In this installment of our Work Ahead series, we focus on the impact of digital transformation on the retail industry and the surprisingly wide gap in how digital leaders and laggards perceive the digital future and are approaching the necessary changes to succeed.
Consumers are increasingly in control of their shopping experiences, deciding where, how, and what to buy based on their own research. New technologies like smartphones and tablets are empowering consumers. Retailers are striving to provide omni-channel experiences across online and offline, but this is complex. While ecommerce is still a small percentage of total retail, it is growing rapidly and disrupting traditional retailers. Data and personalized experiences are key to meeting evolving consumer demands.
What an All-in-one Platform Means for Commerce: Your Bottom LineKimberly Rowell
This document discusses the trends driving the need for all-in-one payment platforms that can accelerate commerce globally. Key trends include the rapid growth of mobile and cross-border commerce, more businesses selling through marketplaces, and increasing credit card not present fraud. Data shows mobile transactions and eWallet usage are growing significantly. All-in-one platforms with built-in products and pre-integrations can optimize checkout and increase sales by 10-15% by facilitating frictionless payments across channels and borders. Future trends discussed include more B2B digital payments and businesses operating marketplaces.
Retail trends in 2016/2017 will see retailers doubling down on omnichannel strategies and social/mobile integration to bridge online and offline experiences. In 2017, social media will become more shoppable and mobile will play a bigger role in the customer journey including fulfillment and loyalty programs. Retailers will also focus on personalization, localization, curation, and unifying online/offline data to improve the customer experience across all channels.
This document discusses ecommerce trends in 2020 and profiles of shoppers. It notes that 95% of consumer decision making is unconscious according to research. Shoppers are influenced by attention, emotional engagement, brand memory, and other factors before making a purchase. Additional data shows most online shopping is done on desktop computers and price is a primary factor for many shoppers. The document presents several examples of innovative retail technologies that use personalization, social media, virtual displays, digital price tags, and indoor location services to enhance customer experiences. It concludes by finding that many respondents believe retail locations will increasingly function as showrooms in the next eight years.
Modern Marketing at the Convergence of Marketing & TechnologyMayur Gupta
The document discusses the convergence of marketing and technology in the modern digital world. It notes that consumers are now omni-present across channels and expect seamless, personalized experiences. As a result, companies need to converge their data, skills, and organizational structures. Specifically, they must 1) converge their technology ecosystems and data across channels, 2) develop marketing technologists with hybrid skills, and 3) break down organizational silos to provide unified experiences and meet consumer expectations of being at the center. The convergence of these factors is necessary to effectively build brands and market to digital consumers.
Consumers are increasingly in control of their shopping experiences, deciding where, how, and what to buy based on their own research. New technologies like smartphones and tablets are empowering consumers. Retailers are striving to provide omni-channel experiences across online and offline, but this is complex. While ecommerce is still a small percentage of total retail, it is growing rapidly and disrupting traditional retailers. Data and personalized experiences are key to meeting evolving consumer demands.
What an All-in-one Platform Means for Commerce: Your Bottom LineKimberly Rowell
This document discusses the trends driving the need for all-in-one payment platforms that can accelerate commerce globally. Key trends include the rapid growth of mobile and cross-border commerce, more businesses selling through marketplaces, and increasing credit card not present fraud. Data shows mobile transactions and eWallet usage are growing significantly. All-in-one platforms with built-in products and pre-integrations can optimize checkout and increase sales by 10-15% by facilitating frictionless payments across channels and borders. Future trends discussed include more B2B digital payments and businesses operating marketplaces.
Retail trends in 2016/2017 will see retailers doubling down on omnichannel strategies and social/mobile integration to bridge online and offline experiences. In 2017, social media will become more shoppable and mobile will play a bigger role in the customer journey including fulfillment and loyalty programs. Retailers will also focus on personalization, localization, curation, and unifying online/offline data to improve the customer experience across all channels.
This document discusses ecommerce trends in 2020 and profiles of shoppers. It notes that 95% of consumer decision making is unconscious according to research. Shoppers are influenced by attention, emotional engagement, brand memory, and other factors before making a purchase. Additional data shows most online shopping is done on desktop computers and price is a primary factor for many shoppers. The document presents several examples of innovative retail technologies that use personalization, social media, virtual displays, digital price tags, and indoor location services to enhance customer experiences. It concludes by finding that many respondents believe retail locations will increasingly function as showrooms in the next eight years.
Modern Marketing at the Convergence of Marketing & TechnologyMayur Gupta
The document discusses the convergence of marketing and technology in the modern digital world. It notes that consumers are now omni-present across channels and expect seamless, personalized experiences. As a result, companies need to converge their data, skills, and organizational structures. Specifically, they must 1) converge their technology ecosystems and data across channels, 2) develop marketing technologists with hybrid skills, and 3) break down organizational silos to provide unified experiences and meet consumer expectations of being at the center. The convergence of these factors is necessary to effectively build brands and market to digital consumers.
The CPG Digital Revolution: Moving from Analog to Digital Operating Modelaccenture
The digital revolution is blurring the boundaries between consumers, stores and brands and forcing consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to rethink their digital operating model. Accenture identified six ways CPG companies can prosper. View our infographic for more info: http://www.accenture.com/redefineCPGdigital
1) The retail industry in Mexico has undergone significant changes with the rise of digital technologies and ecommerce, though many retailers have failed to fully leverage the potential of digital channels.
2) Digital devices are increasingly influencing consumer purchasing behaviors both online and in stores.
3) Retailers need to integrate their digital and physical shopping experiences and properly address consumer needs and wants in order to close the "new digital divide".
The document provides an overview of trends in the in-store consumer shopping experience as it relates to the evolution of point-of-sale (POS) technology and digital/mobile commerce. It notes that consumers are increasingly using mobile technologies like smartphones to research products, compare prices, and make purchases both in-store and online. This has disrupted traditional retail models and benefited online retailers. It also discusses the convergence of coupons, loyalty programs, and payments onto digital platforms and the growth of mobile payments. Retailers face threats from "showrooming" but can counter this with integrated digital offerings that provide personalized deals and experiences to consumers.
[Earley] Building a Successful Digital Transformation RoadmapDuy, Vo Hoang
Digital transformation will be a top priority for boardroom
executives during 2016. Here are some data points:
• 125,000 enterprises expect revenue from their digital
initiatives to increase by 80% by 2020 (Gartner)
• Digital transformation initiatives will more than double by
2020, from 22% to almost 50% (IDC)
• Only 27% of businesses have a coherent digital strategy for
creating customer value in place (Forrester)
Are you ready for digital transformation? Do you have a digital
transformation roadmap? Does it lay a solid foundation for a
successful transition to your future digital business? In order to
succeed, you need to start with a current assessment, identify
gaps and define the actions and resources required to fill those
gaps along the four paths of people, process, technology and
content.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to significant changes in consumer behavior and a rapid shift to online purchasing. Lockdowns and business closures forced people to do most or all of their shopping online. As a result, e-commerce grew exponentially from 14% of global retail in 2019 to 17% in 2020. This helped mitigate the economic downturn. New trends emerged like increased use of chatbots, mobile shopping, more payment options, and enhanced personalized experiences through AI, AR, and big data. The future impact of this rise in ecommerce on the economy remains uncertain.
The document discusses changes in the retail environment, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It notes that the pandemic accelerated existing trends like the rise of e-commerce, with non-store retail sales increasing 27% in the last year. It also discusses uneven recovery across retail sectors and the long-term decline of some brick-and-mortar stores even before the pandemic. The document examines issues like revenue and sales trends and the growth of e-commerce over the last decade.
Digital transformation involves more than just new technology investments. It requires realigning business models and technology to better engage digital customers throughout the customer experience lifecycle. While many companies report undergoing digital transformation, few have fully mapped customer journeys or aligned efforts across channels. True digital transformation unifies disparate digital initiatives under a common vision focused on enhancing the customer experience through improved processes, mobile-friendly services, and integrated touchpoints. It also requires buy-in from executive leadership to prioritize the needs of digital customers.
Consumer trust has become the new battleground for digital success. To win, organizations need to master the fundamentals of data ethics, manage the "give-to-get" ratio and solve the customer trust equation, our recent research reveals.
Digital transformation report sweden july 2017Ola Reppling
Digital Transformation Report 2017
@Qvartz and Microsoft have interviewed leading Swedish companies in many industries about Digital Transformation and the practical aspects of it. Understanding the What, Why and How of Digital Transformation. There are many commonalities across industries and between companies, but my key take-away is that there is no silver bullet. You can’t use the cookie cutter and use the same solution over and over again. Each company and situation is different and therefor each company approach needs to be different, both in What, How and timing. This report strengthens my view that Microsoft is in a unique position to support our customers as we continue to invest in both our platform, but more importantly, in our customer relationships.
When we are in a strategic partnership with our customers we can really support them in all stages of the Digital Transformation Maturity Curve. Many of our larger customers have different units/divisions that are in different stages of the maturity curve and Microsoft’s flexible, scalable and versatile platform and way of working allows us to support the customer as needed in throughout the company.
The report also reinforces the validity and importance of Microsoft’s four pillars of Digital Transformation: Engage your customer, Empower your employees, Optimize your operations and Transform your products.
The report will give you a benchmark of where Swedish customers are on their Digital Transformation journey and some insights into the What, Why and How.
An explanation of eCommerce Trends for 2015. Discussion of eCommerce on Mobile, Responsive Design, UPS and FedEx Dimensional Weight Changes, and advice for eCommerce Startups. Presented at #TechCampMemphis 2014 on November 1st, 2014.
101 Digital Transformation Statistics (2016) Jake Hird
The document provides statistics related to digital transformation from various reports published in 2016. Some key findings include:
- Around 33-47% of companies have not fully embarked on digital transformation or do not have a comprehensive strategy.
- 50-55% of companies say developing new skills and changing culture are major challenges of digital transformation.
- Around 57-88% of companies cite that implementing new technologies such as cloud, mobile, and data analytics is critical to digital transformation efforts.
The Millennials are Coming! Are You Ready?Scott Gunther
At the 2015 CX Design & Implementation Conference in Sydney in November 2015, IAG shared how they are changing how they interact with customers & partners, through innovative products, services & solutions.
14 Shocking Digital Transformation & Digital Economy StatisticsDATUM LLC
Read these 14 statistics to gain insight into what the digital economy is becoming and why digital transformation is so important.
These statistics help demonstrate how complex the digital economy is becoming and why we are passionate about simplifying enterprises’ data challenges. We help enterprises develop a sustainable data governance model through our software solution Information Value Management®.
Ubiquitous Computing and the In-Store Shopping ExperienceRosetta Marketing
Jonathan Morgan, Experience Director at Rosetta, unpacks "Ubiquitous Computing and the In-Store Shopping Experience" in his presentation to UXPA Cleveland.
This document discusses List Services Corporation (LSC), a company that provides marketing automation, CRM, database, and digital services. It summarizes LSC's history since being founded in 1980 and acquiring other digital brands. It also introduces the PIE (Personalized Interaction Engine), which analyzes customer behavior across channels to provide insights. Finally, it describes LSC's capabilities around capturing customer data, mapping IP addresses to organizations, and using contextual advertising and keywords to target accounts.
Top 8 digital transformation trends shaping 2021run_frictionless
In a world that’s increasingly dependent on digital, IT’s role is more critical than ever. To meet rising demands, organizations are accelerating their digital transformation. This report identifies the top 8 technology trends that will face CIOs, IT leaders, and organizations in their digital transformation journey in 2021.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
2014 Global Programmatic Insights Report: From Scale to SophisticationJaldous888
The 2014 Global Programmatic Insights Report is the first study of both buying and selling behaviors in the OpenX marketplace, covering programmatic trading across screen types and buying models.
The global programmatic industry saw substantial growth in 2014, driven in large part to the increasing sophistication among buyers and sellers. We continue to see important trends emerging such as the substantial growth of mobile channels and configurable buying/selling models making programmatic an increasingly desirable transaction method for digital advertisers who are now more than ever interested in collecting and executing deals backed by audience data.
Visit http://openx.com/blog/ to view our Infographic
The document provides an overview and executive summary of Accenture's Technology Vision for 2016. The three key points are:
1) Digital technologies are now dominant in every sector of the economy, but many companies are experiencing "digital culture shock" as they struggle to adapt their organizations, people and cultures to the pace of change.
2) To succeed, companies must build a digital culture based on four pillars: being built for change, being data-driven, embracing disruption, and being digitally risk aware.
3) The five technology trends highlighted are intelligent automation, liquid workforce, platform economy, predictable disruption, and digital trust - with each trend emphasizing that people, not just technology, will underpin
The digital paradigm is delivering an insurmountable amount of data that organisations are able to exploit to define new customer experiences and drive business growth. For companies to realise the full value of this corporate asset, there needs to be executive ownership and direction in the boardroom.
eMarketer Webinar: Retail Ecommerce Outlook—Tallying the True Impact of DigitaleMarketer
Ecommerce sales continue to grow as a percentage of overall retail, but the true impact of digital shopping goes far beyond the final click. Topics in this webinar include: What does double-digit growth in ecommerce sales mean for retail overall? How are innovative retailers responding to the convergence of digital and physical shopping? How do tablet and smartphone usage differ, and what does it mean for digital shopping and buying?
Presentation given by Douglas Smith of HolyTornado! at the Marketing Innovations Summit in Genk, Belgium on the need for innovation in retail. http://www.marketinginnovation.eu/
The CPG Digital Revolution: Moving from Analog to Digital Operating Modelaccenture
The digital revolution is blurring the boundaries between consumers, stores and brands and forcing consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to rethink their digital operating model. Accenture identified six ways CPG companies can prosper. View our infographic for more info: http://www.accenture.com/redefineCPGdigital
1) The retail industry in Mexico has undergone significant changes with the rise of digital technologies and ecommerce, though many retailers have failed to fully leverage the potential of digital channels.
2) Digital devices are increasingly influencing consumer purchasing behaviors both online and in stores.
3) Retailers need to integrate their digital and physical shopping experiences and properly address consumer needs and wants in order to close the "new digital divide".
The document provides an overview of trends in the in-store consumer shopping experience as it relates to the evolution of point-of-sale (POS) technology and digital/mobile commerce. It notes that consumers are increasingly using mobile technologies like smartphones to research products, compare prices, and make purchases both in-store and online. This has disrupted traditional retail models and benefited online retailers. It also discusses the convergence of coupons, loyalty programs, and payments onto digital platforms and the growth of mobile payments. Retailers face threats from "showrooming" but can counter this with integrated digital offerings that provide personalized deals and experiences to consumers.
[Earley] Building a Successful Digital Transformation RoadmapDuy, Vo Hoang
Digital transformation will be a top priority for boardroom
executives during 2016. Here are some data points:
• 125,000 enterprises expect revenue from their digital
initiatives to increase by 80% by 2020 (Gartner)
• Digital transformation initiatives will more than double by
2020, from 22% to almost 50% (IDC)
• Only 27% of businesses have a coherent digital strategy for
creating customer value in place (Forrester)
Are you ready for digital transformation? Do you have a digital
transformation roadmap? Does it lay a solid foundation for a
successful transition to your future digital business? In order to
succeed, you need to start with a current assessment, identify
gaps and define the actions and resources required to fill those
gaps along the four paths of people, process, technology and
content.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to significant changes in consumer behavior and a rapid shift to online purchasing. Lockdowns and business closures forced people to do most or all of their shopping online. As a result, e-commerce grew exponentially from 14% of global retail in 2019 to 17% in 2020. This helped mitigate the economic downturn. New trends emerged like increased use of chatbots, mobile shopping, more payment options, and enhanced personalized experiences through AI, AR, and big data. The future impact of this rise in ecommerce on the economy remains uncertain.
The document discusses changes in the retail environment, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It notes that the pandemic accelerated existing trends like the rise of e-commerce, with non-store retail sales increasing 27% in the last year. It also discusses uneven recovery across retail sectors and the long-term decline of some brick-and-mortar stores even before the pandemic. The document examines issues like revenue and sales trends and the growth of e-commerce over the last decade.
Digital transformation involves more than just new technology investments. It requires realigning business models and technology to better engage digital customers throughout the customer experience lifecycle. While many companies report undergoing digital transformation, few have fully mapped customer journeys or aligned efforts across channels. True digital transformation unifies disparate digital initiatives under a common vision focused on enhancing the customer experience through improved processes, mobile-friendly services, and integrated touchpoints. It also requires buy-in from executive leadership to prioritize the needs of digital customers.
Consumer trust has become the new battleground for digital success. To win, organizations need to master the fundamentals of data ethics, manage the "give-to-get" ratio and solve the customer trust equation, our recent research reveals.
Digital transformation report sweden july 2017Ola Reppling
Digital Transformation Report 2017
@Qvartz and Microsoft have interviewed leading Swedish companies in many industries about Digital Transformation and the practical aspects of it. Understanding the What, Why and How of Digital Transformation. There are many commonalities across industries and between companies, but my key take-away is that there is no silver bullet. You can’t use the cookie cutter and use the same solution over and over again. Each company and situation is different and therefor each company approach needs to be different, both in What, How and timing. This report strengthens my view that Microsoft is in a unique position to support our customers as we continue to invest in both our platform, but more importantly, in our customer relationships.
When we are in a strategic partnership with our customers we can really support them in all stages of the Digital Transformation Maturity Curve. Many of our larger customers have different units/divisions that are in different stages of the maturity curve and Microsoft’s flexible, scalable and versatile platform and way of working allows us to support the customer as needed in throughout the company.
The report also reinforces the validity and importance of Microsoft’s four pillars of Digital Transformation: Engage your customer, Empower your employees, Optimize your operations and Transform your products.
The report will give you a benchmark of where Swedish customers are on their Digital Transformation journey and some insights into the What, Why and How.
An explanation of eCommerce Trends for 2015. Discussion of eCommerce on Mobile, Responsive Design, UPS and FedEx Dimensional Weight Changes, and advice for eCommerce Startups. Presented at #TechCampMemphis 2014 on November 1st, 2014.
101 Digital Transformation Statistics (2016) Jake Hird
The document provides statistics related to digital transformation from various reports published in 2016. Some key findings include:
- Around 33-47% of companies have not fully embarked on digital transformation or do not have a comprehensive strategy.
- 50-55% of companies say developing new skills and changing culture are major challenges of digital transformation.
- Around 57-88% of companies cite that implementing new technologies such as cloud, mobile, and data analytics is critical to digital transformation efforts.
The Millennials are Coming! Are You Ready?Scott Gunther
At the 2015 CX Design & Implementation Conference in Sydney in November 2015, IAG shared how they are changing how they interact with customers & partners, through innovative products, services & solutions.
14 Shocking Digital Transformation & Digital Economy StatisticsDATUM LLC
Read these 14 statistics to gain insight into what the digital economy is becoming and why digital transformation is so important.
These statistics help demonstrate how complex the digital economy is becoming and why we are passionate about simplifying enterprises’ data challenges. We help enterprises develop a sustainable data governance model through our software solution Information Value Management®.
Ubiquitous Computing and the In-Store Shopping ExperienceRosetta Marketing
Jonathan Morgan, Experience Director at Rosetta, unpacks "Ubiquitous Computing and the In-Store Shopping Experience" in his presentation to UXPA Cleveland.
This document discusses List Services Corporation (LSC), a company that provides marketing automation, CRM, database, and digital services. It summarizes LSC's history since being founded in 1980 and acquiring other digital brands. It also introduces the PIE (Personalized Interaction Engine), which analyzes customer behavior across channels to provide insights. Finally, it describes LSC's capabilities around capturing customer data, mapping IP addresses to organizations, and using contextual advertising and keywords to target accounts.
Top 8 digital transformation trends shaping 2021run_frictionless
In a world that’s increasingly dependent on digital, IT’s role is more critical than ever. To meet rising demands, organizations are accelerating their digital transformation. This report identifies the top 8 technology trends that will face CIOs, IT leaders, and organizations in their digital transformation journey in 2021.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
2014 Global Programmatic Insights Report: From Scale to SophisticationJaldous888
The 2014 Global Programmatic Insights Report is the first study of both buying and selling behaviors in the OpenX marketplace, covering programmatic trading across screen types and buying models.
The global programmatic industry saw substantial growth in 2014, driven in large part to the increasing sophistication among buyers and sellers. We continue to see important trends emerging such as the substantial growth of mobile channels and configurable buying/selling models making programmatic an increasingly desirable transaction method for digital advertisers who are now more than ever interested in collecting and executing deals backed by audience data.
Visit http://openx.com/blog/ to view our Infographic
The document provides an overview and executive summary of Accenture's Technology Vision for 2016. The three key points are:
1) Digital technologies are now dominant in every sector of the economy, but many companies are experiencing "digital culture shock" as they struggle to adapt their organizations, people and cultures to the pace of change.
2) To succeed, companies must build a digital culture based on four pillars: being built for change, being data-driven, embracing disruption, and being digitally risk aware.
3) The five technology trends highlighted are intelligent automation, liquid workforce, platform economy, predictable disruption, and digital trust - with each trend emphasizing that people, not just technology, will underpin
The digital paradigm is delivering an insurmountable amount of data that organisations are able to exploit to define new customer experiences and drive business growth. For companies to realise the full value of this corporate asset, there needs to be executive ownership and direction in the boardroom.
eMarketer Webinar: Retail Ecommerce Outlook—Tallying the True Impact of DigitaleMarketer
Ecommerce sales continue to grow as a percentage of overall retail, but the true impact of digital shopping goes far beyond the final click. Topics in this webinar include: What does double-digit growth in ecommerce sales mean for retail overall? How are innovative retailers responding to the convergence of digital and physical shopping? How do tablet and smartphone usage differ, and what does it mean for digital shopping and buying?
Presentation given by Douglas Smith of HolyTornado! at the Marketing Innovations Summit in Genk, Belgium on the need for innovation in retail. http://www.marketinginnovation.eu/
Blockchain: A Potential Game-Changer for Life InsuranceCognizant
As a shared, secure, distributed ledger that works in a peer-to-peer environment, blockchain technology can benefit the insurance industry in numerous ways throughout the value chain. We explore several use cases, including death claims processing, to illustrate blockchain's ability to streamline cumbersome workflows, reduce errors and fraud, increase auditability and confer competitive advantage.
Conversant - Retail Marketer Insights The State of Digital and the Future of ...Conversant, Inc.
The study, conducted in December 2013 and January 2014, solicited information and opinions from leading
senior-level retail marketers. The digital opportunities and challenges covered in the study varied from the
current role that digital plays in marketing programs to the burgeoning interest and importance of personalized
one-to-one marketing.
For the retailer, this study provides a benchmark for today’s attitudes and efforts compared to those of a crosssection
of other retail industry leaders.
In addition, retail is often the “first mover” in digital when it comes to programs with a strong likelihood of ROI
impact. Thus, these findings are very relevant to marketers outside of the retail/e-tail sector.
This document discusses the digital transformation of retail in China. It notes that China has become the world's largest tech market, with over 90% internet penetration and the largest number of mobile phone and smartphone users. E-commerce is growing massively in China, and is set to surpass the US to become the largest e-commerce market by 2020. Chinese consumers now engage with retailers through multiple digital channels like mobile apps, social media, and QR codes. E-commerce provides more choice, convenience and better service than bricks-and-mortar stores. Retailers are leveraging both digital and traditional channels to drive more sales. Orange Business Services helps retailers with digital transformation, e-commerce infrastructure, and omni-channel solutions
How Decision-Support Tools Cure the Prior Authorization Time DrainCognizant
A collaboration between Cognizant, the New England Healthcare Exchange Network and Informatics In Context is demonstrating how a real-time prior authorization (PA) system for medical and administrative processes saves time and money.
