Retail: the web goes brick-and-mortar

In 2017, we may learn the future of retailing.

Amazon plans to open its first physical grocery store in the early part of the year, a sign that even the world's biggest e-commerce disrupter bets that physical stores will be an essential part of the shopping ecosystem for the long haul. But Amazon Go, as the concept is called, won't be like other old-school supermarkets: In-store technology will allow shoppers to swipe in with a smartphone, fill up their baskets and depart without going through a checkout line. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, owns the Washington Post.)

The set up will serve as a laboratory for some of the most important questions in retailing: How much do in-store shoppers value speed vs. service? How large a workforce do stores really need?

Meanwhile, Macy's is set to shutter 100 of its more than 700 stores in 2017 because executives say they simply have too many locations for the online era. It's a sweeping, proactive move that other retailers may emulate if the department store is able to offset the lost brick-and-mortar sales with strong growth online.

Still other chains are gambling on different ways to use physical retailing space. Starbucks, for example, is poised to go big with two new concepts: its Roasteries, which provide a tasting-room-like experience for small-batch coffees, and its Starbucks Reserve cafes, which are bigger and more upscale than the traditional outposts.

Anthropologie plans to open stores that are roughly double the size of its typical locations. That means the troubled clothing retailer is about to find out whether sprawling lifestyle emporiums drum up more sales or if they're merely an expensive anchor as more shopping dollars move online.

Each of these experiments will provide powerful intelligence for the wider retail industry - and could shape your shopping experiences at all manner of stores going forward.