environment: During the last two decades the retail landscape has evolved from hundreds of indoor shopping malls into highly specialized, trending stores, pop-ups, outlet centers and high-end malls. Retailers are depending upon the FM to play a key role in transforming the retail environment, making it attractive to customers and enticing them to shop in physical stores instead of online.
Download the 2017 PRSM Trends Report to learn more about how changes in the retail industry are impacting retail facilities management today.
PRSM has just released its annual review of the state of retail FM and key trends impacting the nation’s leading retailers and suppliers.
The Trends Report was released at the PRSM Association Mid-Year Conference and will be a topic of discussion at the 2016 PRSM Canadian events in October. Held each fall, these events provide strategic direction and tactical guidance for the retail industry, including retail facilities professionals. In April, the PRSM2017 National Conference will be held in Dallas, Texas, and will host the largest annual gathering of retail FM professionals, says the organization.
