Key Trends in Retail IT, 2017 – Driving Customer Experience and Operational Efficiency through Innovative Technologies

Powered by

All the vital news, analysis, and commentary curated by our industry experts.

$995

"Key Trends in Retail IT, 2017", report summarizes the key trends affecting digital technologies in retail in 2017, and discusses the drivers that influence their adoption. Retailers are exploring innovative ways to differentiate and create value-adding in-store experiences while also looking to collect and analyze more data. Digital technologies play a key role in driving retailers’ business transformation efforts, including various Internet of Things based devices, cloud services and mobile apps. In addition, advice is provided for IT vendors and retailers.

The retail sector is undergoing a major transformation as a result of changing market conditions that threaten the ongoing success of established players that have dominated their market segments for decades. New competition is emerging from online retailers that require fewer overheads and can offer more favorable prices and larger product portfolios than bricks and mortar stores. As margins are increasingly squeezed, retailers are looking at more innovative ways to differentiate and add value for their demanding customers by creating in-store experiences that also need to integrate seamlessly with digital channels including mobile platforms.

Scope

– Retailers increasingly compete on customer experience through mobile solutions and augmented reality in stores, while also improving efficiency by reducing any friction such as queuing at checkouts or waiting for shop assistants to look up items

– The shift from data center hardware to software-defined and cloud-based solutions will continue in 2017; however the focus is on hybrid solutions with efficient workload management, virtualization and multi-cloud environments to avoid vendor lock-ins

– Retailers look to upgrade their supply chain management systems and introduce real-time asset visibility to achieve cost savings by eliminating any unnecessary steps in distribution and keeping lower inventory levels

Reasons to Buy

– Get an understanding of the key trends in retail in order to better target retailers and tailor marketing and business strategies. This report also provides an insight into retailers' strategic priorities and how these link to specific technologies.

Target
Philips
Genercal Electric
Acuity Brands
Wipro
Cognizant
Capgemini
Accenture
IBM
Cisco
HPE
BT
Orange
Telefonica

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Summary & Key Findings 4

3. Market Drivers 5

3.1. Advance of online and mobile platforms 6

3.2. Customer expectations 6

3.3. Eroding margins 6

3.4. Hunger for data insight 7

3.5. Diminishing loyalty 7

3.6. Expansion into new services 8

3.7. Control over supply chains 8

3.8. Security challenges 8

3.9. IT investment focus 9

4. Key Technology Trends 10

4.1. Retailers’ competitive advantage and market value will be linked to Big Data and real-time analytics capabilities 10

4.2. Major retailers will roll out Internet of Things (IoT) projects for greater operational efficiency and customer interaction, including beacons and sensors 11

4.3. Social media insight and communication will provide greater competitive advantage for innovative retailers 12

4.4. Self-service stores with in-store terminals and connections to interactive mobile apps will emerge 13

4.5. Robotics with machine learning functionality will be trialed for diverse functions from warehousing and delivery to smart shop assistants 13

4.6. Smart lighting is starting to be rolled out across stores for guiding customers to products and creating specific experiences 14

4.7. Systems integrators and telcos will battle major hardware and software vendors for leadership in driving smart retail concepts 14

4.8. Virtual and augmented reality will revolutionize customer experience and improve warehousing efficiency 15

4.9. Multi-purpose smart devices such as tablets will increasingly replace dedicated hardware 16

4.10. The ongoing shift from data center hardware to software-defined and cloud-based solutions willaccelerate as retailers go hybrid 16

5. Recommendations 18

5.1. Recommendations for vendors 18

5.2. Recommendations for retailers 19

6. Appendix 20

6.1. Definitions 20

6.2. Further reading 21

6.3. Contact the author 22

6.4 Contact Us 22

Figures

List of Figures

Figure 1: Market drivers and key technology investment trends 5

Figure 2: Retailers’ IT investment focus over the next 2 years 9

Figure 3: Retailers will ramp up investments in business intelligence solutions 11

Figure 4: Retailers expect IoT to drive operational efficiency and create additional revenue 12

Figure 5: Retailers prefer leading vendors with retail-specific expertise 15

Figure 6: Cloud services spending grows stronger than hardware and software for retailers Global retail IT spending in US $millions 17

Frequently asked questions

Key Trends in Retail IT, 2017 – Driving Customer Experience and Operational Efficiency through Innovative Technologies thematic reports
Currency USD
$995

Can be used by individual purchaser only

$2,985

Can be shared globally by unlimited users within the purchasing corporation e.g. all employees of a single company


Undecided about purchasing this report?

Enquire Before Buying

Get in touch to find out about multi-purchase discounts

reportstore@globaldata.com
Tel +44 20 7947 2745

Every customer’s requirement is unique. With over 220,000 construction projects tracked, we can create a tailored dataset for you based on the types of projects you are looking for. Please get in touch with your specific requirements and we can send you a quote.

See what our customers are saying

“The GlobalData platform is our go-to tool for intelligence services. GlobalData provides an easy way to access comprehensive intelligence data around multiple sectors, which essentially makes it a one-for-all intelligence platform, for tendering and approaching customers.

GlobalData is very customer orientated, with a high degree of personalised services, which benefits everyday use. The highly detailed project intelligence and forecast reports can be utilised across multiple departments and workflow scopes, from operational to strategic level, and often support strategic decisions. GlobalData Analytics and visualisation solutions has contributed positively when preparing management presentations and strategic papers.”

Business Intelligence & Marketing Manager, SAL Heavy Lift

“COVID-19 has caused significant interference to our business and the COVID-19 intelligence from GlobalData has helped us reach better decisions around strategy. These two highlights have helped enormously to understand the projections into the future concerning our business units, we also utilise the project database to source new projects for Liebherr-Werk to use as an additional source to pitch for new business.”

Market Analyst & Management, Liebherr-Werk

Your daily news has saved me a lot of time and keeps me up-to-date with what is happening in the market, I like that you almost always have a link to the source origin. We also use your market data in our Strategic Business Process to support our business decisions. By having everything in one place on the Intelligence Center it has saved me a lot of time versus looking on different sources, the alert function also helps with this.

Head of Key Accounts, Saab AB

Having used several other market research companies, I find that GlobalData manages to provide that ‘difficult-to-get’ market data that others can’t, as well as very diverse and complete consumer surveys.

Marketing Intelligence Manager, Portugal Foods

Our experience with GlobalData has been very good, from the platform itself to the people. I find that the analysts and the account team have a high level of customer focus and responsiveness and therefore I can always rely on. The platform is more holistic than other providers. It is convenient and almost like a one stop shop. The pricing suite is highly competitive and value for our organisation.

I like reports that inform new segments such as the analysis on generation Z, millennials, the impact of COVID 19 to our banking customers and their new channel habits. Secondly the specialist insight on affluent sector significantly increases our understanding about this group of customers. The combination of those give us depth and breadth of the evolving market.

I’m in the business of answering and helping people make decisions so with the intelligence center I can do that, effectively and efficiently. I can share quickly key insights that answer and satisfy our country stakeholders by giving them many quality studies and primary research about competitive landscape beyond the outlook of our bank. It helps me be seen as an advisory partner and that makes a big difference. A big benefit of our subscription is that no one holds the whole data and because it allows so many people, so many different parts of our organisation have access, it enables all teams to have the same level of knowledge and decision support.

Head of Customer Insight and Research, Standard Chartered

“I know that I can always rely on Globaldata’s work when I’m searching for the right consumer and market insights. I use Globaldata insights to understand the changing market & consumer landscape and help create better taste & wellbeing solutions for our customers in food, beverage and healthcare industries.

Globaldata has the right data and the reports are of very high quality compared to your competitors. Globaldata not only has overall market sizes & consumer insights on food & beverages but also provides insights at the ingredient & flavour level. That is key for B2B companies like Givaudan. This way we understand our customers’ business and also gain insight to our unique industry”

Head of Consumer Sensory Insights, Givaudan

GlobalData provides a great range of information and reports on various sectors that is highly relevant, timely, easy to access and utilise.  The reports and data dashboards help engagement with clients; they provide valuable industry and market insights that can enrich client conversations and can help in the shaping of value propositions. Moreover, using GlobalData products has helped increase my knowledge of the finance sector, the players within it, and the general threats and opportunities.

I find the consumer surveys that are carried out to be extremely beneficial and not something I have seen anywhere else. They provided an insightful view of why and which consumers take (or don’t) particular financial products. This can help shape conversations with clients to ensure they make the right strategic decisions for their business.

One of the challenges I have found is that data in the payments space is often piecemeal. With GD all of the data I need is in one place, but it also comes with additional market reports that provide useful extra context and information. Having the ability to set-up alerts on relevant movements in the industry, be it competitors or customers, and have them emailed directly to me, ensures I get early sight of industry activity and don’t have to search for news.

Senior Account Manager, TSYS
Go even deeper with GlobalData Intelligence Center

Every Company Report we produce is powered by the GlobalData Intelligence Center.

Subscribing to our intelligence platform means you can monitor developments at Key Trends in Retail IT, 2017 – Driving Customer Experience and Operational Efficiency through Innovative Technologies in real time.

  • Access a live Key Trends in Retail IT, 2017 – Driving Customer Experience and Operational Efficiency through Innovative Technologies dashboard for 12 months, with up-to-the-minute insights.
  • Fuel your decision making with real-time deal coverage and media activity.
  • Turn insights on financials, deals, products and pipelines into powerful agents of commercial advantage.