GridGain Systems provides an in-memory data grid (IMDG) that offers extremely low latency access to application data stored fully in memory. Key features of GridGain's IMDG include support for distributed ACID transactions, scalable data partitioning, integration with in-memory compute grids, and datacenter replication to ensure high availability. The IMDG allows applications to work directly with domain objects and provides SQL querying capabilities for fast analysis of in-memory data.
The retail industry is in the throes of transformation. Multi-channel retailing has become the norm of the day with the advent of mobility and self-service models. Retailers are seeking to stay ahead of the technology curve and meet new customers’ demands and buying behavior. Today’s customer is more consummate and discerning and not averse to sharing personal information for a better and perhaps preferential treatment. Thus, retailers are seeking to be ubiquitous in today’s digital world trying to garner customer information in their efforts to maximize their reach and points of sale. The role of modern identity management in the retail industry thus plays a dual role. Managing the identity of the customers while grappling with the employee identities to meet the challenges of the reality of remote operations. In this context, we make a cursive examination on the transformation in the retail industry and the data driven decision making that is expected to drive the industry. We also shed light on one of the world’s most renowned identity management infrastructures—in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—and examining how reliable identity management systems can facilitate and enable the retail industry in their digital transformation.
Digital Transformation in 2015: Laying the Groundwork for SuccessPerficient, Inc.
Digital transformation is defined as, “The realignment of, or new investment in, technology and business models to more effectively engage digital customers at every touch point in the customer experience lifecycle.”
Digital transformation is driving the way you interact with customers across all channels. It touches all aspects of your business including cloud, customer experience, eCommerce, integration, CRM, digital marketing, mobile, collaboration, analytics and Big Data solutions.
To help you prepare, Perficient presents a webinar series focused on laying the groundwork for success with your digital transformation strategy.
Our webinar covered:
-What digital transformation is, and why it’s important
-The technologies driving digital transformation
-What governance, silo breakdown, and process changes are involved
-How to get started with your digital transformation initiative
GridGain and Hadoop are complementary technologies that can work together. Hadoop is well-suited for batch processing large datasets stored on disk for analysis, while GridGain is designed for low-latency, real-time processing of data cached in memory. GridGain can integrate with Hadoop by periodically snapshotting data to HDFS for analysis or by loading data from HDFS into its in-memory data grid for faster querying and processing. Together, these technologies provide a way to analyze data throughout its lifecycle from the operational system to the data warehouse.
Join eMarketer Principal Analyst Jeffrey Grau as he highlights eMarketer’s new US retail ecommerce forecast, predicting how this channel will develop over the next five years and discussing the implications for retailers.
- The document provides information about Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company. It details Accenture's business, clients, people and values, career opportunities, and an award program for students.
- Accenture employs over 170,000 people globally and 1,500 in Ireland. It works with many of the world's top companies and governments.
- The document promotes Accenture as a desirable employer and discusses its focus on developing people through training, career progression, and programs like the Leaders of Tomorrow award for students.
Clive Woodger's conference about the Ultimate Retail Brand Experience. Organised by 3M Colombia. The main topics were: The Empowered Consumer, Retail Touchpoint's, Retail Transformations and Transformation Challenges.
The 10x Effect - Unlocking the Business Transforming Secrets of Exponenital10x Nation
Our world is on the precipice of a major paradigm shift in business.
The age of cumbersome corporate giants is coming to a close. And the age of the agile exponential business is coming online.
The pace and scope of growth in technology has made the status quo model of scarcity-centered business almost completely obsolete.
On the flip side, these ever-accelerating technologies are allowing abundance-minded businesses to do far more with far less.
Embracing exponential practices like cloud computing, crowd-sourcing, and staff-on-demand have allowed a new generation of companies to experience unprecedented growth, scalability, and agility.
But how can embracing these exponential changes affect positive change in your business?
Collective Intelligence: Filling the Insurance Talent GapCognizant
By combining the skills and acumen of in-house personnel, intelligent machines, independent contractors and external resource pools, insurance companies can offset talent shortages; perform complex tasks faster; take on heavier workloads, and dramatically improve efficiencies. All while trimming overhead, maintaining compliance, and boosting overall business performance.
The document discusses Coop Denmark, the largest retailer in Denmark. It describes Coop's digital transformation efforts to become more customer-centric and personalized. This involves collecting customer data to understand individual customers' needs and enable personalized experiences. The head of Customer Data Services, Mark Chaudhry, facilitates Coop's customer data strategy and innovation initiatives like pretotyping to validate ideas early. Historic challenges included data, people and processes operating in silos. Overcoming these required changes to capabilities, strategies, structures, and mindsets.
How luxury brands are embracing Digital Transformation - ArabNet Riyadh 2015ArabNet ME
Speaker: Christian Nucibella, Founder & CEO, FiloBlu
كلمة: كيف تتعامل العلامات التجارية الفاخرة مع التحول الرقمي
كريستيان نوسيبلا، المؤسس والمدير التنفيذي، فيلو بلو
The digital economy is entering a new era that presents unprecedented challenges for all CEOs. This has given rise to new opportunities for luxury brands that request a new approach to e-Retail management.
Through a selection of meaningful case studies, the presentation will explain how fashion brands of the calibre of Santoni, Maliparmi and Philipp Plein are embracing digital transformation.
Helping Pharmas Manage Compliance Risks for Speaker ProgramsCognizant
To avoid stiff fees, reputation damage and the imposition of corporate integrity agreements (CIAs), pharmaceuticals companies need to monitor their speaker programs carefully for compliance to a suite of regulations. We identify those rules and outline a rigorous process based on relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) that will enable pharmas to head off these potential major hits to their bottom line.
IAB Netherlands report: Report on Digital Marketing Innovation IAB Europe
With this survey, IAB Netherlands charts the digital innovation agenda of leading marketers in the Netherlands. In cooperation with Deloitte Digital we had interviews with 22 top marketers about the state of digital marketing in their organizations and we spoke about their expectations for the coming 3 years.
In this white paper, we’ll spread the light on such issues as:
- What big data is
- How data science creates a real value in retail
- 5 big data use-cases revealing how retail companies can turn their customers’ data in action
In today’s business environment, digital transformation has turned into a necessity to cope with persistent business needs of customer acquisition and brand building. However, the prospect of revamping is an opportunity offered by Digitalization and successfully transformed businesses can become industry leaders to dominate the market.
Also, companies should know that disruption is at the core of such a change and the only way to succeed is to create and follow a comprehensive plan. Moreover, the disruptive technologies can be adopted smartly to propel strategic growth.
As the future is all about innovative technologies such as Augmented Reality, IoT, Virtual Reality, etc., digitalization would eventually become the way of life, and the firms that can keep abreast with the digital macrocosm have better chance to succeed.
This document provides a process and checklist for developing an effective digital strategy. It outlines common barriers to digital strategy such as alignment, skills, silos, metrics, resources, culture and regulations. The process involves identifying a catalyst, building leadership support and a team, conducting research, co-creating a strategy, synthesizing it, gaining alignment, and implementing the strategy. Following this process can help brands adapt to digital disruptions and remain relevant.
Digital transformation is fundamentally changing people’s lives and the
ways companies do business. Around the world, we’re working to develop
solutions that give time back, make us safer and healthier, and bring
significant environmental benefits. People around the world are working
hard to create a future where we’re never delayed during air travel due to
mechanical issues. Where smart buildings have ambient intelligence that
allows meeting rooms to adjust to your preferences. They’re envisioning a
world where automobile accidents are almost nonexistent, and your car
becomes a living room or office on wheels. And a world where medical
treatment is personalized based on your DNA, dramatically improving your
health and quality of life. This is what Microsoft calls the digital difference.
We asked Harvard Business Review Analytic Services to help us look at the pace of innovation
and how prepared business leaders are for this change. We also wanted to know what projects
mattered most and what industries were most receptive to and ready for change.
