Retail TouchPoints

2014 PREVIEW TECHNOLOGY

Exclusive Predictions From 22 Retail Executives
 22 Retail Executives Share
Technology Predictions
For 2014
For the second year, Retail TouchPoints has asked a number
of key executives from leading solution provider companies to
share their insights on what to expect with new technologies
and technology trends in the coming year. This year we have
collected input from 22 executives who possess many years
of experience in business and retail specifically.

Each executive was asked to answer the following question:

Which technology trend will impact the retail industry

most significantly in 2014 (and why)?

For the 2014 report, we have split the predictions into 7

different categories. Columns are listed alphabetically by
company name within each category.

Let us know if you agree with these executives. Happy

Reading!

Debbie Hauss Alicia Fiorletta

Editor-in-Chief Senior Editor

Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 2

Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview

Table of Contents
Big Data / Analytics
MyBuys, Daniel Druker, Chief Marketing Officer
Teradata, Tim Simmons, Vice President, Global Industry Marketing, Retail, Travel, Hospitality & Transportation

Customer Experience
Cisco, Jon Stine, North American Lead of Retail, Cisco Consulting
JDA, Wayne Usie, SVP of Retail
Motorola, Paul Steinberg, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
OpinionLab, Jonathan Levitt, Chief Marketing Officer
Oracle Retail, Mike Webster, SVP and General Manager
VeriFone, Jeff Wakefield, Vice President of Business Development

Mobile & Social

Epicor, Noel Goggin, SVP and GM
Olapic, Luis Sanz, Co-founder
Zebra Technologies, Nick D’Alessio, Global Practice Leader, Retail

Next-Gen Technology
Ceridian Dayforce, John Orr, SVP, Retail Strategy & Execution
NCR Retail, Oren Betzaleli, Vice President and General Manager, Global Solutions Management & Marketing
Tyco Retail Solutions, Nancy Chisholm, Vice President and General Manager
Usablenet, Jason Taylor, Chief Innovation Strategist

Omnichannel
Demandware, Rob Garf, VP of Industry Strategy & Insight
Junction Solutions, Jeff Marker, Senior Vice President, Multichannel Retail
NetSuite, Branden Jenkins, GM of Retail
SDL, Joe Stanhope, Chief Strategy Officer

Personalization
Revionics, Karen Dutch, Senior Vice President Marketing
SAP, Lori Mitchell-Keller, Sr. Vice President and Head of Global Retail Industry
SAS, Diana McHenry, Director, Global Retail

Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 3

Big Data/Analytics
Daniel Druker
Chief Marketing Officer, MyBuys
One of the most fun things about my job
is that I get access to analysis that spans
nearly a petabyte of consumer behavioral
data across more than 1,000 commerce
sites and billions of emails per year. Big data
analytics helps us understand what works
for consumers, right now, when it comes
to omnichannel marketing. I’m pleased to
share some of these insights as you prepare
for 2014.
Segments of One
The biggest “a-ha” that the data provides us
with is how important it is to treat every single
consumer as a unique individual — quite
literally a segment of one. Most marketers
were trained in the idea of marketing to large
segments — groups of millions of people
with similar characteristics. This kind of
thinking is inherently marketer-centric, not
customer-centric.
When you use your systems to craft unique
and completely personalized conversations
for each and every individual that you
communicate with, our data shows that
these customer-centric engagements
generate ten times more revenue per
engagement than traditional segment-based
marketing. And our primary consumer
research confirms that consumers prefer
that you engage them with personalized
conversations by more than three to one —
it’s a real win-win.
Understand People, Not Devices
I’m sure many of my peers will talk about
mobile and tablet computing as technology
trends in 2014. What our data tells us is that
your omnichannel marketing programs will
perform vastly better if you focus on people
rather than devices.
The key here is to keep track of which
devices belong to which consumers,
@DDruker of
and then begin to understand how each
particular consumer likes to use his or
@MyBuys says
her devices. For instance, if you see a
particular iPad, Google Nexus Phone and
customer-centricity
MacBook engage with your web site, will rule in 2014.
do your systems know this is a specific
customer trying to buy from you? Or
do you just see clickstream from three
different devices?
Something really simple you can do to
leverage this idea is to keep track of on
which device and at what time of day a
particular consumer tends make purchases. This is because you look like several
If you apply this to your email or display different companies to them and it proves
marketing, our data shows that by engaging that you don’t know them as individuals.
at that time, and on that device, your
conversions will improve by up to 40%. It All Comes Down To Automation And
Big Data
Be Consistent Across Channels
The idea of customer-centric marketing
Given the explosion of devices and cuts across the major technology trends
channels consumers are using to engage for 2014. It’s really about using technology
with you, one big idea I’d like you to to return to the early days of retail — when
consider for 2014 is to really be thoughtful every shopkeeper knew each and every one
about being consistent with consumers of his or her customers as individuals — but
across your omnichannel communications. at scale.
This can be really hard, particularly if your
email, commerce, advertising, mobile, social Our data shows that marketers who fully
and in-store channels are each run by implement a customer-centric strategy
different people or organizations. can generate 15% to 25% higher sales and
improve customer lifetime value by
We’ve all been through 360-degree view of the up to 500%.
customer projects. For 2014, we need to turn
this thinking upside down. What really matters Customer-centricity was one of the fastest
is that consumers have one, unified view of growing technology categories in 2013.
you. And you’ll never achieve this if you aren’t Dramatic financial successes enjoyed
focused on holding consistent omnichannel by Amazon and other adopters will fuel
conversations as a strategic imperative. continued, explosive growth in 2014.
Our primary research shows that
consumers hate it when you are
inconsistent with them across channels.
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 4
Big Data/Analytics
Tim Simmons
Vice President, Global Industry Marketing, Retail, Travel,
Hospitality & Transportation, Teradata
Retail has always been about detail.
However, today, retail is relevance. The best
way to engage shoppers at the moment
of peak purchase interest starts with
integrating detailed data relevant to each
customer’s present interests — indicated by
recent interactions.
The current tech buzzword, “Big Data,”
is the new competitive advantage, as
shoppers leave data trails everywhere,
interacting and transacting across channels
– thus the new emphasis on combining data
from multiple relevant sources as a basis for
analytics-driven strategy and tactics. With
integrated data, you get the most intelligent
answers to your complex business
questions — and maximize relevance in the
customer engagement process.
Personalization Is The Holy Grail
The Holy Grail is “personalization,”
omnichannel retailing at its best.
Personalization requires the integration of
all data about customers and products
— transactions, demographic data, past
affinities and market baskets, web and
store interactions — all relevant intelligence.
Retailers must evaluate and invest in analytic
environments that fuse data and produce
insights from multistructured data, as well
as conventional customer information.
Intelligence drives relevance.
The most visible icon for personal
relevance today is the smartphone. In the
next five years 41% of retailers plan to
deliver personalized product details based
on previous behaviors to a shopper’s
smartphone, according to a recent survey by
Motorola. More than one third of the retailers
surveyed expect to recognize their customers
in the store with geo-fencing or presence
technology, and two of five expect to send
coupons based on a customer’s location in
Retail is all about
the store. More than half of retailers expect
all transactions will be completed via mobile
relevance; Big Data
point of sale, self-checkout at a terminal
or on a shopper’s mobile device and 42%
is the competitive
of sales will be through online, mobile and advantage.
social commerce sites.
- Tim Simmons,
However, as a deeply experienced retail
technologist, I believe this is already
@Teradata
happening and will evolve more quickly than
anyone expects. With online sales growth at
approximately 10 times the rate of brick-
and-mortar stores across all retail channels,
we have the makings of a dramatic evolution
of shopping behavior, if not a full-fledged
revolution. Retail was always detail but now
data detail is more granular than ever.
to having the right product available at
So what can you do about it? Can you the right value and at the right time for
become just as multi-dimensional as your the right customer, retailers need robust
customers? Is it possible to be all things to segmentation analytics to respond to
all shoppers? changes in behavior in near real time. The
critical factor is your savvy at integrating
Fundamentally, retail success is about and analyzing all relevant detailed data — in
optimizing the online-offline mix so you near-real time.
can present the most desirable options
to customers anytime, anywhere. And the The omnichannel process naturally involves
key to optimizing the mix is leveraging the inventory management and forecasting.
data you’re collecting. Once you better Relevant product availability intelligence is
understand customers, and once you know critical to the customer engagement teams
what makes them tick and click, you’ll be in the store and online, helping them with
able to put the right package in front of merchandising and offer management tasks.
them, whether it is online or off. Finally, retailers should use customer insight
to execute multichannel campaigns and
Focus On Integration & Data- develop segmentation and personalization,
Driven Marketing including local store assortments adjusted
for demographics and competition.
Omnichannel best practices focus on
integration, data-driven marketing, store
relevance, store operational intelligence,
inventory optimization and visibility, and
being seamless across channels. In addition
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 5
Customer Experience

