The Candid Voice in Retail Technology: Objective Insights, Pragmatic Advice

The Case For An AI-enabled Supply Chain

Tariffs. Virus outbreaks. On top of it all? A customer who has not only grown more determined their every demand be met, but who is increasingly intolerant the moment it is not. Today’s supply chain is no longer a challenge – it’s a high-stakes, high-wire balancing act, with peril constantly being introduced from previously unseen angles.

How is a retailer expected to navigate this new reality? The promise of a supply chain made smarter by Artificial Intelligence tools looks to help identify problems – and opportunities – as (if not before) they arise. However, amidst all the hype, how are retailers really moving AI-enabled capabilities from the fringe into their operational and strategic horizons? What are the pain points business leaders currently have? What are the areas AI can really help, and what are the foundational technologies needed to help them get there?

We hope this report answers these questions for you.

Sincerely,

Brian Kilcourse and Steve Rowen, report authors

The New Retail Model: Becoming Agile And Efficient

Retailers recognize the disruptive competitors they face. Whether it be Amazon, fast fashion, Aldi or consignment retailers, competition is fierce and fast-paced. In addition, there are significant factors outside their organizations that continue to change more quickly, impacting strategic initiatives. How do retailers best prepare their companies for the new and unexpected? One way to face these challenges is to enhance organization agility by improving access to data/insight to evaluate and respond more effectively while eliminating time-consuming administrative tasks.

Existing in-house systems may prove inadequate for the planning and tracking of these new business models. In fact, they may not foster the inter-department collaboration that drive and determine success. Finance teams also need the systems, processes, and resources to quickly execute on decisions. Yet replacing core financial and planning systems may not be a top priority on the growing list of Retail technology projects.

The purpose of this research was to determine the value retailers place on new financial planning and analytic systems, and the opportunities associated with organizational agility and insights in near-real-time.

Business Continuity And Recovery In The Age Of COVID-19: RSR Location Intelligence 2020 Survey

Although this is the third consecutive year we have conducted a Location Intelligence benchmark, this year is very – very – different.

COVID-19 has changed every part of retail life, and this report seeks to examine not only its impact, but the most significant challenges retailers face while it rages on, the opportunities they see, and the technologies they can infuse with location intelligence to get the right answers to the uncertainty that is all around them.

Getting Past The Hype – What Can AI Analytics Really Accomplish For Retailers?

In RSR’s 2019 study on the state of Innovation in Retail, we stated:

Retailers strongly agree that information is strategic to their businesses, even more than the value of experimenting with new concepts in the shopping experience. Information leads to insights, and insights lead to innovations.

This finding was reflective of indications that we found in earlier studies that retailers want to use information and analytics for more than record keeping. Next-generation analytics, made possible by new non-transactional data often gathered outside the “four walls” of the enterprise and data analysis engines like artificial intelligence, are becoming important as retailers extrapolate patterns in data to help them sense changes in the operational environment and respond appropriately in time to directly affect outcomes. Data visualization techniques “democratize” complex analyses, and operational processes can be infused with the results of insights derived from new data to automate certain decisions.All of these capabilities weren’t possible even ten years ago, and some of the technologies being used now weren’t generally available even in 2015, the last time that RSR studies BI & Analytics in Retail.

The Cloud In Retail: Promises Made - Promises Kept?

Retailers have pretty completely bought into the Cloud Computing paradigm. The development backlog has IT practitioners raising their hands for help, and the need to push the “go faster” button to satisfy ever-changing consumer wants and needs, while lowering operational costs has Line of Business executives juiced over the concept as well.

Last year, in RSR’s inaugural Cloud computing benchmark, we found this to be true, but also found some potentially troubling signs. On the one hand, retailers seemed to believe that the Cloud could solve operational, process and data cleanliness and integration problems: in other words, that it would be a panacea for all the ailments that have plagued them for years. There were also some indications that communication of changes could be better and that functionality is not always as robust as it was in legacy on-premise systems.

Our goal this year is to see if retailer attitudes have matured, and if the vendor community in general is keeping the Cloud’s promise of agility and flexibility.

Omnichannel: What Will Turn A Customer Away vs. What Will Keep Them Coming Back?

It is no secret that consumers are calling the shots in retail these days. But when they shop across all of the various touch points or channels a retailer might have (stores, desktop site, mobile site, mobile app, even social channels) – are they getting what they want?

We’ve been asking retailers to self-asses their efforts in omnichannel studies since 2008, and from their viewpoint, they’ve been doing an okay job. But now we want shoppers to weigh in, as well.

Are retailers holding up their end of the bargain? How converged is converged commerce these days? And when converged commerce breaks, how much do customers care – and what do they tend to do next?

Merchandising: Can Agility And Sustainability Work Together?

Until very recently, fast fashion was the darling of the retail industry, and was given credit for the demise of the moderate-priced department store. But in the past year, it has become apparent that the bloom is off the fast fashion rose. H&M was forced to deal with a billion dollar inventory problem at the end of 2018, and Forever 21 declared bankruptcy in late September 2019.

We know that the rapid turnover of fast fashion styles has created significant environmental impact. It has also become apparent that across other retail verticals and price points, sustainability is becoming a real issue.Most recently, luxury retailer Kerig vowed to become carbon neutral, following in the footsteps of Gucci, who announced similar efforts in 2015.

Then there’s the matter of food. The FDA has reported,”…In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30-40 percent of the food supply. This estimate, based on estimates from USDA’s Economic Research Service of 31 percent food loss at the retail and consumer levels, corresponded to approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010. This amount of waste has far-reaching impacts on society:

Wholesome food that could have helped feed families in need is sent to landfills.

Land, water, labor, energy and other inputs are used in producing, processing, transporting, preparing, storing, and disposing of discarded food.”

This begs two questions: First: Do retailers recognize the extent of changing consumer opinions on environmental concerns? And second: How serious are consumers about sustainability vs. low-priced offerings? They may talk the talk, but do they actually walk the walk? We aim to find out.

TBD #2: Now Welcoming Your Ideas

If you have a particular topic you'd like to see us cover, please let us know!

Past topics have included:

• Location Analytics
• C-Suite Careabouts
• Store Health Check
• Home Delivery Options
• Retail Disruptors

Let us know! Contact Linda Wolfe!