We were surprised by the strategy gap and encouraged by the optimism. Business leaders know
their industries are ripe for transformation, and in most cases are eager to bring the benefits of
technology to their businesses.
At Microsoft, we aim to partner with business leaders to find the digital difference they can make.
Partnering with companies of all sizes, we recognize that one big idea isn’t enough anymore.
Decades ago an innovative shoe design, a beautiful device, or smartly designed software could
lead a company to achieve market dominance for a long time. But now micro revolutions occur
every 12-18 months, so companies must be in a continual state of transformation.
We are moving into a time when rapid innovation and speed to market are more critical than ever.
This makes the partnership between humans and machines critical—when we combine people’s
ideas and creativity with advanced technology, we get digital leadership.
A business leader interviewed for the study said we need to transform “the engine of the
company.” To do this, leaders need to bring in tech and cultural changes that empower their
employees, engage customers in new ways, optimize operations, and transform products.
Rebuilding an organization around these areas creates a fully digital company that can change
ahead of its customers and competition.
The document discusses the growing influence of digital technologies on retail shopping behaviors. It finds that while digital influence continues to grow, the rate of growth is slowing. Large e-commerce and digital platform companies now define customers' expectations for digital experiences. Brick-and-mortar retailers still lag behind in meeting these evolving customer needs and preferences. The document advocates that retailers focus internally on understanding their own customers and product categories better through analyzing customer journeys and behaviors within their own stores and data. This could provide more actionable insights than an outward focus on competitors.
To survive and thrive in the age of the customer,
businesses must become digital. While many
firms believe they have a digital strategy, few
are thinking about truly digitizing their business
strategy. Yet the pioneers of the digital revolution,
be they B2B or B2C firms, are driving increased
revenues through a superior digital customer
experience and are increasing efficiency and agility
through digital operational excellence. This report
outlines the driving forces behind digital business.
This is an update of a previously published report;
Forrester reviews and updates it periodically for
continued relevance and accuracy. We revised
this edition to factor in new ideas and data.
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The Work Ahead: How Digital Thinking Separates Retail's Leaders from Laggards
1. RETAIL
How Digital Thinking Separates
Retail’s Leaders from Laggards
By Kevin Benedict and Shannon Warner
The Center for the Future of Work
2. The Work Ahead research series provides
insights and guidance on how businesses –
and jobs – will evolve in the digital economy.
In this installment, we look at the impact of digital transformation on the retail industry.
Following the rise of e-commerce, new business models have emerged that are inspired and
enabled by digital technologies and mindsets. Our research reveals a surprisingly wide gap
in how digital leaders and laggards perceive the digital future and are approaching these
changes. To achieve a leadership role and reap the rewards of digital opportunities, retailers
must quickly transform their thinking, IT infrastructures, doctrines and business strategies.
2 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
3. 3
THE WORK
AHEAD
IN RETAIL
George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, once said,
“You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.” In
our latest research on the future state of work
in the retail sector, we find many industry
executives struggling to imagine where the
future is leading them and their organizations,
not to mention the role digital technologies will
play along the way.
Traditional retailers are challenged by rapidly
emerging new business models, such as Amazon
Go and Facebook’s launch of its digital commerce
platform, Marketplace. Moreover, pioneering
companies in the sharing economy (i.e., Uber)
are expanding from their initial markets into
areas such as food delivery, while insurgent
retailers, such as Sun Basket,1
are combining
digital and social media platforms, mobile apps
and massive volumes of new data to encroach
on retailers’ territory. These nontraditional
competitors are changing the rules of the retail
game via disruptive strategies.
To better understand the strategies and
technologies that digital transformation
requires, Cognizant’s Center for the Future of
Work, surveyed 500 executives from the retail
industry across 18 countries, in partnership with
renowned economist Nouriel Roubini. (For more
on the study methodology, see page 21, and
read our foundational paper, “The Work Ahead:
Mastering the Digital Economy.”)
Sadly, our research shows a significant number
of retailers making decisions and forming
strategies based on outdated attitudes, fears
and misunderstandings.
Given all the hype around digital, and the available
data on its increasing importance, it is surprising
to see enormous and persistent differences in
thinking between retail’s digital leaders and
laggards. (See Appendix I, page 21, for how we
defined leaders and laggards.) Digital leaders
tend to experience higher revenue growth, and
their attitudes about digital technologies suggest
they will keep their leadership position. Their
perspective on how retail jobs and work will be
transformed as a result of digital is also more
evolved, as are their ideas on the vastly new and
enhanced skills that will be needed to support
tomorrow’s retail environment.
4. 4 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
Digital laggards see an alternate reality. They place far less importance on digital technologies
and their future role, and they show higher levels of fear and concern about digital overall. Our
findings reveal a reluctance among laggards to digitally transform their thinking, IT infrastructures,
doctrines and business strategies. If they remain on this track, their companies could find
themselves in dire straits.
This report digs deeply into the differences in thinking between digital leaders and laggards,
as well as between high- and low–revenue-growth retailers, and highlights strategies that can
be employed to achieve and maintain digital leadership.
We also delve into the role that “mental constructs” and personal attitudes play in separating
retailing’s digital leaders from laggards. We explore how the thinking of digital leaders results
in differentiated strategies, greater returns and improved results. We reveal the differences
between leaders and laggards in their digital technology investments, and then analyze how
leaders believe digital implementations should be sequenced between now and 2025. We also
scrutinize the perceptions of frontline retail managers in terms of the mistakes they believe are
being made by executives when it comes to digital transformation.
Digital leaders tend to experience higher revenue
growth, and their attitudes about digital technologies
suggest they will keep their leadership position.
5. 5
Key Findings
Our research reveals several key trends that retailers
need to embrace in the work ahead:
Digital commerce outpaces brick-and-
mortar. Already a significant retail driver,
digital commerce is predicted to increase in
importance by 68% for surveyed retailers
between now and 2020. This trend has
motivated many retailers to invest
strategically in digital technologies.
Digital leaders outperform digital laggards.
There is a correlation between companies with
strong revenue growth and digital leadership,
and retailers with a higher percentage of online
sales. Companies that have experienced early
digital commerce success are also likely to
express a more positive outlook on the value of
digital technologies to the overall business.
Retailers don’t know if they are winning
the race. Many retailers find it difficult to
evaluate their relative digital maturity and
how they compare with competitors.
Digital leaders think differently about
the role and value of digital technologies,
including the ability of these tools to enable
competitive advantage in the form of revenue
growth, and positively impact work and jobs.
As a result, leaders are developing more
aggressive technology plans and strategies
than digital laggards.
Digital technologies will transform jobs in
positive ways. Digital leaders believe
digital technologies will help them increase
efficiency, manage people better, work
faster, be more creative and innovative,
make better decisions, boost freedom and
flexibility, and even help them make more
money by 2020.
Digital leaders believe digital technologies
will have a big impact on work by 2020.
Far more so than laggards, digital leaders
believe work will be significantly impacted by
technologies such as business analytics and
artificial intelligence. They are simultaneously
concerned about data security and privacy,
bots, new regulations on digital businesses
and hyperconnectivity of people and things.
Retailers with very strong revenue growth
have different opinions than moderate
growth retailers as to which skills will be
needed by 2020. The biggest differences in
opinions are in the areas of fabrication,
verbal and written communications, language
and design skills.
6. 6 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
DIGITAL
COMMERCE:
THE MAKE-OR-
BREAK FACTOR
In 2016, total worldwide retail sales reached $22 trillion, of which digital commerce makes up
$1.9 trillion, or 8.7% of the total. While the majority of retail sales still occur in brick-and-mortar
stores, overall growth is predominantly driven by digital commerce, which was expected to expand
rapidly worldwide at a 23.7% growth rate in 2016, and by 2020 to represent 14.6% of total retail
spending of $27 trillion.2
Of course, digital commerce numbers vary depending on the product
category. Online sales penetration for many product types – electronics, apparel, furniture, home
improvement, etc. – are significantly higher than worldwide retail sales projections, while categories
such as petrol, convenience and grocery have a much lower penetration.
