The face of brick-and-mortar retail is changing. In an era where customers can quickly and efficiently shop online and get prices that simply can't be beat by physical merchants, many retailers are responding not by competing toe-to-toe but by offering customers a completely different experience altogether.

So far, merchants have used a variety of tactics to achieve this goal, Entrepreneur magazine reports. For example, Studio Velo in California enables potential bicycle buyers to customize their products when they visit physical locations. Others such as Apple are striving to create unique experiences, eliminating traditional practices such as having a centralized point-of-sale terminal.

"The standard build-out of a retail space is all being re-imagined as each day goes by, with more innovative, energy saving and technologically advanced ideas," says Andrew Swedenborg, executive vice president of King Retail Solutions in Eugene, Oregon.

Store operations will continue to be a focus of brick-and-mortar retailers for the next decade as they come to terms with the burgeoning ecommerce sector. Merchants can learn even more about the next step in customer experiences by attending the upcoming Retail Pro Global Conference 2012.