Casper co-founder and CEO Philip Krim thinks the retail apocalypse will discriminate between good and bad.
“There’s certainly not a death of retail, there’s just a death of bad retail,” Krim told the Wall Street Journal in a recent interview. His definition of bad retail is a store experience where customers aren’t enjoying themselves.
His prime example? Most mattress stores.
“Before Casper came along, you had to go to bad retail [to buy a mattress] and you had to deal with a commissioned salesperson, fluorescent lights, in an environment where you didn’t feel comfortable,” he said.
“Retail is increasingly the world of the haves and the have nots,” he later added, noting that beyond creating a good environment, the ability to toggle back and forth between e-commerce, retail and wholesale businesses will be the key to retailers’ success.
After all, “consumers don’t bifurcate or segment their world like that,” said Krim. [WSJ]–Erin Hudson