Jon Stine
North American Lead of Retail, Cisco Consulting

In 2014, more retailers will use video

technology to offer on-demand customer
service and, as a result, be more
competitive in the marketplace.
Consumers are more connected than ever
before and it is transforming how retailers
interact with their customers. A recent
Zogby poll, commissioned by Cisco,
found that more than 60% of tech-savvy
shoppers said they would visit or shop at
a store that offers smartphone apps and
other in-store online services. In the coming
year, many stores will better connect
people, processes and things, to provide
personalized interactions via a video chat
service delivered through a retailer’s mobile
app or web site.
Video Chat Offers On-Demand Advice
We predict that in the coming year,
we’ll see more instances of virtualized
Video chat can
orchestration expertise that can answer
the “how” and “what” questions by stylists
empower retailers
and designers you generally can’t find
in a store. New video technology, called
to deliver improved
WebCRT, can be easily embedded into customer service
a retailer’s web site or mobile app to give
consumers instant access to someone that and boost sales.
can answer shopping-based questions.
This will become increasingly critical for – Jon Stine,
brands trying to differentiate themselves in a @CiscoRetail
commoditized market.
Bottom line, with the use of video
technology and instantaneous orchestration
services to consumers, retailers will
experience higher conversion rates, bigger
baskets and higher margins.

Consumers are often frustrated when they

can’t find the right product, or are unsure
of what product will best meet their needs.
Retailers can eliminate this frustration by
providing on-demand advice through video
chat — noting best products based on
customer needs, how to pair it with other
products, where it is located and how it
compares to other items. Twenty-eight
percent of all respondents in the Zogby
survey said it would valuable if the store they
were shopping in had “smart mirrors” that
could offer complimentary products based
on what they were trying on.

Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 6

Customer Experience
Wayne Usie
SVP of Retail, JDA
A retailer’s most precious currency is the
customer, and the retailers that can deliver an
inspiring brand experience, which keeps the
customer coming back, will rise to the top.
This means retailers will need to put less
emphasis on investing in the next big
technology and instead concentrate on
cracking the code of profitable customer
engagement. The customer is now in
control of the shopping process and they
have virtually unlimited choices of what and
where to buy through an ever-expanding list
of channels and devices. To gain the ability
to deliver synchronous shopping across all
touch points, retailers must create a unified
engagement experience with their shoppers.
There are three areas that will be critical to
engaging the customer in 2014:
1. Personalized Offers: Shoppers want
to be treated like unique individuals,
not be bombarded with mass-targeted
ads. This means retailers must leverage
rich customer shopping histories, social
data and geo-location technologies,
such as near-field communications and
GPS, to personalize offers to customers.
This will require the integration of key
technologies. First, understanding
the customer’s shopping history and
path-to-purchase requires visibility to all
customer transactions across stores,
online and mobile interactions. Second,
customers’ shopping preferences
are often shaped and understood
via social networks. Smart analytical
systems are needed to gather and
analyze this so-called “Big Data” to
better predict shopper activity and
target corresponding offers. Third,
by tracking where the customer is in
relation to one of your stores, or even
within your store, using the GPS signals
in their smartphones or near-field
communications in a store aisle will allow
Tailored offers, an
retailers to provide relevant promotions
and electronic coupons to entice
empowered workforce
customers to shop and buy in-store. & fulfillment options
2. In Sync, Mobilized Workforce:
The biggest advantage brick-and-
will help deliver
mortar stores have over pureplay synchronous shopping.
e-Commerce sites is their workforce.
But often store associates have less - @WayneJUsie,
information available to them than the @JDASoftware
always-connected customer they are
trying to serve. Winning the battle
against online competitors requires
highly connected, real-time workforce
management systems that get the right
number of associates with the right skills
scheduled to work at the right times to
handle customer traffic. And they must
be equipped with mobile assisted-selling
and clienteling applications, which can functionality so neither online nor in-store
offer rich customer shopping histories, customers are disappointed by out-of-
visibility to all inventory — in-store or stocks. Fulfillment of online orders and
online, and across all stores and the replenishment of stores can no longer
extended supply network — as well operate in silos. There must be one view
as visibility to pricing and promotions. of the customer and inventory, as well as
This enables associates to provide one virtual fulfillment process, even if the
personalized service and support “save- facilities are physically separate.
the-sale” and “endless-aisle” strategies
that drive customer loyalty. To crack the code of customer
engagement in 2014 and put the customer
3. Fulfillment Options: Part of the front and center, retailers must merge
personalized shopping experience is innovative technologies and existing
offering customers the right product at investments. Retailers that can personalize
the right time and however they choose offers to each consumer, support this
to have it delivered. This includes personalization through store workforces
supporting the popular order-online, who are mobilized and in-sync with the
pick-up in-store option, sometimes customer, and provide seamless fulfillment
called “click-and-collect,” as well as options will succeed in 2014.
the ability to ship-from-store. These
fulfillment options require real-time
visibility to all inventory in stores and
across the extended supply network
to support “available-to-promise”
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 7
Customer Experience
Paul Steinberg
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer,
Motorola Solutions
In 2014, the experience will be a retailer’s
biggest differentiator and the physical store
will be the significant channel for shopping
activity. We are already beginning to see
a transition leveraging continuous data
gathering and advanced mobility to deliver
better customer experiences and insights
into operations in real time.
The retail store environment of the near
future will take the complexity out of
divergent technologies, allowing multiple
systems to be leveraged together to
exchange and aggregate only the relevant
data that is needed to make intelligent, real-
time decisions. This connectivity will provide
new levels of visibility of inventory and
assets, and the opportunity to gain valuable
insights from the movement and actions
of store assets, associates, products and
millions of shoppers.
Everything in the store and everyone will
be connected… from a shopper with a
mobile device who chooses to connect to
a store’s Wi-Fi network, to an associate
who is equipped with the right technology
for the task at hand, to smart kiosks that
can determine who is standing in front of
them and what their likely interests are,
to the physical store that will incorporate
broad-scale RFID readers and video
analytics that will continuously monitor and
locate inventory. New platforms leveraging
video streams, location data and analytic
technologies will become much more widely
deployed. This will enable the detection
and capture of various “events” and the
transformation of this event information into
actions that are mobilized – something we
call “capture, transform and mobilize.”
• This will allow new levels of
personalization for shoppers based
on their known profiles, their online
shopping activities and their actions in
the store (offline).
• It will empower associates with the right
information when they need it, often
based on previewed data about what
most interests a shopper.
• It will enable the store to become
intelligent and track assets, people and
products, and provide a perpetual view
of inventory and all important activities
on the store floor and in the warehouse.
Inventory and routing decisions will be
made across stores in real time.
For example, a low inventory detection
system (using combinations of video,
RFID or other advanced methods)
will automatically trigger a workforce
management task system to dispatch the
right associate to begin replenishment
before an item is actually out of stock. If
the stock room is low or out of the item,
inventory can be diverted from other local
stores based upon their real-time inventory
levels. The imminent arrival of a delivery
truck will kick-off a sequence of activities
to support the most efficient unloading
process, and a shopper’s request for help
via a kiosk or her smartphone will quickly
and automatically dispatch the nearest
available and knowledgeable sales associate.
In the Motorola Solutions 2012 Holiday
Shopper Study, 64% of Gen Y (ages 18-34)
and 52% of Gen X (ages 35-49) shoppers
reported using their personal mobile devices
for shopping-related activities. When
retailers enable shoppers to be connected
to their stores’ networks, they will provide
them with the ability to do multiple tasks
on their mobile devices such as looking
up product information, checking in-store
availability, adding items to their shopping
carts, and asking for help.
In the survey mentioned above, boomers
(ages 50-64) reported that they are 4x
more likely to increase their spending as
the result of helpful associates coming to
In-store connectivity will
provide valuable insights
from the movement of
store assets, associates,
products and shoppers.
- @motoretail
their aid, compared to using self-service
technologies. By connecting associates
with real-time visibility to what is happening
in the store, they can more easily provide
information to shoppers based on their
personal needs. To successfully achieve
this, associates need to be connected to
the store’s infrastructure with the right tools
— such as a “smart badge” that can scan
and lookup inventory, accept incoming tasks
from managers and connect with colleagues
via push-to-talk (PTT).
The retail experience will continue to
evolve to drive real-time decisions and
experiences, and physical stores will
become as connected as their online
counterparts. These changes will impact
shoppers’ experiences and shift browsing to
buying. Customers can become vocal brand
advocates through social networking tools
and retailers can have much more influence
on the purchase path.
To learn more about the mobile experience,
watch Retail TouchPoints’ Redefining
the Shopping Experience with Mobile
Engagement, a part of the Connected
Consumer Series webinars.
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 8
Customer Experience
Jonathan Levitt
Chief Marketing Officer, OpinionLab
Retail automation will continue to re-shape
the store experience and transform the
role of the store associate. Today, many
retailers offer basic automation such
as self-checkout or in-store pickup for
online orders. However, in 2014, you
will see retailers begin to roll out even
more advanced automation technologies,
replacing some of the tasks completed
today by retail clerks.
Take self-checkout. The traditional model,
pioneered by retailers like Home Depot,
allows shoppers to use self-checkout
“lanes” to complete their purchases.
However, the next step is to allow
customers to purchase products wherever
they are in the store. H&M, for example,
already plans to allow shoppers to pay for
purchases in the dressing-room area at its
new NYC flagship store. This store offers
7,000 square feet of LED screens, and the
second- and third-floor fitting-room areas
have iPad stations and benches.
Technology Replaces Sales
Associate Functions
Technology will also continue to transform
other functions that were previously
performed by a sales associate. It will
become commonplace for retailers to offer
scannable bar codes, enabling shoppers to
immediately get more information
on products, instead of trying to locate
an associate.
At the same time, the use of tablets and
mobile devices by associates will allow them
to provide the richest possible information
— and a personalized experience — to
customers who want their assistance.
These devices also allow associates and
Retailers will be
stores to collect vital feedback on products
and the in-store experience that will be fed
automating more tasks
back to the store managers and across the
retail organization to respond to problems
in 2014, reshaping
in real time. the role of the store
While a real person may still be necessary to associate.
locate items in the stockroom, that process
could soon be automated with a robot and a - @JonathanLevitt,
conveyor belt. Hointer, a new Seattle retailer OpinionLab
run by a former Amazon executive, relies
on robotics and a smartphone app to sell
men’s jeans. Shoppers use smartphones to
scan what they like, and a robotic system
in the back delivers items to their dressing
rooms. To make a purchase, shoppers
simply slide their credit cards through a
machine and leave without ever talking to a
single salesperson.
specifications. She may be a super-
Analytics Track Shopper Movement advocate of a retail brand and its products
— or a motivated curator and host who
New levels of retail automation mean new elegantly encourages shoppers to bond
opportunities to measure and optimize the around shared brand experiences.
store experience. Powerful new analytics
are emerging as retailers track how people We’re coming to the end of the era of
move from site to store and how they minimum wage clerks and shoppers silently
interact with information, associates and walking the aisles. Retail automation will
merchandise prior to the sale. Measurability ultimately bring new social interplay and
brings new efficiencies and opportunities. A dynamics between shoppers and sales
store could use GPS tracking to “recognize” associates — and between shoppers
a shopper as she pulls into the parking lot, themselves. The store will become a
and then have her online order waiting — far more social and exciting setting with
with a personalized assortment of add-ons new levels of interplay, interaction and
— the moment she arrives. value, creating a new kind of destination
that brings the energy and appeal of the
The sales associate of the future may be a nightclub or art gallery into the retail game.
personable expert who knows just how to
customize a product to meet a shoppers’
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 9
Customer Experience
Mike Webster
SVP and General Manager, Oracle Retail
Micro-location technology will absolutely
revolutionize the way retailers engage
consumers in 2014 by allowing them to
target offers based on interest, buying
preferences and where they are in a store.
This fall, Apple quietly slipped a feature into
iOS 7, its latest operating system, that puts
this type of location-based retailing within
reach. Utilizing the Bluetooth Low Energy
(BLE) signal that is emitted by recent iPhone
models running iOS 7, Apple’s iBeacon has
the power to facilitate an unprecedented
exchange of information between retailers
and customers.
A retailer that leverages micro-location
technology in its brick and mortar store
will be able to track customer behavior like
never before: not only does the iBeacon
assign each iOS 7 device a unique identifier
that could track the frequency and duration
of store visits, but it uses BLE signals that
can reveal where in the store the customer
Micro-location
spends the most time. Retailers can – and
will – integrate this customer information
technology will
with their mobile app, allowing them to push
information about products and promotions
revolutionize the
that are relevant to the merchandise directly way retailers engage
in front of the customer.
consumers in 2014
Micro-Location Technology Impacts
Merchandise Planning by allowing them to
Paired with modern retail operations, this target offers.
level of insight to customer preferences and
behavior brings retailers that much closer to - @oracleretail
delivering the right offer at the right time and
place. Among the operations we expect
to be influenced by insights derived from
micro-location technology are merchandising,
planning, and supply chain operations, as
well as marketing and store management.
Among these, assortment planning is a
favorite in terms of its ability to drive item
and store performance. By examining which
products and sections of the store customers
gravitate toward, retailers will be able to tailor
their assortment more precisely on a store-
by-store level.
The possibility of utilizing micro-location
data in conjunction with a mobile app will
revolutionize the way retailers personalize
promotions and empower them to make
more intelligent decisions about pricing and
product assortment. iBeacon and like-
minded BLE technologies to follow will play
a significant role in making the right sale at
the right time and at the right price.
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 10
Customer Experience
Jeff Wakefield
Vice President of Business Development. VeriFone
How well do you know your customers?
Beyond their contact email and birthday, do
you know what color flatters them the most?
Or what accessories would work best for
their upcoming anniversary? Furthermore,
how are you capitalizing on this? The future
of retail success is dependent on using
technology to bring together this type of
relevant information.
Recently, at the Shop.org Annual 2013
Summit, top retailers shared how they were
unifying their technology and marketing
resources to deliver exceptional customer
experiences. One exciting new way
innovative retailers are starting to do this
is through retailing applications that pool
customer profile information from online and
in-store channels, and throughout the entire
infrastructure. Applications like this, which
also have a corresponding customer-facing
app, enable retailers to communicate with
customers seamlessly from anywhere to
make product suggestions and to view store
wish list items, purchase history, important
events for the customer, and much more.
The result has been profound. This takes
the concept of omnichannel one step
further to unify not just buying channels,
but also customer profile data. The result
enables retailers to leverage customer data
and continuously engage customers with
tailored, relevant offers and promotions,
making it easier than ever for customers to
fall in love with a brand.
I’ll give you an example.
A husband that never seems to get his
wife what she really wants for her birthday
noticed a familiar brand logo on her shoes
and figured she probably shops at the
brand’s retail location nearby. He visited
the retailer’s brick-and-mortar location,
and when he was greeted by the sales
In the evolving retail
associate and provided his wife’s name,
the sales associate was able to look up her
environment, it’s all
complete profile, which included her wish
list items, items she may like based on
about personalization
past purchases, past communication and & positive shopping
much more via a custom built application
that VeriFone created. As a result, the sales experiences.
associate could make the proper purchase
suggestion to the husband. When the - @Jeff_W7,
husband gave the item to his wife as her @VeriFone
birthday present, she was delighted and he
instantly became a hero. What’s even more
unique is that the husband could have gone
to any of the retailer’s locations. Whether
he was in California, New York or overseas,
his wife’s customer profile information and
purchase history would have been up to
date, accurate and accessible for any
sales associate to make the appropriate
product recommendation. Now that is what
it means to deliver true, tailored and relevant
customer experiences to build brand loyalty.
In the evolving retail environment, it’s all
about customization, personalization and
positive shopping experiences. Retailers
need to embrace digital technology the way
the aforementioned retailer did in order to
unify business units, enhance customer
experiences and bridge the gap between in-
store and online shopping. Moving forward
into 2014, CIOs and CMOs will have to
work together to make this happen and take
omnichannel retailing to the next level for
business success.
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 11
Mobile & Social

