On May 19, Intellectsoft’s eCommerce experts went live for a one-hour session to discuss 5 strategies for proactive retailers to adopt in order to digitalize and grow their business and drive bigger revenue in 2021 and beyond.
The retail environment keeps changing impetuously and it’s important to stay on top of also changing consumer buying behavior which consists of a shift to digital channels, products, and services.
These changes open entirely new fronts for retail businesses to recover after the pandemic.
The webinar devoted to these latest retail trends and strategies was hosted by our Intellectsoft colleagues Pavel Laktionov who has more than 15 years of experience as a tech solution advisor and Tim Kozak who has more than 10 years of experience as a solution architect and is the winner of The 19th Annual American Business Awards.
During this exclusive webinar you will explore:
- Industry overviews: from challenges to future opportunities
- Key strategies retail business leaders should consider to achieve sustainable growth
- Intellectsoft approach to developing a digital strategy
Here are some key takeaways from the webinar but we encourage you to watch the full version to get it covered in detail.
As the pandemic unfolded all over the world and lockdowns became the new normal, all this had a drastic impact on the industry and customer behavior in particular.
According to new data from IBM’s U.S. Retail Index, the pandemic has accelerated the shift away from physical stores to digital shopping by roughly 5 years.
Department stores, as a result, are seeing significant declines. In the first quarter of 2020, department store sales and those from other “non-essential” retailers declined by 25%. This grew to a 75% decline in the second quarter.
In Walmart’s case, the pandemic helped drive e-commerce sales up 97% in its last quarter. Target set a sales record as its same-day fulfillment services grew 273% in the quarter.
Both retailers have also invested in online grocery, with Walmart today offering grocery pickup and delivery services, the latter through partners. Target has also just now rolled out grocery pickup and runs delivery through Shipt.
So much has changed for the retail industry in a short period. Let’s review some of the most formidable retail industry changes retail business leaders are facing.
Here are the main trends in the retail industry you should keep a close eye on:
- To stay relevant with the demand, retailers must make an investment in mobile technology, such as wireless payment terminals and receipt printers.
- Consumers were forced to adapt their buying behaviors from traditional in-person payments to online-driven alternatives Merchants that had omnichannel payment strategies in place were able to adapt quickly with online storefronts, mobile ordering, delivery, and/or curbside payments.
- For many retailers, COVID-19 has unexpectedly demonstrated the importance of managing critical supply chains and customer service using the right technology.
- An increase in mobile technology and unattended or self-service kiosks will also create a demand for wireless infrastructure and network security.
- With COVID-19 accelerating digital transformation and adoption across industry verticals, the Retail sector alone has invested in 3 years' worth of digital transformation within a span of 6 months.
- Global retailers invest in various technologies. Here is the list of the technologies that they consider: such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud, Augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR), Big Data, Blockchain, and Cybersecurity.
- There is a rising interest in strengthening inventory management systems with AI-based tools that not only make demand forecasts more accurate but also improve a retailer’s ability to satisfy a customer who walks in the door, whether physically or online.
- More and more retailers are enabling in-store customers to scan their items and check out using an app, without the need for going through a checkout line.
To get more information regarding the retail strategies and industry trends, follow the link to watch the full webinar.
Start Your Retail Business Digitalization With Intellectsoft
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