How COVID-19 Will Change the Retail Industry in the Future?

By: Retail CIO Outlook | Wednesday, June 03, 2020

The crisis will change the survival of the retail platform with an increasing demand for online shopping platform. The shift to online channels will likely only accelerate, and the future of brick and mortar has become much more uncertain.

FREMONT, CA: COVID-19 has changed the lifestyle of humans. It is known to improve consumer behavior, which will, in turn, drive lasting disruption in a fast-evolving digital retail industry. With physical distancing, retailers are facing an enhanced urgency to carry out previously nice-to-have shopping experiences, comprising a seamless mobile and online commerce, curbside, and home delivery touchless shopping.

There can be an accelerated demand for not only frictionless, touchless shopping, which puts the technologies like self-checkouts, self-guided scanning at the front, but also the kind of innovative technologies that transmits frictionless enablement of these kinds of experiences on the back end.

Whereas, self-checkout is prominent and known to be one of the top technologies for the retailers. The retailers can enhance the mode of evaluating the user experience and workflow of their self- checkout stations to minimize the number of times the store attendant has to touch the shared touchscreen. Whereas, in some cases eliminating the requirement to touch a shared screen entirely.

IoT connected stores with remote monitoring and support service automation will be far better than those without as more businesses keep the employees at home. Through services like these, vendors can connect all of their devices and systems using IoT technologies. Remote monitoring abilities identify potential issues, such as a POS terminal going offline, a shelf-scanning inventory robot needing maintenance, or a software issue.

Uncertain or otherwise, the future of retail needs store operators and managers to have the most flexible store IT infrastructure so that they can meet any shopping disruption or trend at the optimal speed and cost curve. It helps retailers time to market with new technology innovations and ensures ease of integration and centralization of data and overall management.