How Retail Industry has Leveraged Digitalization for Market Growth

By: Retail CIO Outlook | Thursday, August 29, 2019

E-commerce platform helps the retailers to enhance the growth of the industry, the shift to the digital space streamline opportunities and enhance new opportunities.

FREMONT, CA: The most significant step undertaken by the retail industry recently will have to be the digital transformation. A world transformed, on a platform of e-commerce, makes it easier for the retail companies to enhance growth.

Screens are considered to be the modern solution store windows and billboards. Consumers can see them in the form of a Facebook ad, a YouTube video, or an email coupon. It is estimated that 91 percent of the consumers are more likely to shop closely with brands who recognize, remember, and provide relevant offers and recommendations, according to Accenture.

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The quality of the customer data is what fuels marketing campaigns, ads, loyalty programs, and more.

Knowing that the customer data the retailers have access to is accurate, up-to-date, and complete will give a firm foundation to start work. Digital transformation is the collaboration of digital technology in different areas of industry. Digital technology changes the way the operations are led. It also helps in delivering value to customers more feasibly and efficiently.

It can also be defined as the cultural change that requires enterprises to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and also to get comfortable with failure. E-commerce sites have benefitted from this, and are considered as the new flagship stores. In the last years, we have witnessed more retailers choosing online business.

Digital transformation is useful for all enterprises, big and small business alike. So, how do you drive digital transformation as a company? How do you create a platform with the right circumstances for adopting a customer-centric culture? Taking all these into consideration, each enterprise is struggling to make its digital platform secure in a different way.

We know that the world is rapidly moving towards a completely digital space. There are more people and devices connecting every second. Here are four trends the retailers need to analyze to achieve meaningful digital transformation.

1. Mobile apps, a driving force for omni-channel retailing

Purchasing via mobile apps is helping the increased growth of online retail. According to a report presented by Javelin Strategy and Research, m-commerce is expected to grow from $122 billion in 2015 to $319 billion by 2020. Apart from the powerful smartphones delivering secure shopping experiences, mobile is also becoming a platform for connecting all retail channels, seamlessly linking in-store and digital.

2. Social media and content marketing will change consumer behavior

Leading social media platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, have aligned with commercial market objectives. The "buy now" button enables the impulse buying behavior of the customers. A survey report states that a consumer reviews the product online even before making a purchase. Thus, it is highly observed that the retailers have started featuring their reviews on the e-commerce website and apps for marketing purposes. Content marketing, on the other hand, is an organic method to build a relationship with customers.

3. Internet of Things and Retail Business Marketing

IoT enables tracking and collection of data from sensors used across the retail value chain. The following benefits are driving platform for IoT:

• Up-Sell and Cross-Sell opportunities and conversion rates see a hike by monitoring the consumer movement and purchase history insights.
• Real-time product promotions become easy through customer buying behavior insights.
• Retailers can monitor customer choice by their most viewed items and change the display accordingly.

4. Retail and VR

Virtual reality is gaining attention in the retail industry as it allows the retailers to change how the consumer shops. It enables the retailers the opportunity to convey their branding messages with few distractions and leaves a longer trace in the consumer's mind.

Digital Marketing is speeding up. Organizations are at different stages of digital transformation. The advances seen in the cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and data management had a massive effect on the retail sector. This year is expected to be a year for transformation in the retail sector because the emerging technologies are changing the outlook of how retail functions. Technology has become an ardent factor for the retail sector that helps to boost up their business.

The retail industry will keep on transforming. The current situation in retail will see enormous growth in the future. The companies that are willing to accept challenges, and take up the constant change will be able to transform rapidly, and benefits will be seen in the coming years. The retail industry is a never-ending platform. People are going to continue shopping. It's these solutions that make it easier for consumers to make purchases and in turn, help the retailers benefit from it.

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