The Professional Retail Store Maintenance Association (PRSM), the authoritative community on multi-site facilities management, released its annual review of the state of retail FM and key trends affecting U.S. retailers and suppliers, and it found five major trends driving the retail FM industry:
- The Facility Manager of the Future-Strategic Leaders: The FM of the future is no longer just tactical with trade skills; it will continue to involve the ability to be strategical, with operational and financial impacts. They will manage many complex systems with various data that must be analyzed, sorted and interpreted to make significant ROI on every investment. Training and recruiting future FMs is critical to the industry.
- Relationships Sell: 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 — Digital-Driven Decision-Making: FMs will need to grasp firmly the Internet of Things (IoT), cybersecurity, the digital ceiling, augmented and virtual reality and nanotechnology to deliver state-of-the-art facilities for their occupants. Technology that delivers a consistent and proven ROI will continue to impact FM.
- The Regulatory Tidal Wave is Coming: During the last year, there have been an increasing number of new regulations and standards added to already existing ones. Experts believe that the regulatory tidal wave will only continue. Federal regulations can have the most impact on FM, incurring millions of dollars of loss across the nation, impacting thousands of retailers. Keeping up on current standards will be crucial for FM.
- The Evolution of the Shopping Environment: In just the last couple of decades, the retail landscape has progressed from hundreds of indoor shopping malls into highly specialized, trending stores, pop-ups, outlet centers and high-end malls. Retailers are relying on FMs to play a center role in transforming the retail sphere, making it attractive to customers to shop in the physical store, not just buying items online.
To see the full trends report, please click here.
