The Indian Retail Industry is considered one of the fastest growing industries in the world and technology has emerged as a helping hand to the industry. The world has seen a transition in retail planning –with the industry going from being product-centric to being customer-centric – and retailers are leveraging technologies to reach the modern shoppers.
Over time, retail technology has transcended from an aspiration to an expectation and has wedged itself securely between consumer and experience to create an everyday interface. While it has definitely made life easier for consumers, retailers in India have spent a better part of the last decade on their heels, reacting to profound changes throughout the sectors of the industry.
Retailers today are not fighting with retailers anymore; instead they’re fighting with different technological interventions in order to be the most competitive in the world. With growing competition, it has become extremely vital for retailers to innovate continuously and implement cutting-edge technologies to fulfil today’s demanding customers’ need.
In order to stay relevant in a highly competitive market, every retailer needs to stay on top of technological advances and also learn how to exploit these technical innovations to forward their business goals.
Over the past few years, a number of technology trends have evolved and dramatically altered the retail industry. The emergence and the transformational growth of the new economy has unleashed powerful forces which are eventually and successfully reshaping the retail industry at a transformational speed. In order to succeed, today’s retailers have to offer a seamless shopping experience across all channels – and should not lose track of their customers.
Today, the entire retail ecosystem has smartened with technology. There are so many things one can experiment with if a retailer uses technology, for example: smart displays, in-store services, smart shelves, home delivery, brand optimization options, supply chain optimization, logistics automation to name just a few.
Then there are wallets, point of sale data, social networking – where you can home in on complaints as well as get appreciated. All this is driven by the retailer into applications where the consumer sees, feels, asks the retailer questions and eventually buys the product.
Giant players of the retail industry have accepted technology with arms wide open to captivate and secure customers and have made optimum use of technology to optimize their business. Whereas small retailers, most of them belonging to the unorganized sector, are yet to adopt technology to be adept with the changes and technological innovations taking place in the retail market. If the entire unorganized retail trade, which is 80 percent of the entire retail trade, adopts technology, the retail industry will usher in a new era providing a much-needed thrust to the Indian economy. Technology is the knight on the white horse that will ride the retail market towards prosperity and triumph.
What took the year 2018 by storm is phrase ‘Experiential Retail’. It became the code of the moment; delivered through convenient accessibility, in-store features, customer engagement through ATL and BTL animation or out-of-the-box blends of the physical and digital shopping universe.
Some other trends that impacted the retail industry in a big way in 2018 are:
IoT (Internet of Things)
IoT has big implications for in-store marketing efforts of retailers and brands. Connected devices aren’t just changing the way consumers live, work and play – they’re dramatically reshaping the entire industry. The IoT movement offers retailers opportunities in three critical areas: customer experience, supply chain and new channels-revenue streams.
Leading retailers across the globe are already investing heavily in IoT. They are beginning to transform their business practices and recognize that, in time, IoT will touch nearly every area of retail operations and customer engagement. In the IoT of today, everything has the potential of coming under the IOT umbrella. From the lighting system in the store, the PoS (Point of Sales) system, to the electric switches and even garbage disposal units…IOT is at the heart of retail transformation. It connects people, machines, items, and services to streamline the flow of information, enable real-time decisions, and heighten consumer experiences.
While the IoT may still seem like science fiction, it is becoming reality faster than most of us can comprehend. Retailers that hesitate to develop and execute an IoT strategy will open the door for competitors – old and new alike – to swoop in and capture early IOT mind and market share.
SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics & Cloud)
The relationship between consumers and enterprises has never been as intrigued as in the 21st century. As digital technologies augmented by SMAC are creating new touch points for enterprises to awe their consumers, there has been an evolution in consumer experiences. Social, mobile, analytics and cloud or SMAC are the nexus of forces, which are reshaping how consumers experience a brand.
SMAC are currently driving business innovation. It creates an ecosystem that allows a business to improve its operations and get closer to the customer with minimal overhead and maximum reach. Digital is now an essential part of the whole shopping experience and the entire business of retail, inside as well as outside the store. You don’t need to leave a physical store to get your digital fix. Instead, retailers are leveraging a wide array of in-store technologies meant to draw consumers in the door. As the impact continues to increase, the way retailers think of digital and invest in it, besides addressing the digital wants and needs of their customers is changing dramatically.
Big Data
Today, retailers are constantly finding innovative ways to draw insights from the ever-increasing amount of structured and unstructured information available about their customers’ behaviour.
Data gathering, and analytics are playing a key role in evolving business models in retail. Usage of data and analytics to better understand consumers in the form of branding, product management, leveraging loyalty card information to tracking customer buying behaviour and making better pricing decisions are the key factors. Collecting and leveraging customer information to provide personalized recommendations is the norm going forward.
Retailers – large and small – have been reaping the benefits of analysing structured data for years but are only just starting to get to grips with unstructured data. There is undoubtedly still a great deal of untapped potential in social media, customer feedback comments, video footage, recorded telephone conversations and locational GPS data. Great benefits have come to those who put it to best work, and the best solutions have more likely come from innovative thinking and approaches to analytics, rather than those who simply try to collect as much data as possible and then see what it does.
Omnichannel Retail Adaptation
Omnichannel is a term that extends and supersedes multi-channel. Multi-channel (or cross-channel) refers to delivering content and considering consumer experience on more than one channel. Omnichannel is about understanding and optimizing for the entire journey across all channels.
Omnichannel today is a necessity. Brick-and-mortar retailers have been left with no option but to add online channel to their offline operations in a bid to reach as many customers as possible, and quickly. Omnichannel retailing creates benefits for consumers and opportunities for retailers. For consumers, it empowers connected consumers by making it easier for them to access information and compare product details; by increasing choice; and by increasing convenience and the range of options for shopping. For retailers Omnichannel creates opportunities, ranging from potential extension of sales and increasing brand awareness and loyalty.
A poorly executed Omnichannel or personalization strategy, however, can do more harm than good. Handling one or two channels discretely but satisfying expectations is better than disappointing your consumers when you fail to deliver added value — or worse still, confuse or frustrate — while tackling all channels. Personalization can be even more dangerous because of very real risks that your brand can be given the dreaded creepy label.
To be successful at delivering a personalized experience in Omnichannel marketplace, adaptive content is a requirement. It is content that is designed for both personalization and delivery across many channels.
IMAGES Retail spoke to industry stalwarts to understand how technology has impacted their brands in 2018 and how it is going to shape its future in 2019:
