{"id":3779,"date":"2016-11-23T10:08:00","date_gmt":"2016-11-23T10:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/the-digital-shopper-will-define-the-future-of-retail\/"},"modified":"2016-11-23T10:08:00","modified_gmt":"2016-11-23T10:08:00","slug":"the-digital-shopper-will-define-the-future-of-retail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/the-digital-shopper-will-define-the-future-of-retail\/","title":{"rendered":"The Digital Shopper Will Define the Future of Retail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like many Americans, I’ll spend this coming “Black Friday” nursing a turkey hangover and shopping the Amazon iPhone app from the couch instead of battling mall crowds.  By most accounts, this year’s seasonal retail projections are better than last<\/a>, but surviving in an increasingly intense competitive environment is no easy feat for retailers.  At the heart of the issue is a clear call to arms to understand and satisfy a digitally savvy shopper. So how can retailers and their service providers rise to the challenge of supporting the digital end customer?<\/p>\n

Retailers have to embrace disruption or risk replacement<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The retail industry is in the midst of monumentous disruption, with the advent of ecommerce and rapidly increasing shopper expectations for an easy, seamless experience.  It isn’t just about the shiny front end experience with sexy websites and mobile apps, it’s about an integrated back and middle office that supports those experiences, much like the OneOffice endgame<\/a> we’ve been talking about. <\/p>\n

Most important for retailers now is bridging online and in-store experiences.  While online sales are still a relatively small percentage of retail revenues today, smart retail organizations are paying close attention to ecommerce trends in order to avoid a slip into obsolescence, “Blockbuster style.”  Traditional retailer bankruptcies and store closing announcements seem constant, while competition among brick and mortar and online shopping sites alike is fierce.  Some traditional retailers are betting on unique in-store experiences to revitalize flagging sales, while others are leveraging their vast physical presences to bolster omnichannel sales as points of pick-up or shopping of online purchases.  Traditional retail giants like Walmart<\/a> are betting big on competing in the online shopping space, with its recent acquisition of Jet.com, and it seems like all business are trying to live up to the expectations of the quick, seamless, personalized experience—the “Amazonization” of consumer culture.  Meanwhile, the need to support customers who expect to shop using mobile apps on their smartphones and tablets adds another dimension to ensuring competitive relevance. <\/p>\n

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Click to enlarge<\/a><\/p>\n

Automation and cognitive at the front of retail’s journey to OneOffice<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Recent survey data shows that the vast majority of retail buyers agree that the impact of cognitive and automation is going to be a critical component of future operations, as well as the necessity to leverage new technologies in order to become more effective. Retailers (along with banking and travel) are leading in experimentation with some of these pilots.  For example, the Watson- powered “Macy’s on call”<\/a> is a pilot in several Macy’s stores allowing customers to type in questions while in store to help them navigate products and facilities.  Staples is using IBM’s Watson for ”on-demand ordering<\/a>”(which by the way, could really impact some outsourcing contracts which are heavily dependent on faxed B2B orders and manual data entry). Banking\/ credit card use of bots will also impact the space, for example, Mastercard’s<\/a> foray into bots which allows shopping on messenger apps.<\/p>\n

Use of bots is aimed at improving the customer experience, but creating a simpler, more personalized experience.  While bots are changing how retailers communicate with customers, the human touch becomes even more relevant. Even as bots continue to mature, their role is often to simplify the self-service process and\/or augment the agent’s work, rather than completely replace it. HGS’ DigiCX <\/a>platform is an example of a service provider working on an app that “pivots” between agent and bot, a solution which is archetypical for for retail customers.<\/p>\n

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What this means for service providers:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n