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Retail

 

MeetingFY18Kickoff1

A key highlight of 2017 was a retail customer panel that I had the pleasure of moderating. Four executives (two recently retired and two still active) representing over $70 billion in revenue shared their insights on industry megatrends, driving disruptive change, choosing a technology partner, and the future of retail. 

The Retail Megatrends

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"Step with care and great tact, and remember that Shopping's a Great Balancing Act." (1)

2018from2017

As we enter the busiest shopping season of 2017, I started reflecting on the differentiation strategies for a successful transition to the digital future of retail.  What are the definitive formulas for retail success in 2018 and beyond?

The McKinsey Formula for Retail Success 

McKinsey in October 2017, published a great article on shopping and personalized marketing. "Targeted communications that are relevant and useful can create lasting customer loyalty and drive revenue growth of 10 to 30 percent."

As part of their marketing personalization analysis, McKinsey pointed to this simple formula:

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RFID - From Espionage to IoT Immersive Customer Experiences

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Couple of weeks ago had the pleasure of co-hosting a Retailer Performance Council for Tyco Retail Solutions in New York. This post was inspired by now customary welcome toast for our distinguished retail guests and a presentation by Dr. Sanjay Sarma from MIT titled 'The Inversion Factor - How to Thrive in the IoT Economy'.

History of RFID

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Consumer Trends Collide with Increased Theft Opportunities

In December 2016, Amazon Go was introduced to the world. The premise of the new 'Just Walk-Out technology' store was to empower consumers to walk-in, pick up any products, and track it all through a virtual shopping cart. "When you're done shopping, you can just leave the store. Shortly after, we'll charge your Amazon account and send you a receipt."  

Click LINK to see the Amazon Go video

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No Lines, No Checkout. (No, Seriously, Go Steal Stuff)

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ConsumerAsChannel

Recently I had the opportunity to participate in the World Department Stores Forum 2017 in Toronto, Canada.  Forty five retail CEOs joined 300 attendees in an industry event titled "Digital and Brick-n-Mortar: One Magic Experience".

The host for the 5th Annual Edition was the Canadian luxury department store chain Holt Renfrew. The Forum is co-organized by the Intercontinental Group of Department Stores (IGDS), the largest association for department stores worldwide. IGDS has 41 members from 38 countries on all continents generating $89 billion in total sales in 2016.

The stage for the 24 hour retail discussion was set by Craig Wright, SVP & Chief Economic of the Royal Bank of Canada when he said that the "Last time interest rates stayed low for so long was in 3000 BC."  We are living in extra-ordinary age of disruption.

This post summarizes my favorite insights from this year's IGDS event. 

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Linking Cannes 2017, Retail, and Flourishing Disruptive Technologies

"What a tough industry (retail), the consumer has changed more in terms of their demand preferences in the past three years than they have in the past thirty years." - Home Depot CFO Carol Tome

For the past two weeks, my youngest son was in France attending the latest edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

As part of an extended university project, he participated in a week long "producer's workshop." By the end of the week, he was instructed to throw away all his notes for the era of major studios driving the movie industry is over.

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SingaporeLowRes

This past week had to pleasure of speaking at the Retail Risk Conference in Singapore. The audience mostly consisted of loss prevention professionals responsible for major retail brands across Asia. The customized presentation was an opportunity to reassess the state of Asia in the global retail economy. 

The Growing Global Middle Class

A Brookings Institute study noted:

-- 3.2 billion people were in the middle class at the end of 2016

-- 140 million people are joining the middle class annually and this number could rise to 170 million in five years’ time

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globalizationendIn an article published in November, we discussed the following five ingredients driving the age of disruption: geopolitical risks ahead, need for technology speed, data as the new oil, next generation consumers, and shopping till you drop. Reverse globalization is a subplot of these trends impacting many industries including retail.

The Globalization Retreat

Recent publications highlighted the following challenges facing globalization:

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Welcome to Euroshop 2017, the largest retail trade show in the world.

In early March, over 100,000 visitors from 60+ countries tracked EuroshopFutureto Dusseldorf to view 2,000+ exhibits on everything retail. The visual retail feast in Germany that is Euroshop is only held every three years.

At the conclusion of the event, the organizers cited the continued digitalization in retail, tailor-made onmichannel solutions and the emotionalization of the shopping experience as the dominant themes for Euroshop 2017. 

Breathtaking and Visionary: That Was EuroShop 2017

 

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Retail Research

Exclusive Research on LP’s Growing Industry Influence

A recent LP Magazine study, sponsored by Tyco Retail Solutions, highlights key technology trends around video, EAS, and exception reporting. The research also provides insights into future LP investments and the evolution of the Loss Prevention function.

The Critical Loss Prevention Technologies

Decision makers rely on a variety of tools in their LP portfolio. In the United States, CCTV/Video Surveillance and Exception based reporting were ranked the most critical technologies, while in the UK, CCTV/Video Surveillance and Data Mining were ranked most critical.

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