At the NRF Big Show this morning, there was a very informative session, The Sky Has Fallen: Now What?, which included an amazing panel of experts including JC Penney CEO and NRF Chairman Mike Ullman, Mark Zandi, Chief Economist for Moody’s Economy.com, Peter Solomon, Founder and Chairman of Peter J. Solomon Company and Chris Donnelly, Executive Partner in Accenture’s Retail Practice.  The panel explored the current retail economy in gruesome detail.  The consensus advice for retailers in 2009 from all of the panelists is to get into survival mode and “harbor cash” by focusing on costs and cutting or eliminating capital expenditures.

Since this is the Shop.org blog, what does this mean to online retailers?

We’ve seen that nearly two-thirds of retailers saw growth over the holiday season and it’s reasonable to say that online remains a bright spot in retail.  It’s hard to argue with such a wise, experienced, successful and smart group of people such as the panel.  But, I’m going to stick my neck out on this one and suggest that if there is one area worthy of investment that it’s e-commerce.  E-commerce investments aren’t nearly as expensive as those in physical stores.  Additionally, these investments will enhance retailers’ online capabilities and allow them to adapt to tomorrow’s customers that inevitably will be turning to the Internet for their shopping more than today’s customers.

To be clear, investments should be practical and retailers need to be carefully weigh the value of investing in optimizing their existing infrastructure rather than adding unproven new features and programs.

What do you think?

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