In the U.S., sales at department stores fell almost 6% in 2016, while online retail sales rose 11%.3
As a result, bricks-and-mortar retailers have been forced to re-evaluate their business performance,
and many, such as Sears, Macy’s, Aeropostale, Chico’s and American Eagle, have needed to close
stores. Still others – especially those who have failed to digitally transform – are going out of
business altogether, including The Limited and Wet Seal.4
In an industry with razor-thin margins
and intense competition, missing out on key growth opportunities is a ticket to irrelevancy,
or worse.
Given the rapid rise in digital commerce, retailers are increasingly concerned about profitability
since online sales are believed to contribute to margin erosion. In fact, some retailers fear that
an over-reliance on digital technologies will dilute margins. These concerns, however, are not
supported by our research. Rather, retailers with strong to very strong revenue growth, which
we correlate with digital leadership, also tend to realize higher profits.
7. 7
Digital Channels and Strategies
Retailers have enjoyed consistent revenue
growth through their digital channels for the
last several years. This growth is expected to
accelerate into the foreseeable future. In fact,
retailers are increasingly dependent on digital
commerce growth as sales soften through
traditional channels. In fact, 22% of retailers
in our study said they generate 30% or more
of their sales from digital channels. By 2020,
79% of retailers forecast they will receive 30%
or more of their sales from digital channels, a
massive 259% increase (see Figure 1).
Nearly all retailers (98%) achieve at least some
of their revenue through digital channels today;
most respondents anticipate much of their
future growth to be driven by digital commerce.
Retailers with exceptionally strong (11%-plus)
revenue growth already derive a higher
percentage of their sales from digital channels,
according to our research. These retailers also
forecast a more bullish future than lower
performing retailers (see Figure 2 , next page).gure 01: Growth in retail coming through digital channels
2020 79%
2015 22%
Source: Cognizant The Work Ahead Study 2016
Source: Cognizant Center for the Future of Work Response base: 500 retail industry executivesFigure1
Growth in Retail Coming through Digital Channels
The number of retailers receiving 30% or more of their sales through digital channels
will increase 259% by 2020.
8. 8 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
The Gap: Digital Leaders vs. Laggards
Our research found that digital leaders significantly outperform digital laggards. We even
found a correlation between the percentage of revenues from digital channels and digital
maturity. As an example, one-third of digital leaders currently receive 30% or more of their
sales through digital channels compared with just 4% of digital laggards. That gap will continue
through 2020, our research suggests.
There is also a correlation between digital leaders and retailers with very strong (11%-plus)
revenue growth. For example, retailers with very strong revenue growth account for 36% of
digital leaders in our study, but only 5% of those with strong revenue growth are categorized as
digital laggards. Our research finds digital leaders already have a head start on their digital
transformation, better attitudes about the value of digital technologies, greater revenue growth
and, generally, more organizational awareness about how to win in the highly competitive retail
environment. These characteristics are all proving to be key market advantages.
Follow the Money
Overall, 87% of retailers saw a revenue increase as a result of their digital technology investments
in 2015-2016. In fact, 45% of retailers with a record of very strong revenue growth realized a
12% or greater increase in digital revenue. However, digital technology investments are not a
panacea for success, as 59% of retailers with negative or flat revenue growth saw no change,
or actually experienced a revenue decrease as a result of their digital technology investment.
Our findings suggest investments in digital technologies on their own are not enough; rather,
success requires leaders to adopt a digital mindset, be willing to take action and embrace the
belief that today’s biggest growth opportunities reside in digital commerce.
gure 02: Retailers with higher revenue growth rates have more sales through digital channels
2020
2015
20%
40%
60%
80%
62%
71%
86%
92%
17% 20%
28%
22%
Very strongModerate StrongWeak
Percentofrespondents
Revenue growth level
Source: Cognizant Center for the Future of Work Response base: 500 retail industry executivesFigure2
Higher-Growth Retailers Sell More through Digital Channels
Comparison of companies reporting 30% or more of sales through digital channels in 2015 with their 2020
forecasts, and then separating them by revenue growth rates.
9. Given this analysis, it should come as no
surprise that 75% of companies with very
strong revenue growth said they had increased
their investments in digital technologies in
2015-2016; in contrast, 50% of companies with
negative to flat revenue growth made no
changes or reduced their investments in digital
technologies.
Retailers’ three-year plans suggest there may
be a split in retailing strategies in the near term,
with some organizations focusing on using
digital technologies to reduce costs (45%), and
others continuing to spend more to increase
their top lines (38%). Our research findings
suggest retailers with strong revenue growth
are more focused on investing in digital
technologies to grow the top line than to reduce
costs. This difference in focus puts cost-
reduction-obsessed retailers at risk of falling
even further behind.
Retailers with strong revenue growth are
more focused on digital investments to grow the
top line than to reduce costs.
9
10. 10 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
Figure 03: Digital laggards are concerned about digital technologies
Source: Cognizant Center for the Future of Work, 2016
Leaders Laggards
71.5%
25.2%
Digital Mindset Differences
One of the biggest epiphanies that emerged from our research is the difference in digital thinking
between leaders and laggards. Digital leaders see digital transformation as a positive, while digital
laggards express far more fears and concerns related to digital technologies. In fact, almost 72%
of digital laggards are concerned they are wasting money by investing in digital technologies,
but only 25% of digital leaders share those apprehensions (see Figure 3).
In our analysis, the worries expressed by some digital laggards are justified, as they may be the
result of existing IT environments that are incapable of delivering a real-time, contextually relevant
and personalized digital shopping experience. These concerns may also stem from leadership’s
unwillingness to adopt a digital mindset or invest in the required upgrades, technologies, doctrines,
strategies, skills and business processes to elevate their organization’s digital wherewithal.
A retailer’s attitude about the potential of digital technologies to positively impact business
performance is an important indicator of the company’s commitment to digital transformation
and is seen as a predictor of digital success. Digitally mature retailers are significantly more
enthusiastic about how digital impacts their work than digital laggards are. Our research findings
suggest a correlation between a retailer’s growth trajectory and its confidence that digital
technologies deployed between now and 2020 will have a positive impact on growth
Note: Percentages do not equal 100% because “average” respondents were not included in these findings.
Source: Cognizant Center for the Future of Work Response base: 500 retail industry executivesFigure3
Digital
Laggards
Express More
Concerns
about Digital
Technologies
Percentage of leaders
and laggards who are
moderately to
significantly
concerned with the
growing reliance on
digital technologies
at home and in the
office.
11. 11
THE IMPACT
OF DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGIES
ON JOBS
AND WORK
Retail executives at companies that are digital
leaders have a far more positive attitude than
laggards about the impact of digital technologies
on their jobs (see Figure 4 , next page). These
retail executives believe, at a significantly higher
level than those at laggard organizations, that
digital technologies will help them become more
efficient, manage people better, work faster, be
more creative and innovative, make better
decisions, provide more freedom and flexibility,
and make more money.
12. 12 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
When asked a more general question about the impact of digital on work, retail digital leaders
expressed their belief in a far stronger impact than digital laggards did (see Figure 5). The majority
of digital leaders feel business analytics, AI, concerns about security and privacy, bots, digital
technology regulations and practices will greatly impact work, as will the state of being hyper-
connected.
12
gure 04: Digital leaders see improved productivity
Digital technologies will:
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Laggards
Leaders
Help me make
more money
Give me more
freedom and
flexibility
Help me make
better decisions
Allow me to
be more creative
and innovative
Help me work
faster
Help me lead
and manage
people better
Help me work
more efficiently
71%
78%
83%
57%
79%
91%
89%
93%
69%
59%
64%
59%
54%53%
igure 05: Digital leaders see bigger technology impact on work
Source: Cognizant The Work Ahead Study 2016
Leaders
Laggards
0
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
BotsDigital
regulations
Hyperconnectivity Artificial
intelligence
Security and
privacy issues
Business
analytics
29%
63%
34%
61%
29%
61%
34%
67%
46%
65%
46%
75%
Source: Cognizant Center for the Future of Work Response base: 500 retail industry executivesFigure5
Leaders Optimistic about Digital’s Impact
Digital leaders have a far more positive attitude about how digital technologies
will impact their jobs.
