industries insights retail what’s the future of retail? 47...
TRANSCRIPT
Industries Insights Retail
What’s the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights
15 June 2019 Sam Mire
It doesn't take an industry insider to recognize the big-picture trends
shaping the future of retail. Most shoppers are aware of the
convenience of e-commerce, flaws with shopper-derived data security,
and new forms of marketing and advertisement.
But a closer look reveals far more about the future of retail than the
average consumer knows. These experts are helping shape the future
of retail. Here's how they see that future unfolding.
1. Jaime Bettencourt, SVP of Business Development at Mood Media
“The future of retail is a custom-made
customer experience, which enables
an immersion at the heart of the
brand, fostering a community and
offering convenience to its
customers. We’ll see digital
transformation take center stage
where technology enables smarter,
real-time decision making by retailers that resonates with
customers and connects them to brands on a deeper level. The
human touch and a holistic brand experience regardless of
channel will be more important than ever.”
Ivan Kruk/123RF
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
2. Nikki Baird, Vice President of Retail Innovation at Aptos Retail
“A very distinct split between
transactional and experiential. For
purchases that are transactional, that
is being entirely commoditized. We’ve
seen the early impact from
eCommerce, but the rise of voice
shopping and visual product search
will further commoditize, so that for
purchases where consumers have already “selected” a brand or
a product, breaking them out of that choice will be very difficult
– it’ll be on the brand to lose that sale, rather than up for anyone
else to win the customer away.
At the other end of the spectrum is experiential retail, where
the services around the products are almost more important
than the products themselves. When the actual transaction is
so commoditized, retailers aren’t going to differentiate on ease
of purchase – they will have to either make the purchase
experience itself much more experiential, or they will have to
make sure that they focus more on the experiences that the
products enable.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
3. Doug Stephens, Founder of Retail Prophet
“In terms of the broad changes, we're
going to see the roles of stores and
media reversed. Media has always
been a mechanism to develop brand
awareness and drive consumers to
stores. Conversely, stores have
traditionally been merely a
mechanism to distribute products. However, media is
increasingly going to become the point of purchase. Online
sales are growing at +20 percent globally each year. Whether
it's my connected refrigerator ordering more milk, my car
booking its own oil change or buying a car on my mobile device,
media will no longer be a call out to visit a store. Media will be
the store.”
4. Antonia Hock, Global Head of the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center
“There is no longer a traditional retail
segment. Every brand is in retail in
some way because now brands all sell
some type of product or experience
that requires an immersive,
personalized, real-time consumer
offering. The future requires brands
to wrap experience into everything
they do, and one of the biggest future trends is the immediacy
of response & personalization that consumers expect through
any channel. It's a 24/7, 365 extremely personalized world. All
brands must remember me, anticipate my needs accurately,
and personally respond immediately to every contact. That
sounds simple, but it's hard to execute at scale.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
5. Cate Trotter, Founder and Head of Trends at Insider Trends
“There is no single ‘future’ for retail.
There will always be different models
that work for different retailers.
Convenience and experience will
underpin all of it though. Customers
shop in different ways according to
their wants and needs at the time and
this will guide the retail models of the
future. They are not separate values though – an experiential
store should still offer convenience, while a streamlined store
can make convenience an experience in its own right. I think
we’ll also see more physical stores being used as e-commerce
fulfillment spaces that also make money by letting people visit
them.”
6. Bryan Eisenberg, Co-Founder of Buyer Legends
“Amazon launched Amazon Go
technology, new advertising
technology and Buy Online Pickup in
Store (BOPIS) in their app for Whole
Foods purchases. They will launch
more “services” technology to enable
rapid digitalization of physical retail as
well as a “local” marketplace. The
local marketplace will allow customers to search for, purchase
and fulfill by delivery or pick up from retailers/restaurants “near
me.” They have seen the “near me” searches grow
exponentially on Google and want to own that slice of retail as
well.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
7. Bryan Roberts, Global Insight Director at TCC Global
“There’s a clear distinction to be
made between food and non-
food retail. Most grocery retail is still
essentially the same as it was 50 years
ago, despite technological advances
in check-outs, payments and behind
the scenes operations. In non-food
however, e-commerce has become
much more meaningful and the role of the store is being
revolutionised – we need fewer, better and more experiential
stores that support online ordering, collection and returns. In
general, retail is moving into overcapacity in physical terms in
many countries and malls, high streets and retail parks will need
to be reimagined.”
8. Kasey Lobaugh, Chief Retail Innovation Officer at Deloitte
“There is no shortage of conjecture
about the future of retail.
Unfortunately, most projections are
flawed. Many are prophecy-based
rather than based on hard data, and
most provide fuzzy time horizons for
realization. Others are largely self-
serving, with tech companies
promoting specific visions in order to sell their services. We
believe that the future of retail is not defined by one model;
rather, it hinges upon changes to a competitive environment
that will be shaped by a series of disruptive forces. Retailers
must make strategic choices to compete in the future, but
those choices will be unique to each company.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
9. Brian Kilcourse, Managing Partner at RSR Research LLC
“The “Retail Apocalypse” was a click-
bait headline; while the industry is
undeniably culling old stores from the
marketplace, retailers have been
closing and opening stores “forever”
as store concepts change and
markets move – so that’s not news.
What is news is that former pure-plays are discovering the value
of physical stores in the context of a complete digital+physical
selling environment. Shopping is a human behavior – there’s
definitely an entertainment component to it. So look at how
people entertain themselves today – with digital content. Retail
has a bright, digitally enabled future.”
10. Miya Knights, Head of Industry Insight at Eagle Eye Solutions Limited
“The future of retail is bright. People
will always need to buy stuff. But how
they do this has changed. While tech
has also enabled retailers to automate
and scale the ways they do business,
the weakest are struggling to adapt
and modernize how they sell what
they sell. This exposes those with an
ill-defined and mediocre offer. Understanding customers, as
the driving force of any retail business or brand, and building an
agile, fully integrated, digitally enabled and data-driven
customer proposition is what will separate the winners from the
losers going forward.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
11. John Rampton, Founder of Due
“The future of retail will move more
toward an online service but will still
include in-person shopping
experiences. There will be more on-
demand service offerings, including
delivery within the hour via drone or
some robotic delivery service so that
consumers can feel like trying things
at home rather than in a store. In this way, the retail experience
will come to them through physical, augmented, or virtual
interaction. “
12. Steve Dennis, President and Founder of SageBerry Consulting
“For years retailers could get away
with just being good enough. But
good enough no longer is as the
customer is more in charge. We are
seeing what I call the boring middle
collapse and retails need to choose to
be either more remarkable at the
value end of the spectrum or more
remarkable at the more premium experiential side. Either way,
the distinction between online and physical channels is going
away. Retailers need to work to deliver a more harmonized
experience regardless of how the customers choose to shop.
The customer is the channel.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
13. Nicole Leinbach Reyhle, Founder and Publisher of Retail Minded
“The future of retail continues to
evolve. How it will look in even one
year is impossible to predict entirely,
but I believe that customers will only
be in more control of their path to
purchase. This means retailers —
either online, offline or both — need
to embrace what modern customers
expect from them and be more proactive in supporting them
during their path to purchase. Using AI and ML in particular,
retailers will be better positioned to be more precise and
proactive in their customer support, inventory management,
and overall retail operations.”
14. Shep Hyken, Author of The Convenience Revolution
“Customers continue to be smarter.
Year after year their expectations
increase, especially in the areas of
customer service and customer
experience. Customers no longer
compare a retailer to its direct
competition. Now they compare
that retailer to the best service they
have had from anyone. That means the bar is raised. If
the retailer has what the customer wants, customer experience
(which includes service) will be a big differentiator. While this
has been going on for a number of years, it is more important
than ever.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
15. Bob Phibbs, CEO at The Retail Doctor, a New York Consultancy
“Retail will continue to evolve with
shoppers increasingly moving basics,
renewables, and disposables to online
while boutique brick and mortar
retailers will thrive.”
16. Kevin Sterneckert, Chief Marketing Officer at Symphony RetailAI
“Consumers will continue migrating
to the paths of lowest resistance and
highest value, which means retailers
that provide the best experience with
the lowest points of frustration will
win a greater share of wallet.
I see an increase in direct-to-consumer
transactions between manufacturers and consumers, expanding
the definition of retailer to now include suppliers. However,
manufacturers are not organized to accommodate all
transaction types of a full-service retailer. Hints of what retail in
the U.S. will look like can be seen in the reflection of retail in
western Europe: high service and more frequent purchases with
smaller transaction sizes.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
17. Richard Heyes, Managing Director at Tecmark
“A lot of people say that the high
street is dying, but I don't believe that
to be the case. I think what the future
holds is linking online with high street
experience. The retailers must know
where they sit in the market and offer
either value for money or luxury
alongside a first-class experience. It's
never been more important to be clear on who your target
audience is and where you sit in the market. The key thing is to
then work to drive traffic into the store from online searches
(there are many made on mobiles) in addition to passing
footfall. I believe high street retail stores will likely become
more akin to ‘showrooms' where people can touch and feel the
products before purchasing. I think that's something that
online retail will never be able to replace, so offline retailers
should evolve to fit this.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
18. Dennis Wakabayashi, VP of Digital and Integrated Marketing at The Integer Group
“2020 will be known as the “Rebirth
of Retail” across every industry as
shoppers take control of their data
and rush to subscribe to their favorite
brands virtually and in-person. Stores
will proliferate as “instant” retail
experiences pop-up, and big footprint
retail centers will become the
playgrounds of real-life customer engagement and
experimentation.
Consultancies and agencies will start taking bold leaps of faith
to break down the physical geography of shopping, and
adventurous brands will help them along with reaping huge
rewards. We've all seen this coming for a long time, and this is
the year it's finally happening. The combination of 5G and
augmented reality means instead of ditching math class to
catch the next Supreme drop 11 am on your cell phone, you
might hunt for the next Supreme VR pop-up in Central Park.
Alternatively, Nike may decide to launch their newest Jordan's
at VR pop-up stores exclusively in neighborhood basketball
courts across the world.”
19. Keith Anderson, SVP, Strategy and Insight at Profitero
“More personalized, experiential, and
circular.”‘
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
20. Stephen Rector, Founder and President of Bakertown Consulting
“The future of retail is strong for
those brands that recognize that the
customer should be the #1 focus — in
terms of product development &
design, user experience both in-store
and online & logistics on how to get
the product to the customer as
quickly as possible. For those
companies that fail to be customer focused, they will
disappear.”
21. Dr. Lucas Lu, CEO of 5Miles
“Today’s high-tech, urbanized
environment favors big-box retailers
like Walmart and e-commerce giants
like Amazon. Centralized operations,
though efficient, tend to focus on
selling new, standardized products,
leading to less durability and more
waste. However, we’re starting to see
a return to decentralized, localized commerce.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
22. Nate Masterson, Chief Marketing Officer at Maple Holistics
“As social media continues to take
over our lives, there is a rising need for
retailers to move their companies
onto relevant platforms. While brands
are already able to let consumers buy
products directly from their posts,
many people still leave the platform
to make a purchase from the site
itself. This has the potential to change with considering the
consistent rise of social media usage. As this becomes the
primary form of communication, it will eventually be the only
way to reach consumers.”
23. Kosta Popov, Founder and CEO of Cappasity
“We are now living in a time when
customer expectations are changing
particularly fast, and retailers that
can't keep up get left behind. A
consumer who enjoys the online
shopping experience at an e-store
automatically begins to expect the
same level of service from every
virtual point of sale.
Thus, the expectation loop is born, and the only thing for
retailers to do to get ahead of the curve is to innovate, innovate
and innovate.
Emerging 3D technologies are a force poised to drive the
revolution in the online shopping experience.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
24. Carlos Castelán, Managing Director of The Navio Group
“More than ever, a holistic shopping
experience across all customer touch
points is vital for brands. With an
increasingly complex customer
journey and dozens of customer
touch points with brands from apps
to websites to brick-and-mortar
stores, companies need to present a
seamless experience across touch points for customers. As an
example, REI, the camping/outdoors clothing company, does a
tremendous job providing a great online experience and, for
those seeking more information on a product, they’re able to
come into a store and speak with a highly knowledgeable
expert to match the product to their need. The ability to shop
conveniently online complemented by an elevated in-store
experience provides REI customers with the best of both
worlds.”
25. Vivek Kumar, Founder and CEO of Qlicket
“Outside of the well-known changes
coming to the retail industry— such as
the rise of e-commerce — workforce
obstacles will define the future of
retail to a large extent. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics reports that average
employee turnover in the retail
industry was 58% in 2018. In other
words, only 42% of the average firm's
retail workers remained with their employers into 2019. The
solution to this problem is cutting avoidable turnover through
technology and giving employees a voice. By encouraging
workers to provide feedback throughout their workday,
companies can bridge the communication gap between
management and employees.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
26. Jacquie Young-Sterling, Director of Customer Experience at CompiantIA
“Smaller store formats, stores within
stores, exclusive private labels lines,
better customer experiences and
operating in the niches. The future of
retail is broad and exciting for
retailers who can think outside of the
box, listen to their customers and
reinvent themselves without losing
themselves.”
27. Alen Paul Silverstein, CEO of Imagination Park Technologies
“Augmented Reality will allow
shoppers to try on clothes, shoes,
cosmetics in-store prior to purchasing
or online — this is called Virtual Try-on
(VTO). This AR engagement will
excite people and lead up to more
purchases similar to what Nike is
doing for Sneakers, L'Oréal for
cosmetics, and Ikea for furniture purchases. Physical retail
stores will leverage AR to provide a gamification experience for
shoppers to fully engage the space to participate in scavenger
hunts, sweepstakes, and receive on-site purchase coupons for
instant redemption. This mixed experience will activate and
engage consumers and result in increased personalized
shopping experiences.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
28. Robyn M. Bolton, Founder of MileZero
“Shoppers expect a customized and
effortless shopping experience and
that expectation will soon extend to
the products they buy. As more DTC
brands, like MTailor (men’s clothing),
True Gault (women’s shoes), and
Susan Lanci Designs (per products),
go mainstream, shoppers will eschew
the time and hassle of having mass-produced goods altered to
their specifications, and instead opt for tech-enabled fittings at
home that result in custom clothes at their doorstep.”
29. Jon Nordmark, CEO and Co-Founder of Iterate.ai
“The future of retail will be driven by
artificial intelligence and
microservices. How? The holy grail of
online retail is in personalization, and it
requires AI. Retailers are acquiring AI
companies at a faster pace. (Ulta
Beauty, for instance, which invested in
Iterate, recently acquired an AI firm
and an augmented reality startup.) AI is driving personalized
chatbots, it’s behind online product bundling, visual search,
voice shopping, and in-home devices. Companies will be forced
to move faster than ever before. Amazon is driving that race,
putting $22 billion into R&D and making 7,000 new AI hires, and
doing more AI acquisitions than any other U.S. company.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
30. Amy Webb, Quantitative Futurist and CEO of The Future Today Institute
“The future of shopping will consist of
a constellation of mobile app
features, augmented and mixed
reality mirrors, robots, faceprint
checkout kiosks, and voice
recognition systems, which are all
used to identify you and provide you
with an array of services. Retailers,
struggling to combat vast online shopping experiences, will
start deploying AI-power Digital Associates, thanks to the
convergence of AI, voice and facial recognition technology,
predictive algorithms, big data, and robotics.”
31. Ville Levaniemi, co-founder of HappyOrNot
“It’s fair to say that traditional retail
has been somewhat limited in terms
of its service offering, insofar as the
sole purpose of the entire shopping
process is typically the end purchase,
meaning that buyers strictly shopped
for products.
Consumers in the retail sector are now predominantly ‘digital
millennials’, and this demographic shift has driven a
considerable change in consumer behavior. The future of retail
is heading towards a more experiential and consumer-centric
model, where shoppers prioritize experiences over what’s
actually in their shopping bags when they walk out.
At the same time, the power of the customer is increasing.
Significant companies have been reduced to rubble overnight
because of media savvy disgruntled customers. This means the
consumer experience is a new priority for retailers and a
necessity for them to survive in the future. ”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
32. Rob Maille, Digital Transformation Consultant at RM Digital Consulting
“With the trends we’ve seen taking
shape over the last few years, it looks
right now as though the future of
retail is really about understanding
your customer, creating a great
experience and extending on both
bricks and clicks. This year alone,
we’ve seen a few big brands start to
implement AI and robotics into their brick and mortar stores as
a way to further reduce friction in the shopper experience by
incorporating digital into their businesses and better
connecting both their online and brick and mortar operations
into a more seamless experience for consumers.”
