This week I want to share a few articles about how technology is revolutionizing retail. You’re past the silly season. You probably just got a good look at your company’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s time to start evaluating your strategic objectives for 2015…specifically, what technology investments you’ll make.
These articles talk about some trends and ideas regarding retail technology. Some of these ideas may be aspirational for the medium-sized business. All the same, it’s worth understanding where market demands are pushing the retail industry. Plus, a lot of this stuff is really cool.
The Rise of Machines (In Retail) – The NRF Big Show (hosted by the National Retail Federation) is going on this week, and this article talks about a hot topic at the show: machine learning. Companies who have the budget are using big data technologies and predictive algorithms to solve some of their most complex retail problems. The article mentions, as an example, the billions of dollars lost inventory grocers lose, because fresh food goes bad. While you may not have the budget or capabilities for a multimillion dollar big data platform, you can absolutely focus on being more data-driven in 2015. The key is centralizing your company’s data so it can be analyzed effectively. (By the way, we have a product that does this for you.)
Shoppers Expect More Digital Capabilities From Retailers – Expanding the digital capability of your retail company isn’t just a self-serving idea. You customers want you to do it. Modern consumers, faces down in their iPhones, have grown accustomed to brands interacting with them through digital channels. They expect you to wow them in that way. This article dives into the numbers that back this up.
10 Technology Trends That Will Revolutionize Retail – This article is pretty compelling (and not just because most of the ten are things we rant about at nChannel). It really shines a light on the fact that retail is changing, the change is accelerating, and you need stay ahead of the curve to survive. Your business’s future depends on executing an effective multichannel strategy. It depends on how you manage customer experience and customer relationships. It depends on you being intentional with your business strategy. The good news? The retailers who can see this vision are going to make a lot of money (and a lot of customers happy).
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