Across Technologies, Leaders Expect Digital to
Have a Greater Impact on Work
Source: Cognizant Center for the Future of Work Response base: 500 retail industry executivesFigure4
13. 13
New and Enhanced Skills Needed in Retail
Retail executives with very strong revenue growth see a greater need for enhanced digital skills
by 2020 than do retail executives in all other revenue growth categories. The following list details
where the greatest differences in thinking exist between companies with very strong vs. moderate
revenue growth, as well as the percentage difference between the two groups’ estimation of the
skill area’s future importance:
• Fabrication skills (to support the design and production of customized products locally
through 3-D printing or other digital means). Percentage difference in perception of future
importance: 200% greater among executives at strong-growth retailers.
• Verbal communications skills. Percentage difference in perception of future importance:
169% greater among executives at strong-growth companies.
• Written communications skills. Percentage difference in perception of future importance:
128% greater among executives at strong-growth retailers.
• Language skills. Percentage difference in perception of future importance: 125% greater
among executives at strong-growth retailers.
• Design skills. Percentage difference in perception of future importance: 122% greater among
executives at strong-growth retailers.
We attribute the need for improved design, language
and communication skills to the increasing shift from
brick-and-mortar and face-to-face interactions to digital
ones, where the design of digital interfaces becomes
critical and the medium of communication moves to
online chat, AI-supported chat bots, audio and video.
As described earlier in this report, there is a close correlation between digital leaders and strong
revenue growth. That same pattern continues in forecasted skills. For example, digital leaders
believe design skills will be more important by 2020, at a rate 98% higher than digital laggards;
executives at strong-revenue-growth companies share this belief, at rates 122% higher than at
companies with moderate revenue growth rates.
We attribute the need for improved design, language and communication skills to the increasing
shift from brick-and-mortar and face-to-face interactions to digital ones, where the design of
digital interfaces becomes critical and the medium of communication moves to online chat,
AI-supported chat bots, audio and video.
14. 14 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
THREE WAVES
OF DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
While the business impact of digital technologies is forecast to increase between now and 2025
across all groups in our survey, digital leaders believe digital technologies will have a far greater
business impact than all other groups, and this uniquely influences their strategies, budgets and
investment plans. Our analysis of the forecasted retail business impacts of 23 digital technologies
reveals three waves of digital transformation:
• Disruptive transformation: The first era, which has developed over the past decade, introduced
massive changes through the evolution of social, mobile, analytics and cloud technologies (the SMAC
Stack), as well as cybersecurity.
• Hyper-digital transformation: The age of hyper-transformation is now emerging, a period of accel-
erated change in which retailers can quickly become digital laggards if they don’t adopt key digital
technologies between now and 2020.
• Ubiquitous transformation: In this third era, which will run through 2025, a wide range of digital
technologies will be implemented. These technologies will quickly mature and become mandatory to
retail viability. As a result, the digital technologies and business processes in place in 2025 will look
very different than they do today.
By understanding which digital technologies are important today, as well as in 2020 and 2025,
we can develop a critical roadmap that provides direction on when and how retailers should prioritize
the adoption and implementation of these technologies.
15. 15
Sequencing Digital Technologies in Retail
No organization can implement all digital technologies simultaneously due to budget and resource
limitations; instead, they need to prioritize their timing of digital initiatives, based on business
impact. By the end of the disruptive transformation era, at least 25% of digital leaders in our
study identify five digital technologies as having the biggest business impact: cybersecurity, big
data/business analytics, mobile technology, social media and cloud (see Figure 6).
Between now and 2020, retailers expect accelerated adoption of digital technologies. During this
age of hyper-digital transformation, nine additional digital technologies join the list of technologies
that at least 25% of digital leaders believe will have a large to very large business impact:
collaboration technologies, telepresence devices, artificial intelligence, digital currency, sensors/
IoT, software bots (for process automation), sharing economy platforms, hardware robots and
telematics. (See Figure 7, next page, for the full list of the 14 digital technologies in order of their
business impact.)
Between 2020 and 2025, at least 25% of retail digital leaders predict all 23 digital technologies
included in our survey will have a large to very large impact on their businesses. This expansive
list of technologies (see Figure 8, next page) includes nine additional digital technologies:
nanotechnology, geospatial information systems, drones, wearables, blockchain, virtual reality,
biotechnology, 3-D printing and autonomous self-driving cars.
Source: Cognizant The Work Ahead Study 2016
100% 80% 60% 40%
Cybersecurity 46%
Cloud 28%
Big data/business analytics 38%
Mobile technologies 35%
Social media 30%
Source: Cognizant Center for the Future of Work Response base: 500 retail industry executives, of which
90 are digital leaders.
Figure6
2016: Age of Disruptive Transformation in Retail
At least 25% of digital leaders predict these digital technologies
will have a large to very large business impact.
16. 16 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
Source: Cognizant The Work Ahead Study 2016
100% 80% 60% 40%
Cybersecurity 82%
Bots (process automation software) 51%
Sharing economy platforms 49%
Hardware robots 33%
Telematics 26%
Sensors/IoT 53%
Big data/business analytics 81%
Cloud 76%
Mobile technologies 71%
Social media 69%
Collaboration technologies 65%
Telepresence devices 63%
Artificial intelligence 62%
Digital currency 61%
Source: Cognizant Center for the Future of Work Response base: 500 retail industry executives, of which
90 are digital leaders.
Figure7
Source: Cognizant The Work Ahead Study 2016
Nanotechnology 56%
Sharing economy platforms 61%
Bots (process automation software) 63%
Telematics 63%
Telepresence devices 66%
Artificial intelligence 72%
Collaboration technologies 73%
Digital currency 73%
Social media 74%
Mobile technologies 79%
Cloud 80%
Sensors/IoT 80%
Cybersecurity 91%
Big data/business analytics 91%
Autonomous self-driving cars 46%
3d printing 48%
Biotechnology 52%
Virtual reality 52%
Blockchain 54%
Hardware robots 55%
Wearables 55%
Drones 56%
Geospatial information systems 56%
100% 80% 60%
Source: Cognizant Center for the Future of Work Response base: 500 retail industry executives, of which
90 are digital leaders.
Figure8
2020: Age of Hyper-Digital Transformation in Retail
At least 25% of digital leaders predict these
digital technologies will have
a large to very large
business impact.
2025: Age of Ubiquitous Transformation
At least 25% of digital leaders predict these
digital technologies will
have a large to very large
w business impact.
17. 17
CHALLENGES
AND MISTAKES
A key challenge that retailers face is the difficulty
of accurately judging where they are on the
digitalmaturitycurverelativetotheircompetitors.
There appears to be little expertise in making
this assessment; for example, 79% of digital
leaders don’t know they are ranked as leaders,
and only 56% of retailers ranked as average in
our study believe they are at this level. The other
44% in the average category mistakenly believe
they are either leaders or laggards. The lack of
competitive clarity makes it even more difficult
to develop an effective competitive strategy.
Our research suggests that retailers’ plans
reflect neither self-awareness nor a realistic
idea of what it will take to catch up or leapfrog
their competitors in this highly competitive
space. Namely, factors such as online sales
penetration, business performance, attitudes
about digital, planned technology investments
and efforts to close skill gaps do not align
with the progress retailers expect they’ll
make vs. their competitors over the next
three years.
Retailers’ plans reflect neither self-awareness nor a
realistic idea of what it will take to catch up or leapfrog
their competitors in this highly competitive space.
