Report warns tech is key to retail survival

Retailers must invest for the long-term, break down silos and deliver new experiences for customers and employees if they are to survive.

That is the conclusion of a new report from Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, which undertook a study with over 900 managers and non-managers across a variety of global retailers.

It explains why, after years of reticence, it’s now or never for the retail industry to embrace technology. That means making long-term investments within the workplace to achieve the goals of a better customer experience and a stronger bottom line.

The study highlighted five key trends:

1. Lagging in workplace technology: Compared to other industries, retail has been slow to implement workplace technology. Almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of managers and employees surveyed said that their organisation is at risk of falling behind competitors if new technology is not implemented.

2. Employees must be empowered with technology: To thrive, the bricks and mortar retailer of the near future needs to provide its staff with the connected digital tools that allow them to deliver more personalised services to every customer. At present, less than two-fifths (39 per cent) of those surveyed have access to cloud computing applications, which can bring both better collaboration and productivity in the retail environment.

3. A need for deeper insights into stock and inventory: Customers expect retailers to provide the items they want, when they want and where they want them. Only by improving their data systems - and potentially making better use of RFID scanning and electronic shelf labelling technology - can retailers solve the age-old problem of knowing exactly what they have in stock at any given time and where it is located.

4. The old silos need to be broken down: Bridging the physical with digital will require the divisions and structures that currently exist within retail organisations to be broken down, so internal systems blend seamlessly and work together to deliver the personalised experiences that customers now expect.

5. An opportunity to think longer-term: Retailers need to accept the necessity of major investment in both systems and people, and to find new ways of measuring success that do not entail the mothballing of transformation projects that just deliver immediate results; it needs to be about both the short and long-term.

The report also featured interviews with two industry experts: digital commerce strategy consultant Gabrielle Hase and founder of ASOS Ventures Daniel Bobroff.

When looking at transformation projects, retailers should look at new ways of measuring success and think longer-term on return on investment (ROI), Bobroff suggested. “We are talking about continuous innovation, and ROI tends to limit the horizon: you either hit the target, or you kill the project. There need to be other metrics that help us move towards success.”

Retailers must also accept that the talent they need for digital transformation cannot all be recruited into traditional, in-house roles, he added. “We live in a world where it’s sexier to work in a fast-moving start-up or build your own than it is to go and work for a legacy retailer – to access the highly talented engineers in this space, of which there is a shortage, you need to outsource.”

The Aruba survey also showed that retailer workers said they saw a rise in productivity (72 per cent), wellbeing (62 per cent) and the ability to differentiate against the competition (59 per cent) as a direct impact of digital workplace technology.

Gerri Hinkel, director of solutions marketing for Aruba, concluded that the future of retail is all about experiences – for shoppers, staff and IT.

“Shoppers are driven not only by product, but are making choices on where they shop by how easy that retailer makes their life,” he stated. “The retailers who will succeed will make those experiences simple, smart and personalised, but to get there, they must be bold in making technology investments and fearless as they innovative their store of the future.”

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