33. Paul Duffy, President of NexTech AR Solutions
“The future of retail lies in creative
uses of augmented reality to
empower customers by offering a
more personalized, fulfilling shopping
experience both in-store and online.
AR can be paired with a number of
other up-and-coming technologies
and as well as existing e-commerce
infrastructure to create a truly comprehensive, interactive
shopping experience. This includes holographic brand
ambassadors, high-quality 3D, and 360-degree product
imaging, facial recognition to “try on” AR items and artificial
intelligence to monitor customer reactions in real time and
provide actionable insights, just to name a few.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
34. John Konczal, Product Management and Marketing Leader at Manhattan Associates
“The future of retail belongs to those
that fully embrace and invest in
omnichannel. Modern customers
expect retailers to meet them
wherever and whenever they are. To
meet the demand of immediacy
driven by the rise of BOPIS (buy online,
pick up in store) and same-day
delivery, many retailers are transforming their stores into mini-
fulfillment centers. In this context, the accuracy of inventory
availability becomes critical to ensure a seamless customer
experience across both digital and physical channels. As such, a
sophisticated inventory and order management system is
crucial to offering successful (and profitable) omnichannel
fulfillment.”
35. Mike Funk, Group Strategy Director for R/GAPortland
“There’s a lot of talk around the
impending death of retail. The truth is,
retail isn’t dead. Old, stagnant
formats are. The future of retail will be
concept-led, and this means the retail
experience will lead with an intention
larger than simply product availability
and quality service. These are table
stakes today and consumers will soon expect much more.
Retailers that win will reinvent their spaces to serve as
platforms for experiences like education (REI), community
(Rapha, Tracksmith), and activity (Nike, Lululemon). But more
importantly, these retailers will be able to harness the power of
data and leverage the flexibility of digital to ensure the cadence
of programming aligns to the rhythm of their consumers' lives,
not necessarily their priorities as a brand.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
36. Jimmy Duvall, Chief Product Officer at BigCommerce
“The future of retail will revolve
around providing customers a great,
convenient experience and ensuring
they have options to buy in the way
that works best for them. While it's
not all that different from the core
principles that have guided retail for
the last century, technology has
reinvigorated the entire experience. Physical retail won't go
anywhere, but it will incorporate more customized concierge
and on-demand services. Additionally, the opportunity to
purchase goods will be more intertwined with our lives, similar
to the experience created through Instagram Shopping.”
37. Michael Hardman, CMO at SAIS Group
“The future for retail is in connective
strategies. A website for any retail
brand is a prerequisite these days (and
is already viewed as traditional), a
business is not even in the game if they
have no digital presence. The next stage
for businesses is to understand their
consumers and customer interactions, connecting them with
everything their business can provide both offline and online.
These connective strategies are also related to the various
communication channels and digital touch points you can have
with your customer from social media, website, app (native or
progressive web app), in-car, Al driven product (e.g. Alexa, Siri)
— the consumer decides how they want to connect with your
brand. These strategies need to be cohesive for the consumer
to get what they need out of your organization and this will lead
to more businesses looking toward Customer Experience
Management (CEM) solutions to help them manage every
aspect of their campaigns.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
38. Franklin Chu, U.S. Managing Director at Azoya
“To glimpse into retail’s future, we
can look toward the biggest market in
the world: China.
In China, retailers and brands are
making transactions faster with
simple QR code technology, which
allows shoppers to access detailed
product information and even pay using a smartphone app. al
commerce lowers customer acquisition costs because retail
companies leverage their existing customers to market their
products with enticing content and incentives to share with
their own connections.
Sophisticated marketing, including live streaming videos by
influencers, shorten the customer journey by helping to build
brand engagement, trust, and credibility.”
39. Erik Huberman, CEO and Founder of Hawke Media
“Retail is not shifting as much as the
media will have you believe. However,
there are two things that are shifting.
The first — people expect an
experience when going into brick-
and-mortar locations these days. If
you have a store that doesn't think
about the consumer experience, you
are going to struggle. The reason for this is the other shift.
People are extremely comfortable purchasing online now. So if
they aren't provided additional incentive by visiting a store,
they'll happily purchase the product online. That's really why
you see so many retailers failing. They are used to just needing
to have products on the shelves and that's where their job ends.
