04 EDITOR’SCOMMENT
RETAILTECHNOLOGY
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Maximising sales opportunities W
elcome to the new, albeit later than planned, issue of Retail Technology magazine.
I am usually able to call on one or two
emerging stories to focus minds on the main challenges facing retailers in their use of technology. But this issue, the scale of changes behind the scenes here, for us, has meant we are only now looking ahead to summer proper. So sincere apologies to readers but, rest assured, the reasons for the delay will be explained very soon. In the meantime, the industry has had to contend with a washout of a start to summer, despite high expectations for sales spikes around the Jubilee celebrations and Olympics. This issue’s Olympics feature (page 12) puts the spotlight on how retailers will be required to balance opportunity with preparedness, as visitor numbers are expected to rise, putting more pressure on the country’s infrastructure to cope. The Olympics feature speaks to industry
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ISSN No 1359-0146
experts about disaster recovery and business continuity requirements that retailers should have in place to safeguard supply chain and distribution operations. One of those experts was keen to highlight the extra drain on energy stores anticipated during the event, which puts the printing, power and green IT feature (page 26) into a good context for any retailer who is looking to drive further savings from the increasingly expensive use of raw materials and resources. At the same time, many retailers are also hoping the event will boost slowing sales, at a time when many are being forced to offer unprecedented discounts to get customers to part with their hard-earned cash. Interestingly, the mobile retailing feature (page 17) is also relevant to those looking to attract international customers visiting for the Olympics, as many of them may well be using smartphones, tablets or laptops to navigate and organise their stay. So the examples around emerging mobile payments, as well as marketing and Wi-Fi instore, will hopefully provide some guidance for those retailers still evaluating or refi ning their go-to- market mobile strategies. Consumers are keen to use their mobile devices to join up their off and online shopping journeys, as well as to complete transactions, manage loyalty schemes and fi nd discounts with them. But it seems few retailers are keeping pace. The key to many of these challenges, it seems, stem from the still siloed nature of many retail businesses. A recent industry survey, carried out by Celtech (
RetailTechnology.co.uk, 29 May 2012), found more than a third of retailers are unable to respond quickly to ever-changing customer
demands due to outdated IT. Nearly all (90%) considered themselves a multichannel business, yet more than half (53%) admitted they were not integrated across all channels, the research found. If it stands to reason that capitalising on the likes of mobile adoption, and even the Olympics, comes from being able to respond quickly to demands, the incentive to re-architect systems and processes to support integrated operations should be there.
But perhaps it is just cruel coincidence that, just as technology develops to empower a deeper and potentially more lucrative relationship between consumers and retailers, online and on the High Street, the economic fortunes that could fuel such investments continue to spiral downwards. While it could be argued that the ‘Tier One’ retailing giants might have the budget to take on new technology, even so, their progress towards adopting mobile payments or Wi-Fi instore, for example, still seems woefully slow.
When it comes to mobile, the big challenge
may also be in terms of critical mass, where the confl ict between the banks, mobile networks and handset manufacturers, who all want to ‘own’ the customer and gain their share of the transaction fees, is holding adoption back. But, for those retailers agile and brave enough to lead the way in this technology space and others dealt with in this issue, the benefi ts are increased operating effi ciency and providing customers a better shopping experience within the physical store and online that will help truly differentiate their brands.
Miya Knights Editor
mknights@bpl-business.com
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