18. 18 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
As part of this research exercise, we also asked 125 retail managers about the biggest mistakes
they saw related to the digital transformation. Their top five answers were as follows:
1. Failing to stay fully on top of changing customers’ needs and behaviors.
2. Focusing insufficiently on cybersecurity.
3. Ignoring fresh thinking from outside the company.
4. Lacking a clear digital strategy.
5. Moving too slowly.
All five of these top answers are indeed critical to success. Retail executives would be well served
to take these opinions from retail managers on the frontlines to heart.
Digital Doctrine and Strategy
Digital transformation requires executives to have a vision for and understanding of what they
are trying to achieve. As Figure 9 reveals (next page), retail managers believe an unclear digital
strategy is among the biggest mistakes companies make when embarking on a digital transformation
strategy. Digital strategies flow from and are the result of an effective digital transformation
master “doctrine.” The purpose of a digital transformation doctrine is first to create a unified
understanding of why digital transformation is needed and, second, to guide all tactical digital
strategies that evolve from it. An organization’s digital doctrine should influence its strategy, its
operating model and the tactics it employs to compete.
An organization’s digital doctrine should influence its
strategy, its operating model and the tactics it employs
to compete.
19. 19
RECOMMENDATIONS
AND
NEXT STEPS
The behaviors and expectations of today’s consumers are rapidly evolving under the
influence of digital and mobile technologies; as a result, retail growth and profits are
quickly shifting to digital commerce. These changes require retail industry decision
makers to acquire real-time situational awareness, new digital strategies and a digital
mindset around business transformation.
Retailers must recognize and act proactively when customers, competitors and markets
change by deploying the appropriate digital strategies and technologies in the right
sequence to maximize returns and competitive advantage.
20. 20 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
As this report reveals, digital transformation is difficult. We recommend that retail executives
embrace the following action items:
• Recognize that the need for digital trans-
formation extends beyond websites and
mobile apps.
• Understand the degree of change
occurring in retail as a result of customers’
fast-changing behaviors.
• Judge accurately where the organization
stands on a digital technologies maturity
curve.
• Show the necessary leadership to change
strategies, budget priorities and plans based
on new market data, trends and insights,
and then make the required investments
in digital technologies, people and skills to
compete successfully.
• See that traditional channel-centric
strategies are no longer viable; rather,
retailers must adopt precise, customer-
centric strategies, enabled by digital tech-
nologies.
• Don’t excuse slow adoption of digital tech-
nologies, as the data is clear and compelling
and demands immediate action.
• Think with a digital mindset, intimately
understand the capabilities of digital tech-
nologies, understand digital’s role and
importance in customer interactions, and
develop new digital business models,
processes and strategies for supporting
today’s and tomorrow’s digital markets
and consumers.
• Realize that digital transformation and
the industry’s adoption of digital tech-
nologies are occurring on an accelerated
schedule that peaks around 2020. It waits
for no retailer’s budget cycles, three-year
master plan, leadership change or strategy.
• Align the pace of digital transforma-
tion initiatives with the speed at which
consumers are adopting digital technolo-
gies, behaviors, markets and thinking. This
might mean over-investment in the near
term to catch up or stay ahead of the com-
petition.
• Unify disparate digital transformation
initiatives behind a single company-wide
digital transformation doctrine – a guiding
statement that effectively describes the
reason for digital transformation, what
needs to happen and what winning looks
like. This doctrine must be used to direct
and shape the entire company’s efforts.
• Closely monitor the business impact of
rapidly emerging digital technologies
to ensure investments are prioritized and
acted upon in the right time and place to
maximize ROI and competitive advantage,
while also balancing the need to innovate
and embrace a fail-fast, test and learn
mentality.
• See how digital transformation will alter
traditional retail roles, responsibilities and
skills for all associates.
• Pay close attention to how digital
transformation shapes and changes
consumers’ interactions and experiences,
and train associates to best serve digitally
enabled consumers.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, “Change is the only constant in life.” In business, another
constant exists: While some companies will adapt to market changes, others won’t. The pace of
change across the industry landscape is accelerating like never before. Some retailers will choose
to deny, ignore and retrench, while others will embrace, adopt and lead. The race to digital
transformation is on, and there is no time for delay.
21. 21
Appendix
Leader vs. Laggard Calculation
Digital leaders were identified based on the responses to three questions:
• What percentage of your company’s revenues today is invested in all technologies — including
your central IT budget and spend by business units throughout your firm?
• Please estimate the percentage impact of using digital technologies on revenue and costs
over the last financial year for your organization.
• How does your company compare with other firms in your industry in applying digital tech-
nologies to transform business strategies, processes, and services?
“Leaders” account for 18% of the sample and achieved scores of 35 or more; “laggards” account
for 16% of the sample and achieved scores up to 15. The “average” group accounts for 66% of
the sample.
MethodologyandDemographics
We conducted a worldwide survey between December 15, 2015, and January 28, 2016, with 500
retail executives and 125 middle managers responsible for other employees. The executive and
manager survey was run in 18 countries in English, Arabic, French, German, Japanese and Chinese.
We used telephone interviews for executives and online surveys for the managers. The study
was conducted with research and economic support from Roubini ThoughtLab, an independent
thought leadership consultancy.
Footnotes
1 Sun Basket is a meal kit service provider that sends customers a box of pre-portioned meal
ingredients with easy-to-understand recipes. For more information, see the Sun Basket website:
https://www.sunbasket.com/.
2 “Worldwide Retail Ecommerce Sales Will Reach $1.915 Trillion this Year,” eMarketer, Aug. 22,
2016, https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Worldwide-Retail-Ecommerce-Sales-Will-Reach-1915-
Trillion-This-Year/1014369#sthash.aFcHGE6L.dpuf.
3 Josh Mitchell and Suzanne Kapner, “Car Buyers, Online Shoppers Lifted U.S. Retail Sales in
December, The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 13, 2017, http://www.wsj.com/articles/cars-gasoline-
lifted-u-s-retail-sales-0-6-in-december-1484314510.
4 Hayley Peterson, “A Giant Wave of Store Closures Is about to Hit the U.S.,” Business Insider,
Dec. 31, 2016, http://www.businessinsider.com/stores-closing-macys-kohls-walmart-sears-2016-12.
22. 22 | HOW DIGITAL THINKING SEPARATES RETAIL’S LEADERS FROM LAGGARDSTHE WORK AHEAD
Kevin Benedict is a Senior Analyst with Cognizant’s Center for
the Future of Work, and a popular technology pundit, writer and
keynote speaker with over 30 years of experience. He brings
a unique perspective as a veteran mobile industry executive
who has taught IT and business strategy workshops in 17
different countries over the past three years, and written over
3,000 articles.
Kevin can be reached at: Kevin. Benedict@cognizant.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
Twitter: @krbenedict
Read Kevin Benedict’s blog at:
http://www.futureofwork.com/author/details/kevin-benedict
About the Authors
Shannon Warner
Vice-President
Digital Experience Strategy
and Analytics
Cognizant’s Products and
Resources business unit
Shannon Warner is a Cognizant Vice-President, Digital Experience
Strategy and Analytics, within the company’s Products and
Resources business unit, which includes the retail, travel and
hospitality, manufacturing and logistics, energy and utilities
industries. In this capacity, Shannon’s focus is on enabling
clients to transform their customer experiences leveraging
digital technologies.
Shannon joined Cognizant in 2010 and has more than two decades
of experience in the retail industry and business consulting.
Prior to joining Cognizant, Shannon worked for Target for nearly
20 years where she managed the retailer’s relationship with
Amazon, started the company’s captive center in Bangalore,
India, and spearheaded numerous payment and loyalty programs.
As a recognized industry thought leader, Shannon is a frequent
speaker on digital customer experience and has done significant
primary customer research. She is sought after to provide digital
transformation business advice to her clients who are seeking to
develop cohesive, relevant, value-added customer experiences
across digital and traditional customer touchpoints. Shannon’s
areas of expertise include digital commerce, digital information
strategy and management, customer experience management,
digital marketing and loyalty, and program management.
Shannon can be reached at Shannon.Warner@cognizant.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/shannonlwarner/
Kevin Benedict
Senior Analyst
Cognizant’s Center for
the Future of Work