Taking Retail to a New Frontier LIVE VERSION ME

Taking Retail to a New FrontierPaving the way for a new customer experiencePowerful customer experiences can build long-lasting, trusted, and personalized relationships with shoppers. This fits perfectly with the goal of today’s retailer becoming omnichannel business. Contents

Becoming a digital retailer• Reduces risks and can grow your business • Increases your sales while maintaining an excellent store operation • Scales your business at your fingertips • Makes the customer the central focus of every aspect of your businessPowerful customer experiences can build long-lasting, trusted, and personalized relationships with shoppers. This fits perfectly with the goal of today’s retailer becoming omnichannel business.

"The MENA e-commerce market is expected to grow to $7.5 billion by 2020 according to Euromonitor. While there is much opportunity, this will also be a time of intense competition and the need to differentiate through customer experience''

VP Danny Karam, Booz Allen Hamilton MENA

Crossing the boundaries of digital and physical retail environments, retailers are seeking new ways to reach customers while maximizing profitability and competitiveness.Digital transformation is radically reshaping the way companies do this. It’s no longer an option for retailers to digitally transform - it’s a
survival imperative.How do you provide the right information at the right time in the right place in the
shopper's journey?In this e-book, you'll see how you can transform your strategy for next-generation retail.The four ingredients for a successful digital transformation:

Enhance mobile customer experience

Increase workforce productivity

Enable effective cybersecurity

Harvest more analytics from big data

Develop your digital roadmap Digital transformation is happening in the Middle East today in every industry. Research from the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation, an IMD and Cisco initiative, shows that 40% of the top industry incumbents will be displaced within five years.

^{"As measured by digital consumer adoption, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are among the top countries in the world, with more than 100% smartphone penetration and more than 70% social-media adoption—even higher than in the United States."}

– Mckinsey study on Middle East - Oct 2016

The evolution of the digital customer in retail The dawn of the digital economy is poised to radically reshape the way companies do business.

To succeed in this new economy, retailers must create a unified strategy, across every channel, to develop and optimize compelling digital transformation experiences. And because emerging trends are also driving many internal changes — including workforce productivity and store operations — successful digital transformation must include strategic investments in agile, dynamic technologies that extend across every area of the business.

As the line between physical and digital interactions becomes increasingly blurred, expectations continue to grow. Your ultimate success or failure hinges on making the customer the central focus of every aspect of your business.Retail challenges.
Disruption at
every turn.

The retail environment changes as you read.
We see that shopping centers are trying to develop a lasting experience with their customers, not through their shopping, but by transforming malls into entertainment centers where the shopping experience revolves around it.Retailers who have already embraced a digital platform in their businesses will be able to reduce risks and react quickly to market dynamics and maintain steady growth through a digital economy.Shifting customer experienceSome of the essential attributes of customer experience in today’s digital world include:

Always mobile

Personalized engagement

Frictionless experiences

Secure transactions

Relentless new competitionA unique customer-centric approach can differentiate your retail experience in light of the new competition, including:

Subscription-based business models*

Peer/sharing economy**

E-commerce

Increasing cyber threatsDynamic changes in retail led by digitization also creates more opportunities for the cybercriminals. Retail is a major target for breaches. Customers will reconsider using a company if it fails to keep their data safe.

68% of CIOs in the Middle East struggle to maintain cybersecurity

40% of CIOs see an increase in sophistication in attacks

^{*A new business landscape in which traditional companies are moving towards subscription-based business models.

**A decentralized model whereby two individuals interact to buy or sell goods and services without an intermediary}