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| Subject: IBM and National Retail FederationPlans and Views on Future Technology | |
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Author: annual NRF convention in New York City.Jan 12, 2003 |
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Date Posted: 05:09:29 01/28/03 Tue pourquoi5 (ID#: 224751) IBM Retail Technology Study 28/1/03 11:52:12 PM 5971911 « Previous Message Next Message » The messsage from this detailed study is that the retailer innovators are gaining a competitive edge.Well yes..and..competitive edge inevitably provokes competitive response-we will see that simple truism come into play later this year I suspect. Majority of Retailers Lag in Creating "Store of the Future"; Face Competitive Threat From Innovators IBM and National Retail Federation Release New Survey of Retailers' Plans and Views on Future Technology ARMONK, NY -- Jan 12, 2003 -- Retailers driven by intense competition, a slow economy, and choosy consumers are increasingly seeking to exploit advanced technologies -- both in and out of the store -- to improve and differentiate the shopping experience. But a majority of leading retailers are still lagging in effectively using these technologies to create the "Store of the Future" and are beginning to lose competitive ground to a small group of innovators who are, according to a new IBM survey of retailers released today. The IBM Institute for Business Value, in association with the National Retail Federation, surveyed leading retailers in the United States and Europe in order to better understand how these retailers plan to build their "Store of the Future." The survey asked retailers to identify what technology initiatives they are likely to pursue, as well as the key challenges they will face in evolving the in-store experience. "In the retail industry today, we have increasingly discerning customers, who have grown accustomed to researching and buying products on the Internet and are demanding more services and information. Plus, we have heightened competition in mature, saturated markets that makes it more difficult for retailers to sustain differentiated brands and value propositions," said David Petiford, general manager, Worldwide Retail Industry, IBM. "Therefore, the rapid evolution and adoption of new technologies will help determine which retailers thrive in this new environment, and which ones fall behind. Our survey showed that retailers understand that, but are proceeding in different directions and at different speeds." The survey results showed four major themes about retailers' attitudes and priorities when it comes to how technology will shape shopping in the future: 1. Retailers are actively investing in employee empowerment and improved marketing effectiveness, while placing less priority on direct customer-facing capabilities. In order to drive higher productivity, more retailers are providing their employees with online access to a wide variety of useful data, as well as advanced applications and tools. Their marketing-related efforts have focused on building the back-end infrastructure necessary to collect customer data and develop insights from that information. Over 70 percent of the survey respondents stated they are "currently implementing" customer segmentation and data warehouse capabilities. Going forward, retailers will then need to pay attention to devising ways of exploiting these assets to improve marketing execution and customer satisfaction. 2. Significant opportunities remain unexploited, as a result of both business and technical challenges that include outdated point-of-sale systems, competing organizational priorities and budget constraints. Retailers identified a number of high-value initiatives that are not yet widely adopted. For instance, 55 percent of survey respondents said that giving store employees access to customer purchase records would be "extremely effective" in improving the returns process and optimizing sales -- but only one-fifth are making this happen today. Technical and business challenges remain key obstacles to retailers' future store strategies. More than 40 percent of respondents stated that outdated point-of-sale (POS) systems, competing organizational priorities and budget constraints were all "very significant" challenges to improving the customer shopping experience. These fundamental issues will need to be addressed before retailers can truly innovate. 3. A small group of innovators is taking the lead. By testing the limits of what's possible in the store environment, these early adopters may be able to distance themselves from competitors and create a "Store of the Future" that appeals to informed, empowered customers and creates true differentiation in shopping. The survey showed that a small but consistent subset of retail competitors appears to be most active in testing a variety of cutting-edge techniques, such as delivering personalized promotions to personal mobile devices and deploying digital media displays in their stores. These innovative strategies are often focused on providing choosy customers with highly valued new access points and services. 4. Retailers are not taking full advantage of the multi-channel opportunity. Many retailers are still playing "catch up" and have significant gaps in their multi-channel shopping capabilities. This survey result was somewhat surprising given that 40 percent of the respondents were from department and specialty stores, segments where online shopping is highly penetrated, and that nearly all stated that cross-channel shopping was "moderately" or "extremely prevalent" in their customer base. Furthermore, when asked about the importance of different steps of the shopping process to enhance the overall customer experience, most retailers in the survey said that the first step -- obtaining information pre-store -- was the least important. "However, these retailers appear to be underestimating the growing population of consumers who research competing offerings on the Internet," said Julian J. Chu, leader of the IBM Institute for Business Value's retail practice and director of the survey. "Consequently, they may be missing an opportunity to create and strengthen relationships with customers before those customers even walk in the store. In order to truly improve the future shopping experience, retail executives need to ensure that their strategic perspective is not limited to their stores' four walls." About the Survey IBM conducted this survey in association with the National Retail Federation, distributing the survey in October - November 2002 to retailers with annual sales of at least $100 million. The survey targeted senior business executives with titles such as CEO, President, Chairman, VP Sales, VP Marketing and VP Store Operations. The respondents included retailers in nearly every industry segment, including grocery, drug, discount, specialty, department and convenience. However, 40 percent were from department and specialty apparel/accessory/sporting goods stores. The sample comprised many of the largest players in the retail industry: 84 percent of the respondents represent companies with annual revenues greater than $500 million, and 65 percent had sales over $1 billion. The surveys were delivered by mail or in-person, and the data was collected by a third-party market research firm (Hudson Group, New York) retained by IBM. The IBM Institute for Business Value completed the analysis. The results of the survey were presented at the annual NRF convention in New York City. « Previous Message Next Message » This message has been viewed times Report a BullBoards Violation Ignore pourquoi5 Post Reply View Threads [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |