The changing face of retail

The need to keep up with customer trends means they are more exposed to the changing whims of IT than most. But used well, developments in consumer devices can also be used to give a retailer competitive advantage.

Mobile technology is changing the way retailers connect with consumers. It’s important to look at what retailers have done so far, assess what’s hype and what’s not, and then ask what might be achieved using the technology in years to come.

Embracing smartphones and tablets only takes care of the front end – mobile is just one part of the emerging cross-channel world that is set to rely heavily on data to drive it. Data won’t just enable personalised marketing offers, it will help take companies into a truly cross-channel environment as mobile, online and store data combines to paint a picture of a multichannel customer. Not even Amazon, the first online retailer to provide personalised offers, has achieved what the biggest retailers want to – using online search data to discover how people shop. This will be one of the next big challenges in data-driven retailing.

Many of the most significant developments in retail over the last 20 years have had technology at their core, and the latest generation of changes is no different. Retailers’ responses to these new developments could help determine their success over the next few years, and attention to technical detail is likely to be well rewarded.