Brick-and-mortar stores were already evolving before the global pandemic accelerated the shift to e-commerce. More than ever, customers know what they need and are going directly to a store that has it, either to buy it or pick it up having ordered online. This consumer behavior makes inventory visibility more important than ever for retailers.…
Oliver Guy
COVID-19 has upended the way consumers shop for everything, especially groceries. Last year, delivery represented 3 percent of U.S. grocery sales; in the last month, grocery delivery services like Instacart have shared statistics showing that 9 percent of U.S. grocery sales are now via delivery. As many consumers hesitate to return to any kind of…
It’s amazing how seemingly crazy ideas come to you when you least expect it. This happened to me recently while reacting to a tweet from retail analyst Andrew Busby. Andrew had commented on the news that ASOS, one of the largest U.K. online fashion retailers, had changed its returns policy. ASOS was effectively reserving the…
Total global retail sales in 2020 are projected to reach $27.73 trillion, up from $24.86 trillion in 2018. It's clear consumer spending is on the rise, but retailers now need to compete against not only other retailers, but the large e-commerce giants like Amazon.com that are also looking to capture their share of consumers’ wallets.…
Traditional retailers must commit to digital transformation in order to streamline, differentiate and enable new business models.
Retail has become one of the most difficult industries in which to survive. Behemoths such as Amazon.com increasingly sweep weaker competitors off the map. So, how can retailers compete in the age of Amazon? Unfortunately, there's no “silver bullet” technology that can help here. The key is being able to adapt quickly and experiment with…
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No industry has been more impacted by digital transformation than retail. In fact, it’s frighteningly easy to identify which retailers have embraced change and which remain mired in technologic antiquity. There’s no better time to commit to a digital revolution than during retailing prime time: the holiday shopping season. While many big-box retailers have lost…
Retailers may be enthusiastic about the Internet of Things (IoT), but are they actually implementing the technology and can they use it to out-innovate Amazon.com? To further investigate this topic, Software AG partnered with Retail Systems Research (RSR) in an IoT retail study to uncover the exact challenges retailers face when it comes to IoT…
“I LOVE this shop,” my wife said when she came across a new dress shop in our local town. Love is a strong word, but that's exactly what retailers are trying to inspire in customers when they endeavor to build an emotional connection with them. The Harvard Business Review says that customers are emotionally connected…
The looming prospect of higher minimum wage laws in the United States, whether federal or state-by-state, is forcing retailers to consider what they can do to weather the storm and stay alive. Already concerned with squeezed profit margins — thanks to higher costs associated with online delivery, processing orders and managing a massive increase in product…
IT doesn’t always speak the same language as the omnichannel team. As the two departments continue to work more closely together, there are three critical areas any retail executive must understand for more seamless, efficient and productive project management with IT. Historically, enabling a consistent customer experience across channels, enabling customers to buy and return…
The Internet of Things (IoT) is coming to retail, so get ready. Digital devices (i.e., Things) are poised to revolutionize everything from inventory management to hypertargeted marketing. IoT-enabled smart shelving will lend a whole new meaning to the term “shelf life,” bringing retail shelves to life by allowing the dynamic changing of prices and the…
When talking about retail, we're often left wondering, what's next? What are some of the technologies that will revolutionize the retail industry going forward? So, as far as what may be next for retail, after virtual reality technologies have established themselves, this is the next stage: haptic retail. Enabling online shoppers to not just see a product, but to touch it, feel it and truly evaluate it from every possible angle from the comfort of their own home.
Retail is an evolving, exciting industry right now, and that's unlikely to change in 2015. Disruptive forces will continue to play their part — whether technology based, competitively based or a combination — creating challenges for retailers, but also fantastic opportunities. Here are some things to watch for in 2015:
