The pandemic forced the retail industry to embrace digital technology, but it also had a massive influence on consumer behaviour. Now, retailers are increasingly embracing digital technology – not because they have to, but because they know how hungry their customers are for digital shopping experiences.
To give you the first-mover advantage, we’ve pulled together eight emerging IT trends we expect to see a lot more of in the coming years.
The convenience of online shopping continues to appeal, and eCommerce demand requires a strong network and proactive security measures. IT must ensure privacy and data protection, while supporting customer-centric experiences.
Technology-enabled personalization is powerful, but it can expose a business to security threats. IT and marketing teams must collaborate, with IT running audits of marketing tools and taking a big-picture view of the business’s tech needs.
Nearly 60% of retailers have digitised their client-facing operations, with IT supporting digitisation of customer service, operations, warehousing, and supply chain. This can mean providing online tools to support, embracing e-invoicing and payments, or creating transparency with effective tech for project management.
Technology can harness big data to personalise the shopper experience and prepare for the retail landscape of the future. IT must provide guidance on capacity planning, data security, and data storage to establish a robust approach to data management.
Blockchain can track and trace products, record transactions, and add value across the entire supply chain. This can give customers the benefits of better prices, increased trust, and higher quality products. IT teams will play a key role in building, operating, overseeing, and growing blockchain solutions.
Consumers are increasingly conscious of what they buy and who they buy from. Now, customers expect retailers to prioritise environmental, social, and governance responsibilities. Retailers can use technology to monitor and improve supply chain sustainability, and IT must support this through data management and analysis.