Hudson's Bay CEO Jerry Storch advocates omnichanel over e-commerce

By

Dani Greene

Published
May 23, 2016

Jerry Storch, CEO of the Hudson's Bay Company, appearing at the next-gen conference Shoptalk held in Las Vegas May15-18, said that brick-and-mortar remains relevant with over 90% of retail sales occurring in stores. Storch also emphasized that integration between brick-and-mortar and the Internet is key: “All companies will be Internet companies or they won’t be companies at all.”
 
Storch pointed out that successful e-commerce companies, including Amazon and Warby Parker, are incorporating brick-and-mortar stores for customers to be able to interact with tangible items before making a purchase. However, for certain digitized items, like movies and music, the Internet will be the dominant mode of distribution.

 
He believes that companies need to adopt an omnichannel model to adapt to shifting retail models as increasing numbers of customers turn to the Internet while shopping, be it for more information, to compare prices, read reviews or make a purchase.

The huge retail technology Shoptalk conference brought together about 400 top company execs, several venture capitalists, start-ups, and other key figures, drawing over 3,000 attendees to talk about the intersection of technology and retail.

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Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) manages Saks, Hudson’s Bay, Lord & Taylor, Gilt, Saks Off 5th, Galeria Kaufhof, Galeria Inno, Find @ Lord & Taylor, Home Outfitters, and Sportarena, as well as HBC Digital. Jerry Storch, CEO of HBC, served as Chairman and CEO of Toys"R"Us, Inc. before joining HBC, where he led a resurgence of the business, transforming the company into a $13 billion global retailer. Storch also led the expansion of the company’s ecommerce business to over $1 billion.