Noel Goggin
SVP and GM, Epicor

Changes in retail operations continue to be

driven largely by the evolution of consumers’
location and fulfill from another. Unified
systems deliver clarity for consumers and
SaaS solutions enable
attitudes and shopping practices. Whether
in-store on online, they have come to
efficiency for retailers based on one version
of the truth, both of which are of paramount
SMB retailers to use
expect a great omnichannel experience
that respects their needs, time, loyalty, and
importance in today’s retail world. fewer IT resources,
intelligence. Headed into 2014, businesses A third area of ongoing interest through
2014 and beyond will be the evolution and
so they can leverage
already responding to this imperative will be
fine-tuning their approach — and those that increased adoption of SaaS and cloud- technology to grow
have hesitated will want get on board with based retail solutions. As the distributed
core initiatives. business environment of retailing expands, their businesses.
encompassing hundreds and thousands of
One of the key initiatives is mobility. It physical locations for many retailers, those - @noelgoggin,
continues to generate a lot of attention businesses are seeking to operate with @epicor
and talk because of the advantages it greater agility and efficiency while better
offers for a more streamlined, enriched managing costs. Cloud or SaaS-based
in-store experience, supported by the solutions enable smaller retailers to operate
ability to provide product and inventory with far fewer IT resources, so they can
information, CRM functionality, and work less on their technology and instead
seamless transactions from anywhere on focus on leveraging technology to run and
the sales floor. Mobile devices also provide grow their business.
productivity advantages for managers
and associates. But the value of mobility
depends very much on design as well
as functionality. Best practices favor the
use of a single application platform that
can leverage both traditional and mobile
devices, to deliver full-function store system
capabilities on the fly, without introducing
the cost and complication of a separate
technology stack.

The value of leveraging one system

also applies to the development of
omnichannel capabilities, which will
remain another key focus for most retailers
in the coming year. Retailers will continue
to look for ways to unify and improve their
brand experience across all channels to
ensure consistency in product, pricing,
promotions, tax calculations, order
management, and loyalty rewards, with
the ability to transact in one channel or

Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 12

Mobile & Social

Luis Sanz
Co-founder, Olapic

There are a number of really exciting

innovations that are happening specifically
because of mobile apps in terms of curation.
In 2012, we talked a lot about showrooming
and the use of the smartphone for
comparison-shopping in-store. That was the
first big leap integrating the smartphone with
the in-store environment. Now, the trend is
around using a number of apps that either
present products in a new mobile-centric
way to consumers using Big Data, or apps
that were not initially intended for shopping
but are now casting a huge influence on
buying, such as Twitter and Instagram.
Personalization, an old Internet term that
brings together Big Data and omnichannel
will continue to consolidate, and these
apps will seek to bring a unique, curated
experience to each consumer. What’s
driving personalization and curation
now is much different than what drove
personalization years back — it’s about
providing customers with the products that
are most meaningful to them because the
mobile experience is so limited in terms of
exploration. Curation will be critical if retailers
want transactions derived from their mobile
sites to grow.
Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Savvy
shoppers now look for other shoppers’
Personalization and
advice, as well as multimedia content
and recommendations before making a
curation are providing
purchase decision. And if the retailer isn’t
there, to provide access that information,
customers with the
shoppers will simply go somewhere else. products that are most
Shoppers have grown accustomed to meaningful to them.
retailers adapting their stores according
to their likes, and effectively creating - @Lsanza,
personalized experiences based on their @Olapic
buying patterns. If this wasn’t enough, the
increasing use of Big Data to increase ROI
is also changing not only how retailers
market their products but also what they
sell and when. Increasingly, customers are
buying using multiple channels, forcing
retailers to offer a consistent experience
across all channels to their increasingly
tech-savvy clientele. More users are turning
to apps for buying, not only from home but
also in-store, and retailers need to become
part of that experience if they want to
remain competitive.

