Retailers need to figure out how to leverage those strengths. Experts say the most progressive store retailers are responding to the Web by making their stores more comfortable, convenient and entertaining to shop. Other retailers are experimenting with new concepts at stores in larger markets before moving them to Michigan. A Sephora cosmetics store in New York features monthly art exhibits. Also in New York, Gap shoppers can check their e-mail in an Internet lounge free of charge.
Plans are to link the program to a Web site so shoppers can browse for coupons from home.
But the Internet isn't the only technology retailers are bringing to stores. Athlete's Foot is rolling out a high-tech scanner that measures and identifies pressure points of a customer's foot. Sales clerks can then use the readout to suggest the best-fitting shoes. Still no word when the high-tech machines will hit metro Detroit.