New frontier: How retailers should embrace technology

Shop floor robots, data analytics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, apps, touch screens and verbal devices. Not to mention digital pay. These are just some of the technological developments facing retailers today.

With new advancements happening in near real-time, predictive analytics clearly tells us stores can't afford to to miss out on the new frontier of retailing, with its lure of winning over more customers. The reality is that nobody is going to beat retailers such as Amazon in the digital sphere, so how do they keep up with the times?

Firstly, technology requires investment, and brands and retailers must realise that while stagnating and not embracing technology isn't good for business, buying into every new technology on offer won't solve a retailer's woes.

Retail strategy hasn't changed since the start of e-commerce

A touch screen and AI technology on a shop floor with a dull fashion offer isn't going to enhance any shopper's experience, let alone sell more clothes. A seamless online check out is a well-known value to customers, but if that store is producing uninspiring marketing promos and unpersonalised newsletters, the chances are customers aren't engaging enough to want to click on their websites. A retail strategy, thus hasn't particularly changed since the dawn of e-commerce, and if that strategy is flawed, no amount of technological investment can fix that.

The strategy to be successful at retail appears simple: to correctly identify your demographic and customer. Assisting them on their journey to discovering what they need, offering perfect product value and curation of interesting things, providing a personalized experience, and delivering a frictionless, easy path to purchase. Technology can advance each of these segments, and when done well can propel a retailer into that stratospheric niche of global success.

What we should note about technology is to figure out which are worth investing in. The next step is to find out novel ways of integrating them into your business systems to implement your strategy. When it is done well, technology will greatly empower retailers to engage with their consumers. It will allow them to provide an amazing experience and products, when, where and however the consumer wants it.

Photo credit: PFSK Future Fashion report