Retail Needs Game-Changing Technologies

For retail it is the detail that matters. The industry pundits are in agreement that it is not accurate for us to generalize the trends that are tiding the retail industry as a whole.  For instance a fashion apparel retailer's IT strategy and the IT strategy of a multinational grocery retailer will and should be different. This difference is primarily in the detail. Having said that, at a high level the global retail industry, be it the fashion apparel retailer or the multinational grocery retailer are having the same tidings.

Industry consolidation - In most of the countries of the world, the rate of increase of retail revenues is greater than the rate of increase in number of retailer outlets. A very strong trend observed is that in most countries 'one-stop shopping' is on the boom.

Country peculiarities - Retail is where you need to be both local and global at the same time. Service providers need to understand the fact that local legislation is designed in countries as diverse as the US and China.

Local demographics and macroeconomic trends - The performance of retailers is highly susceptible to local trends in population, income growth, and fluctuations in propensity to save or spend.

Channel and payment modernization - Each country or region seems to be following its own modernization roadmap. Because of local culture variations in telecommunications and financial deregulation, the pattern of retailing innovation is widely varied within non-store retail sales like vending, home shopping and Internet sales. Local culture and legislation, as well as institutional / banking infrastructure, also significantly affect the adoption of retail payment innovations.

Forrester believes / recommends that CIOs of multinational retailers will/ must commit to game-changing technologies. These game-changing technologies have been classified into the following:

1. Leveraging social technologies
2. Unbundling eCommerce
3. Enriching content
4. Investing in technology to measure the impact of innovative retail strategies