Surely, retail as we know it from the 19th and first half of the 20th century is more or less dead. Globally! The so-called “general store” or “Mom and Pop store”, basically the store that offers anything a person needs for daily life, is obsolete. Size does not really play a role here. The department store, the big general store and the mail-order establishment with its two and a half inch catalogues are also obsolete, just as much as the colonial goods store, whose smell of a mixture of barrelled sauerkraut und freshly roasted coffee is still lingering on in our memories from childhood days.

In a way, retail is regressing. Centuries ago, when “market” still meant a central square in towns or villages, where trade offered not a large but a very specific assortment. At farmer’s markets around the globe, this is still the case today. The farmer’s wife is there with geese and vegetables from her own garden. There is a baker with his bread and a hawker with spices or simple textiles. Specialization dominates the scene. And exactly this specialization is the revival I speak of and which is rekindling the personally managed retail store; whereas the brand plays the decisive role here.

The franchise principle is the breeding ground where the renaissance of the personally managed retail is blossoming, globally and in all industries. From McDonald’s at major highways all the way to luxury brands of the fashion industry in the new “shopping-world-of-experience” at the airports of Dubai, London and at factory outlets, in economic hotspots and their surrounding areas. In the country and in small towns, where vertical distribution of the manufacturers does not directly reach the client.

This development is not confined to consumer goods retail. Machine manufacturers, classic B2B-structures, tools and construction materials, insurance companies and cars, just to name a few examples, are marketed today on site in partnership structures with shared risk and shared chance of winning, between producers and vendor.

That this new old form of doing retail blossoms mostly in Premium, PremiumEconomy and Luxury segments of the markets does not turn it into niche existence. Quite contrary, these segments are the big segments of the future, because the Economy segment, meaning the segment that is mostly ruled by price, is losing in importance, because problem solution and service are once again in demand and because the brand becomes more and more important as value guarantee.

Franchising as basis for the personally managed retail is a win-win situation for all involved. Professional marketing, cost-efficient communications processes, working with experienced partners, create an edge for the retailer compared to his colleagues working the conventional way. And all this without having to give up values entrenched in autonomy. The manufacturer has someone “independent” in his franchise system, a partner shaped by the entrepreneurial idea. This new old form of retail appeals to consumers.

The future belongs to the market oriented specialization in a personally managed retail store. A future, that has begun already. Manufacturers and retail should accelerate the market oriented specialization and further advancement should be promoted wherever it is feasible and practicable. Personally managed retail can offer the best possible service in regards to and optimal customer service.