Digital Transformation trends in Global Retail Industry 2021
The retail industry is transforming itself in response to intensifying competition and new challenges following the shock and disruption of COVID-19. In the second year of this study, we compare many questions and identify the changes experienced by the retail sector since the advent of Covid-19.
Highlights from 166 ICT decision makers in large retail organizations across 15 countries in Europe, UK, Nth. America, Asia/Pacific and Japan are as below:
- Impact of Covid-19: Remarkably, close to half of the respondents reported COVID-19 had a minor positive impact on their ICT budgets.
- Retailers are hyper-focused on their customers - Retailers are making a concerted effort to build cohesive single views of their customers and offer personalized experiences using physical and digital channels.
- Retailers are focussing on customers using data and analytics to better understand their needs, and AI-powered processes to deliver what they want.
- Retail organizations have a laser focus on security - Security is one of their top 4 key business objectives, and their #1 ICT strategic challenge in 2021.
- Ecosystems are increasingly important strategic themes – more than ¾ of respondents completely agree that sharing data with customers and partners benefits the retailer.
- There is continued innovation in the retail workplace - The most mature areas are in providing remote working equipment include desktops, smartphones, laptops and tablets.
Drivers for Digital Transformation in the Retail
Improve products
Enhance risk management & security
Improve employee experience
Increase revenue
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