In this paper, the authors review current literature on retail formats and propose a new customer-centric framework for retailers to focus on as they continue to innovate and evolve. Specifically, they review the literature on how formats compare in their attributes and compete with each other; the role of customer behavior in format choice; and developments in multichannel and omnichannel retailing. They propose a framework for retail formats suggesting two paths – either reduce friction in the customer journey or enhance customer experience. They discuss the challenges faced by offline (physical store-first) and online (digital-first) retailers and elaborate on strategies each type of retailer is pursuing to address these challenges. Finally, they offer directions for future research in this domain. They conclude by calling for newer digital-first and physical-first players to continue coming up with different customer-centric formats, which they predict will slowly morph into integrated retailers, leaving space for newer players to enter the market and hence keep the wheel of retailing spinning.

在本文中，作者回顾了有关零售业态的最新文献，并提出了一个新的以客户为中心的框架，供零售商在不断创新和发展时关注。具体来说，他们回顾了有关格式如何在属性中进行比较并相互竞争的文献。客户行为在格式选择中的作用；以及多渠道和全渠道零售的发展。他们为零售业态提出了一个框架，提出了两条途径–减少客户旅程中的摩擦或增强客户体验。他们讨论了线下（实体店优先）和在线（数字优先）零售商所面临的挑战，并详细说明了每种类型的零售商为应对这些挑战而采取的策略。最后，它们为该领域的未来研究提供了指导。