2018 was an interesting and exciting year in retail. The overall market was strong, unemployment was low, we did not see as many store closings as in previous years. Traditional malls continued to spiral while new live-play-work-shop experiential shopping concepts took off, shopping channels continued to blend with online and in-store availability and access becoming the expectation for consumers. Speaking of channel conversion, distribution channels for products and marketing channels for brand messaging and product information are quickly converging. Retailers are finding new, creative ways to stimulate purchase intent and convert it into sales across all channels.
