Research project envisages dramatic changes to retail instore and online as a result of technology trends
Research project envisages dramatic changes to retail instore and online as a result of technology trends
The Oxford Institute of Retail Management at Sa?d Business School late yesterday announced the launch of a major 18-month study into the future of retail at a time of unprecedented challenge and change.
Claiming “the traditional retail business model is clearly broken,” Dr Richard Cuthbertson, director of the Institute, who is leading the research said the experience of High Street chain GAME, now on the brink of collapse, is no longer unusual given the negative impact of retail sector change.
This included “redundancies, bankruptcies and takeovers, as retailers try to adjust to new channels and formats, reduce costs, improve efficiency and survive,” he said. “At the same time, emerging technologies are providing the best retailers with new opportunities to interact with customers, with greater potential to improve service, and increase loyalty, sales, and profitability.”
Comprehensive research project
Dr Cuthbertson, who first spoke to Retail Technology about the Intel-sponsored research at the Retail Business Technology Expo earlier this month, warned: “There will be no lessening of pressure on retailers.” Well known that factors such as rising retail costs, changing customer expectations, the need to rejuvenate and reshape town centres, remodel out-of-town stores, and develop the many opportunities presented by online and mobile technologies, all mean that the clock is ticking for traditional stores, he added. “Many retail businesses are actively reconsidering their business models and particularly thinking about the relationship between digital and traditional activities.”
He also said the institute has worked for more than 25 years in this area and that the project will build on that insight to chart the retail landscape and explore the challenges and opportunities facing retail organisations. “We will talk with individuals from all parts of the retail sector and with policy makers, and will review retail experience overseas as well as technology developments, to shape and test possible scenarios for retailing in the years ahead. The outcome will be the most thorough picture available of what the future of retailing may look like.”
The research project will particularly focus on the relationship between digital and physical retailing as retailers look for the optimum approach to managing these two offerings.
“Few retailers have yet developed a convincing strategic approach to effectively marrying online and in-store retail, and are failing to explore the opportunities the two platforms could present if aligned,” continued Dr Cuthbertson. “For many retailers the two platforms are only loosely related at best, and at worse, they actually compete with each other.
“We anticipate much more alignment of the two platforms from the best retailers, with richer digital experiences in store as customers use these facilities to review and test products, perhaps purchasing online – even if in-store. Digital media will transform the retail experience, vastly enhancing communication of product and service information, creating opportunities for customisation, and providing more options for customers.”
Technology to address challenges
Such a radical reconfiguring of retail will present a series of new challenges to retailers, who must simultaneously address back office support and supply-chain issues to efficiently service these innovations and to exploit fully the opportunities of developing technology. The research will explore many aspects of this transition from advances in mobile technologies, consumer analytics and ‘big data,’ the integration of new solutions with legacy systems, and the new security and privacy issues emerging as applications and data proliferate.
The scope of the study extends beyond technology alone and will take a broad view of retail change including the socio-economic implications such as new and varied employment opportunities and the reshaping of the traditional town centre.
“The pace of change in the retail landscape is unrelenting,” concluded Dr Cuthbertson, “and we will see a fundamental shift in retail practice and experience. The role of the store will be transformed by the presence of online in the store; the information instore is likely to encompass competitive price, product and service information in an era where customers can use smartphones to instantly check alternatives, and retailers might identify individual customers through loyalty programmes and mobile devices.
“How should retailers manage? What information should they be providing in-store and how should it be used? The study will offer valuable insights into these issues. What is certain, is that the retailers who thrive will have embraced change and adapted, putting customer requirements at the heart of their plans, rather than just clinging to the wreckage.”