The ones who have understood this shift have been more or less
fine.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
40. Mark Van Zuylekom, General Manager, Australia and New Zealand, at Esendex Australia
“Mobile. Research by Google
indicated that people today have 2x
more interactions with brands on
mobile than anywhere else – tv and in-
store included. We talk about multi-
channel or omnichannel, but
consumers access most of these
channels via their mobile phone. Even
AR or VR technology retailers adopted rely on mobile to deliver
(the Genius App by L’oreal or the IKEA Place App for instance).
No matter what channels retailers wish to engage consumers,
mobile is the device to get to them, so all content/strategies
need to be optimised for mobile.”
41. Emil Waszkowski, Head of Consulting at Future Mind
“Fortunately, physical stores will
continue to attract customers – in
fact, Forrester estimates that 86% of
U.S. retail sales still happen in brick-
and-mortar stores. By using
technology to their advantage,
retailers have already been blending
the online and in-store shopping
experience to provide new value to their customers and stay
competitive. The changing nature of retail, however, is bound
to require a more tech-fueled and customer-centered approach
from the retailers.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
42. Ethan McAfee, CEO of Amify
“The future of retail is becoming
increasingly digital. Brands and
retailers are finding that a strong
digital presence to augment, not
necessarily replace, their brick-and-
mortar presence is becoming
increasingly crucial to remain
competitive. E-commerce is so
ingrained in the consumers’ mindset that 66 percent of in-store
shoppers will price check a product online before purchase,
meaning that consumers appreciate the insight online shopping
provides. The ease and convenience of online purchasing is
important to consumers, and increasingly correlates with a
business’s success.”
43. Rob Keve, Co-founder and CEO of Flow
“We're seeing a rise in Digitally Native
Vertical Brands (DNVBs) and how
they're dominating niche markets
within categories like ready-to-wear,
athleisure, performance wear, and
others. DNVB's are already proving to
be popular among Millennials, and we
expect this trend to continue with
Generation Z as they become old enough to make more buying
decisions.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
44. Mark Gingras, CEO of Foko Retail
“With the rise of e-commerce taking
customers away from traditional
brick-and-mortar retailers, and major
chains expanding their product
offerings and speeding up same-day
deliveries, it’s important for retailers
to find ways to differentiate
themselves, both in-person and online.
Because of that, the future of retail will consist of retailers
elevating
the in-store and customer experience in an effort to stand out
from the competition, whether that’s through seamless
shopping experiences (think click-and-collect and self-
checkout lines), boundary-pushing technologies (like
augmented reality that help customers try products or AI-
assisted selling that offer suggestions), or more personalized
and authentic interactions with sales staff and associates.”
45. Mark Smith, President of Kitewheel
“Consumers aren’t making purchasing
decisions based on price anymore;
they make these decisions based on
experience. Since research shows
that customers will pay more for a
better experience, the future of retail
will involve creating ever better–more
personal, more seamless, more
anticipatory–experiences for customers. The key to a good
customer experience is understanding the customer journey
–how it happens, where it breaks down, where it can be
improved–and using these insights to optimize the journey for
each individual customer.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily
46. Benny Saban, CEO of Sonarax
“We see a clear trend in bringing back
the face to face brick and mortar
physical store experience returning, but
in a whole different way. After a couple
of decades of growth in e-commerce
and m-commerce for shopping and other
retail support transactions, the
capabilities of nearby communication technology is helping to
bring shoppers back to the physical stores by re-creating the
digital online experience in the real world physical store. This
means, immediate service. immediate personalized offers,
extending digital re-marketing in-store, all through proximity
-marketing and location-based connectivity using mobile
phones and beacons. As well, it offers retailers to have a truly
multi-channel business as they are able to stay with their
customers throughout every payment moment (online,
attended and unattended POS). In terms of digital payments,
secure authentication, anti-fraud security, we predict that
local-based services communication technology will improve
greatly.”
47. Brandon Leibel, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Sand Cloud
“Gen Z is the future of retail. Trends move
quickly with Gen Z’ers, so constantly keep
yourself up to date on the latest, or you’ll
find yourself out of touch. You can also
appreciate and learn from their social media
skills. This is the generation that has
mastered the art of self-promotion, so allow yourself to be
mentored by them as well.”
6/17/2019What's the Future of Retail? 47 Experts Share Their Insights - Disruptor Daily