“We all know the retail industry is seeing massive change. This is driven not only by digitization of the industry and by new online competitors, but by customers. Consumers are changing even faster than the industry itself. They are increasingly ‘always on’—always connected—and far more informed about products before they even enter a store (usually a digital one) and at the moment of purchase.
Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are struggling with this new type of consumer, a consumer who expects the same frictionless buying experience, interaction, advice, and ease of delivery that they would get online. Meeting these needs requires a high level of in-store digitization. The majority of retail revenue still comes from offline stores, and this status quo is not expected to change in the near future, so now is the time for retailers to take action if they are to remain relevant. Consumers can value a positive experience in a physical store over the convenience of online—and even over price.
At Digital Summit at Cisco Live 2019 in Melbourne, retailers reconsidered how they look at their brick-and-mortar stores, viewing them as data-gathering platforms and reshaping them according to the data they intend to collect. This event delivered key insights into how data should influence the core retail capabilities of merchandising, sourcing, and pricing. This new approach, which is set to be a winning strategy for retailers both now and in the future, is outlined in this paper.”