On the flip side, shoppers are already

curating for retailers, but in a much different
way. They’re wielding smartphones, creating
content, such as photos, and sharing
content about the products they love using

Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 13

Mobile & Social

Nick D’Alessio
Global Practice Leader, Retail at Zebra Technologies

In 2013, retailers were focused on ways

to cater to the customer. Retailers fully
2. Upgrading payment technologies with
solutions like Zebra Commerce (link
Retailers will use
understood the need to engage with their
customers both online and in person at
to page) that are compliant with the
2015 credit card regulations and have
mobile tech to improve
brick and mortar stores. The omnichannel
shopping experience became less of
the ability to connect multiple payment
systems (traditional cash wrap, mPOS,
customer engagement,
a concept and more of an aspirational kiosks) into one integrated solution. comply with 2015 credit
goal from ‘mom and pop’ shops to large
department stores. This omnichannel trend Rather than tackling these initiatives card regs, and save
is not going away in 2014. The year 2013 separately, I anticipate seeing many
laid the groundwork for even more customer companies making full transitions to mobile capital costs.
engagement made possible by technologies technologies that improve customer
such as mobile point of sale (mPOS), engagement, comply with the 2015 credit - @ZebraRetail
RFID tags and scanners and more holistic card regulations, and save capital costs
commerce solutions. in the long run. While these changes will
require a financial investment, 2014 will be a
How we do business has been fairly good time to transition legacy systems that
consistent over the past few decades. are losing capabilities everyday. With two
Stores accept credit cards for many (if not important reasons to advance technology
all) purchases, making shopping without programs, 2014 will be the year to begin
carrying cash very convenient. The year making these transitions.
2015 is going to bring a change in the way
credit card companies assign fraud liability
for credit card purchases. Additionally,
more robust security measures and new
hardware will be required in order to
maintain PCI compliance and keep fees low.
Otherwise, retailers will be penalized for not
implementing the new “chip and PIN” credit
card payment terminals that many other
countries have already widely adopted. This
upcoming change positions 2014 as a year
of planning and transition.

Retailers have two main focuses for 2014:

1. Creating even more engagement with

the customer by equipping associates
with mobile technologies they can use to
inform their customers on the spot such
as supplying associates with tablets.
This also includes mPOS as it creates a
more convenient way to pay and aids in
line busting.

Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 14

Next-Gen Technology
John Orr
SVP, Retail Strategy & Execution, Ceridian HCM
Too often today, information technology
departments are driving instead of enabling
retail operations. Their behavior links
back to the way vendors’ technology
for the enterprise has evolved, which
has long compelled IT to play the role of
gatekeeper in vetting these systems for the
organizations they serve — and to select
them based on IT’s own criteria. For retailers
to innovate and become leaders among
their competition, however, these lingering
dynamics of IT’s relationship with the rest
of the retail organization must change.
Fortunately, new technology delivery
models, namely Software-as-a-Service,
are convincing retail organizations’ IT
departments to relinquish their vice-like grip
on decision-making.
Technology Adoption: Demand
Side-Oriented
The epidemic model of technology diffusion
is demand side-oriented. Retail operations
represent the market and business
demands. Retailers are under tremendous
pressure. Customers want more for less,
with more variety and options than ever
before. Operating a retailer profitably
requires a careful balance of investments
in customer service, people and tools, as
well as attention to cost-containment and
opportunities for new growth-achieving
ideas. Furthermore, for many years retailers
have had a need for speed, a need that has
only increased greatly.
Though it remains focused on driving
revenue and providing a great customer
experience, operations looks to technology
to help it achieve its goals. And retailers
have traditionally struggled with on-time
and within-budget technology projects.
Winners not only tend to have a better track
record of delivery, but also go beyond doing
things better: They display leadership in
doing things differently. That’s innovation, a
SaaS technology
byproduct of the better relationships they
enjoy with their IT departments.
delivery models are
IT: Often The Bottleneck
convincing retail
Slowing Innovation IT departments to
In many cases, an operation has to
innovate. And IT tends to be the bottleneck
relinquish their
in average or laggard retail organizations. vice-like grip on
This bottleneck comes in two flavors. The
first is simply that IT is buried in years decision-making.
upon years of legacy operational systems
and interfaces. They spend too much - @Dayforce
time administering and maintaining legacy
solutions; they have little to no time available
for innovation or more strategic initiatives
needed by operations. The second and
most detrimental is that IT has not changed.
It remains the gatekeeper. Often, IT was the
one who not only had to deliver, but also
maintain and integrate – so of course it was
vested and wanted control. SaaS has now moved beyond early
adoption. Best-in-class retailers have IT
There’s also a third flavor. IT used to play a departments who have embraced SaaS
major role in evaluating and selecting solutions. and recognize the opportunities it presents
Providers would present their wares, and IT to them and their staff and work. They plug
would drill into the 8th decimal point of detail. in to understand the integration points,
Decisions often became less about capabilities resource commitments required, and of
for operations and more about what IT liked or course data security, back-up and recovery.
felt most comfortable supporting. They see the opportunity and recognize the
shift in their role. Those winners have not
Saas: New Technologies Liberating IT only recognized, but also embraced, the
From Its Traditional Role notion that in today’s retail world IT enables
a successful team. How powerful is it when
Newer technologies are liberating IT IT is serving operations and enabling it to
departments. With SaaS, IT is no longer on accomplish and deliver? Very.
the hook for all areas of a project. The SaaS
provider is working for them. Operations,
HR and payroll have more flexibility to
select the best solution. It’s a shift in
solution provisioning and ownership. IT can
reallocate time, resources and money to
more strategic initiatives.
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 15
Next-Gen Technology
Oren Betzaleli
Vice President and General Manager, Global Solutions
Management & Marketing, NCR Retail
There are a number of market trends that
have been around for quite a while and have
been well-felt throughout the retail industry,
specifically in areas related to shoppers’
increasing expectation for omnichannel and
mobile interaction, as well as for extended
self-service possibilities. Though not new,
these have only just begun to take on
practical form for many retailers.
As we approach 2014, such trends are
expected to enter a new phase in terms
of actual implementation. With theory
brought to practice, omnichannel, mobile
payment, digital coupons, mobile loyalty and
increased support for “self” channels are
all due to finally become reality. I anticipate
that this realization of digital retailing will
impact the industry as a whole, with both
opportunities to be capitalized on, and
challenges to be addressed.
It is my belief that in 2014, omnichannel-
enabled commerce platforms will bring with
them the opportunity to think beyond and go
further than current channels and touch points.
New and innovative wearable touch points,
such as smart watches and digital eyewear,
will gain popularity alongside ubiquitous
smartphones and tablets, as will other touch-
complimentary developments due in 2014.
The proliferation of smartphones and new
wearable technologies, and the precise
identification and personalization they enable, needs to address if customers appear
are bound to bring about exciting opportunities to have paid via their smartphones, but
for even further enhanced customer
interaction. One such opportunity expected
In 2014, wearable
to come up in 2014 is the ability to take the
online experience into physical stores.
touch points, such as
This can be achieved by leveraging
smart watches and
customers’ smartphones to combine the
best of two worlds — real-world shopper
digital eyewear, will gain
experiences at the store, enriched with popularity.
online recommendations, such as “you may
also like…” and “your friends on Facebook - Oren Betzaleli,
bought…” — shopping accelerators that have @NCR_Retail
traditionally been limited to online commerce.
Digital Retailing Is A Game-Changer
And yet, digital retailing will also bring its
share of challenges. After all, everything
about the way we shop in stores is
changing, and retailers will have to find
creative ways to adjust. The last time
retailers had to deal with issues of similar actually have not gone through any
impact was in the early 20th century, when standard and easily confirmed checkout
grocery stores shifted from having clerks procedure that assures they have indeed
stand behind counters, pick and pack paid for product.
goods for customers, to offering shoppers
the convenience of self-service picking. All in all, 2014 will be an exciting time to be
in retail. Digital retailing opportunities and the
Fast forward 100 years and shoppers now challenges they present will, as before, be met
also have the option of scanning in and by capable vendors with significant advances
checking out items on their own through in technology. These will be to the benefit
their mobile devices. This creates new and satisfaction of connected shoppers
security challenges, and retailers will have who will enjoy increased convenience and
to quickly and appropriately address such independence online and at the store.
potential hazards. For example, a retailer Retailers that are quick to embrace and
capitalize on new developments will gain clear
competitive edge.
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 16
Next-Gen Technology
Nancy Chisholm
Vice President and General Manager, Tyco Retail Solutions
RFID was once a “four-letter word” to
retailers. But the retail landscape has
evolved. Omnichannel retailing and
shoppers’ increased expectation for
on-demand information are creating
unprecedented pressure for real-time
inventory visibility. As a result, RFID is poised
to become a critical retail enabler, uniquely
designed to provide the insight retailers
need to optimize inventory and store
operations. We believe RFID technology is
cornerstone to achieving inventory visibility
and will help drive store performance in
2014 and beyond.
RFID technology has the power to capture
and analyze inventory data to optimize sales,
improve processes and control losses. RFID
inventory intelligence solutions are proven to
reduce shrink up to 75%, increase shopper
conversion rates by up to 50% and increase
item-level inventory accuracy to 99%, which
improves store merchandise allocation,
selling floor availability, sales and customer
satisfaction. With RFID-based solutions,
forward-thinking retailers are laying the
foundation for a successful omnichannel
retail strategy, which is critical to success in
today’s retail environment.
The benefits also extend beyond accurate
inventory information. As stores become
Why RFID is no
more saturated with RFID tags, use cases
such as shrink visibility become more
longer a “four-letter
attractive. The same tags that ensure an
accurate inventory position can also provide
word,” according to
critical item-level loss data. Supply chain Nancy Chisholm,
execution and customer-facing innovation
are also areas of opportunity to create value @TycoRetailNews
and improve the overall brand experience.
Early adopters of this next generation retail
technology will gain a competitive advantage
over retailers that maintain traditional
operating practices.
RFID Implementation Challenges
Deriving value from RFID technology
There has been no other new technology
involves more than simply installing tags and
offering retailers the broad range of benefits
readers. Fully integrating this technology
of RFID in many years. This, combined
into the fabric of store operations requires
with the changing retail landscape, and
an extensible, standards-based technology
empowered consumers that are forcing
platform and software application, tuned to
brick-and-mortar retailers to enhance
a retailer’s unique business needs and an
the shopping experience, has resulted in
experienced consultative technology partner
RFID technology finding its rightful place
to deploy a successful RFID retail solution.
in the retail ecosystem and being poised
However, there are many opportunities to
to become one of the most critical retail
reap the benefits of RFID technology without
technologies of our time.
making a significant investment in time or
resources. Retailers can begin with a single,
targeted RFID use case, and realize quick,
tactical success by proving ROI with the
technology and application, while gaining
project support from store personnel and
executive stakeholders alike. With the right
technology platform in place, additional
RFID business cases can be supported
sequentially over time, driving value in the
overall strategic business objectives.
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 17
Next-Gen Technology
Jason Taylor
Chief Innovation Strategist, Usablenet
Web services represent an area of
innovation that retailers have yet to fully tap
into, and moving into 2014, we anticipate
a mass prioritization among retailers in
identifying ways to create services-based
architecture. As consumer demands
for compelling mobile and multichannel
experiences accelerate, retailers that do
not take advantage of services will find
themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
Moving into 2014, retailers will no longer rely
so heavily on the desktop web experience
as the source for their multi-channel
solutions. Instead, executives on both the
marketing and technology sides of the
business will move towards a more effective
way of creating unique experiences across
a variety of channels. The key is finding
solutions that are both secure and easy to
create. Services must also have the ability
to be repeated across different levels of the
organization so businesses can make more
intelligent decisions about the experiences
they want to create for customers,
employees and partners without placing a
huge resource burden on the team.
The next big question is what actually
makes a strong services platform. The
In 2014, retailers will
answer consists of three aspects: First, a
simple interface for developers. The easier it
focus on identifying
is to request data from a retailer, the better.
Second, all services should be cloud-based
ways to create
— this allows for information to be available services-based
securely to anyone who needs access,
enabling retailers to engage with and offer architecture.
partners access without needing to share
crucial back-end information. Third, it is - @Usablenet
essential to have the scale to deliver these
solutions across channels and audiences.
With services, retailers will be able to more
effectively manage varying elements of a
multi-channel engagement strategy, such as
fast and simplified checkout and payment
options, wish list functionality, product
search, social integration, and more.
To create compelling multi-channel
experiences moving forward, retailers will
be taking a service-based approach to
support their business objectives. Effectively
leveraging services will save retailers
significant time and investment and will
contribute to their competitive differentiation.
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 18
Omnichannel
Rob Garf
VP of Industry Strategy & Insight, Demandware
Did you hear that? It’s the sound of death
knocking at the door of the traditional,
store-centric point-of-sale. While the death
of the POS will be a gradual process due
to typical replacement cycles stretching
beyond 15 years, emerging technology is
already accelerating the convergence of
store and e-Commerce and phasing out
both the hardware and software that power
today’s POS.
For retailers to truly satisfy the desires of
technologically savvy consumers, they
must recognize how their overall commerce
operations support digital interactions
across a myriad of ever-expanding channels
and devices. Retailers cannot deliver brand
experiences and engage with consumers
in silos. Instead, there must be a central
hub that powers all consumer interactions,
including the various points of sale.
While the in-store cash wrap may not go
away entirely, the POS software applications
will no longer be hardcoded to the physical
device. Rather, each device — a tablet,
smartphone or computer — will become
an entry point to a central platform that
manages all digital commerce. Associates
may still require a place to provide service
and bag merchandise, but transactions will
no longer take place on an island.
Connectivity concerns that hampered the
ability to manage data and applications
centrally are history, and therefore the need
to replicate and integrate this information
at store-level is no longer necessary.
Hardcoded capabilities — such as inventory
availability, loyalty access and promotional
applicability — in the traditional POS must
be untethered and available via a single
Each device —
commerce instance across geographies,
brands and channels.
tablet, smartphone or
One way in which retailers have been
computer — will be an
able to innovatively break down traditional
consumer silos is through mobile solutions
entry point to a central
applications made available to store platform that manages
associates. The application has the ability
to aggregate customer data across multiple all digital commerce.
channels and lends itself to creating online
wish lists, accessing past purchase data, - @Demandware
electronically distributing marketing materials
to customers concerning birthday and
loyalty promotions, and much more. As a
result, associates are empowered with the
data they need to capitalize on and best
serve their customers.
Integrating Organizational Processes
these challenges holistically, rather than
IT organizational and procurement practices
simply addressing singular devices and
must change to make this a reality. In
channels. Much has been said on this topic
today’s commerce world, two different
as it pertains to consumer engagement,
technology buying decisions take place in
but it’s important for retailers to remember
two different functions in an organization:
that this concept doesn’t just apply to
ecommerce platform and POS hardware
interacting with consumers and making a
and software. The perception is that there
sale. The transaction itself should be equally
are two different sets of requirements, which
connected and seamless.
results in two disparate paths to support
digital consumers who expect a harmonious Much like when the industry needed to help
engagement across various moments marketers and merchandisers rally around
throughout the shopping experience. consumer segments instead of product
categories, we must now help technology
As time goes on, the blended thinking
buyers do the same in this circumstance.
between the store and digital commerce
It will not happen overnight; however it’s
organizations will continue to evolve as
time to invest in a single digital backbone to
consumers tap into new technologies.
power both virtual and physical interactions
Retailers must consider how to tackle
between retailers and consumers.
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 19
Omnichannel

Jeff Marker
Senior Vice President, Multichannel Retail, Junction Solutions

We expect the momentum of the

consumerization of IT movement in retail to
accelerate significantly in 2014 and beyond.
This trend is poised to transform a multi-
channel retail enterprise to new levels of
customer-centricity. Next year, we expect
retailers will continue to release the pent up
demand for capital expenditures.
One area of focus will be on the new
e-Commerce, POS, mobile, business
intelligence and social media technologies
which enable them to deliver that highly
personalized and value-driven retail
experience which is demanded by today’s
digital and mobile powered customers. But
these technologies are not without some
key challenges, namely how it integrates
and performs with the rest of a retailer’s
legacy systems.
of customers that include key information
needed for customer engagement: how they
Consumerization of IT
buy, what they buy, how much they buy and
what promotions motivate them to buy more.
will transform a multi-
If a retailer somehow can obtain that
channel retail enterprise
type of data either manually or through
different systems, the data is frequently
to new levels of
not reliable or consistent and any analysis customer-centricity.
can be subject to inaccuracy. So, we’ll see
many retailers streamlining their current - @junctionsol
enterprise infrastructure and operating a
single enterprise system or significantly
upgrading existing systems. Only then can
retailers easily and effectively integrate all
their channels — from e-Commerce, mobile
commerce, store fronts, catalog order to
social media — that ultimately connects its
operations to its suppliers and customers.

The reality is that a typical retailer’s

infrastructure does not have the scalability,
functionality nor performance required so a
company can fully exploit these technologies
and organize its entire operations around
the customer rather than the channel. That
is why we will continue to see next year
and in the near-term a growing mindset by
retailers to get its “house in order” or in this
case, upgrade or replace its outdated or
substandard systems.

Many retailers operate a variety of different

and unnecessarily complex enterprise
systems, POS and databases that average
in age from 7- to as much as 20-year-old
technology. This makes it very difficult for
a retailer to get its data warehouse and
business intelligence in synch with catalog
orders, brick and mortar store orders
and ecommerce. It also makes it virtually
impossible to easily access single views

Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 20

Omnichannel
Branden Jenkins
GM of Retail, NetSuite
Retailers planning a successful 2014
must adapt to the omnichannel model.
Customers expect to interact with brands
through any channel, at any time, without
sacrificing experience or service. Many
retailers are left flat-footed in the face of the
omnichannel revolution, and their inflexible,
outdated processes and systems are
struggling to cope with the new paradigm.
Meeting the demands of an omnichannel
customer requires a commitment to four
crucial principles: seamless commerce,
order orchestration, new business models
and future-proofing.
Seamless commerce means that the
customer must be empowered to transact
across all touch points and channels:
consumers want to browse and buy on
their schedules. The shopping experience
should be built around the new reality that
most consumers make their browsing and
purchasing commitments online, often
before they ever see the product in person.
They are coming to the store to transact,
and that means they must be able to quickly
locate a nearby store with the products
they choose, quickly locate the product and
complete the transaction.
A truly seamless, omnichannel
organization can recognize its customers
equally well through any channel, and
bring relationship history and informed
product recommendations to the table.
Customers expect more than full shelves
and competitive prices. They expect
their chosen retailers to understand their
purchases, have an accurate, up-to-date
picture of preferred purchase methods and
contact details, and to provide offers, order
updates, and shipping notifications to the
device of the customer’s choice.
Order orchestration turns every warehouse,
distribution center and retail location into a
4 principles of
component of a single, tightly integrated,
enterprise-wide inventory. Offering
omnichannel: seamless
online purchasing, but convenient in-
store pickup, is just part of the equation.
commerce, order
Store inventories can be used to reduce orchestration, new
fulfillment time and costs, or to reduce
overstock and avoid markdowns. business models and
New business models are the new norm. future-proofing.
Hybrid business models, such as acting as
a link in a complex B2B2C chain or taking - @brandenjenkins,
part in C2B and C2C transactions, offer @netsuite
exciting opportunities. Unfortunately, new
channels, lines of business and innovative
product offerings are too often rushed to
market in silos, with little consideration of
integrating with the rest of the business.
Tapping Subscription-Based Fulfillment
Digital services are increasingly relevant
to retailers of all shapes and sizes, and business model, or something even more
subscription-based fulfillment of both digital foundation-shaking. Too many retailers
and physical product is a fast-growing continue to operate on narrowly designed,
opportunity. Retailers are even finding purpose-built systems which make it
themselves turning into light manufacturers impossible to seamlessly embrace these
with the emergence of 3D printing kiosks. emerging opportunities. Doing business the
Customers will reward retailers who offer way customers demand it — today — is of
access to these innovative services, and primary importance.
have little reason to patronize those whose
siloed approach guarantees disconnects Future-proofing requires agility, flexibility,
between brand and buyer. Each of these and scalability, and the assurance that the
new improvements should be developed in technology behind each transaction will never
the spirit of omnichannel commerce, giving grow stale. Those capabilities are found
the customer the freedom to browse, buy, in cloud solutions, which also provide the
return and manage the relationship through architecture needed to break down data silos
any channel, at any time. and provide a comprehensive view of products
and customers, wherever they are and
That is why future-proofing is so vital. No whenever your business needs the insights.
one knows exactly what the next major
trend for retail will be, or even what form it
will take: a channel, touch point, device,
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 21
Omnichannel
Joe Stanhope
Chief Strategy Officer, SDL
Modern retailing is a highly technical
endeavor. Managing the supply chain,
back office, customer relationships, and
commerce across multiple physical and
digital sites requires substantial software,
infrastructure, and expertise. Technology
makes many promises: increased
organizational efficiency and enhanced
customer loyalty among them. But any
seasoned retail executive knows that
technology is no panacea. The inherent
difficulties of purchasing, implementing,
managing, and using technology often
stymie the realization of true benefits and
competitive advantages.
Customer experience management initiatives
— the development, delivery, and analysis
of customer interactions across all brand
touch points including channels, devices and
languages, at all points in the buying cycle
— are the poster child for the challenging
proliferation of technology. Retailers are in an
impossible position as they chase a moving
target: delivering seamless experiences
to increasingly sophisticated customers,
managing an accelerating flood of data, and
executing across a growing number of touch
points. No single technology does it all, so
organizations are forced to invest a broad and
growing menagerie of tools for data collection,
processing, warehousing, analysis, interaction
execution, and process management.
As this phenomenon reaches critical mass
in enterprises, 2014’s most significant retail
technology trend will be a migration away
emphasizing the acquisition of ever more
functional point solutions to “ecosystem-
centric” technology investment strategies.
This means that retailers will focus on how
technologies work together more than the
features of individual tools. Retail executives
are buying more than a selection of
applications or base sets of functionality, they
are crafting an ecosystem of capabilities that
2014’s most significant
are dependent on one another and integrate
to deliver complete solutions.
retail technology trend
Building an internal technology ecosystem
will be ecosystem-
doesn’t happen by chance. Organizations
must develop internal technology standards
centric technology
that each component will adhere to. To investment strategies.
develop a total solution with functional
competence, flexibility, and compatible - @sdl
technical underpinnings, retail executives
must consider the following attributes:
• Data portability. The key to making
discrete applications work together lies
in data integration. Retailers need to
enforce requirements for systems to
offer data access, and the technical
standards — such as APIs — by which
data and applications will communicate Organizations that develop their technology
with one another. capabilities with an ecosystem in mind
will find that they get the most out of their
• Extensibility. Usage of applications investments to efficiently deliver superior
won’t end with their native features, so seamless customer experiences. Beyond
technology purchases must support traditional in-house technology usage,
ongoing development to enhance retailers will also have the opportunity to
functionality over time and build connect their ecosystems to third party
seamless integrations across tools. networks and adjacent industries, giving rise
to new levels of opportunity and innovation
• Modularity. Future proof investments
in leveraging customer relationships and
by requiring that applications are
monetizing intellectual property. We live in
modular in nature so that components
exciting times, and the retailers that build
can be activated or deactivated as
the best technical foundation stand to keep
needs change over time.
pace and win in the long term.
• Deployment method. Technologies
are available in many deployment
models such as hosted, on-premise,
cloud, or hybrid. Retailers should define
their deployment preferences and adapt
requirements accordingly to ensure that
applications and infrastructure are fit for
purpose, scalable, and secure.
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 22
Personalization
Karen Dutch
Senior Vice President Marketing, Revionics Inc.
In 2014, the retail industry’s most significant
new technology trend will be around
omnichannel personalization capabilities —
effectively and profitably engaging shoppers
across all touch points through relevant
interactions that uphold a consistent
brand identity but are tailored to meet
customers’ unique preferences. Revionics
recently conducted an in-depth study on
Omnichannel Personalization in partnership
with The CMO Club and 5one and we
found there are 2 key technology trends on
everyone’s roadmap:
1. Optimization & Predictive Analytics
to Transform Big Data
Combining traditional retail data with
the structured and unstructured data
coming from digital and social to create
a comprehensive 360 degree view
of shopper behavior and preferences
is a critical first step in the journey
to personalization. Initially creating
profiles for optimal offers at the shopper
segment level and then moving to
the individual level is the sequence of
events we are seeing in many roadmaps
as data and organizational shifts take
place to move from product-centricity to
shopper-centricity.
Optimization technology systematically
operationalizes the creation of offers by
channel and touch point by ensuring
that models are constantly updated with
the most recent shopper response data.
Self-learning models automatically reflect
the most current trends and emerging
shopper sentiment — which is critical
to remaining relevant in today’s highly
competitive and rapidly changing market.
Today’s new generation of optimization
solutions have progressed from the black
box recommendations delivered in an
¹ Bazaarvoice, The Real ROI from Social
² Bain, Social Media Consumer Study
excel-like grid by first generation tools to
being highly visual, interactive, user-friendly
Transaction log data
solutions which support cross-functional
planning, analysis and measurement of
for cannibalization,
promotional effectiveness. affinity and halo effects
• Understanding promotional uplift
goes far beyond price elasticity as it
enables retailers to
measures and forecasts the impact select optimal offers.
of using alternative combinations of
promotional vehicles (i.e. Circular, - @revionics
ROP, flyer, HTML, email, text, coupon
book, pop up), media types (i.e. Print,
Web, Mobile, Social, Email, TV, Radio)
and in-store displays and signage on
shopper demand - as well as how
alterations to page and position (i.e. web
pages, circulars) and in-store location
(i.e. Endcap, Entrance, POS) change
response patterns.
in-store, with relevant offers that can
• Analyzing transaction log data for be amplified through social channels.
cannibalization, affinity and halo effects Recent research shows that 74% of
at the shopper segment level enables shoppers rely on social networks to
retailers to select optimal offers which guide purchase decisions and that they
drive traffic, baskets and loyalty. spend 11% more per transaction after
interacting with other shoppers online¹.
• Incorporating localized competitor Additionally, shoppers who engage with
promotional pricing data as well as local retailers through social media spend 20-
market data, which provides not only the 30% more than shoppers who don’t ².
most common promotional prices in a
local market but the unit sales volume Earning loyalty in today’s market requires
associated with each promotional price as retailers to change the conversation
well, provides deep insight into shopper with shoppers from a monologue to a
response to competitor’s promotions. two-way dialog and to establish constant
feedback loops to incorporate channel,
2. Engaging Shoppers Where They Are touch point and offer preferences into
Omnichannel shoppers are new campaigns. Engaging through social
instrumented, informed and media enables retailers to establish the
interconnected, particularly in the high- personal relationship and relevant offers
growth Millennial and Hispanic groups, demanded by the omnichannel shopper.
and we see a trend towards using social
not only as a vehicle for inspiration
and aspiration but as a mechanism to
digitally engage, reward loyalty and drive
shoppers to the register, online and
Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 23
Personalization

Lori Mitchell-Keller
Sr. Vice President and Head of Global Retail Industry, SAP

In 2013 a lot of the conversations that we

had with retailers focused on collecting and
gathering information in order to create a single
view of the customer. We all know the value of
this — having one collective data set provides
the ability to gain insights into consumer
behavior, balanced with key retail company
data. Products like HANA and the new SAP
Customer Activity Repository have moved us a
lot closer to the reality of integrating data from
multiple sources in order to draw insights from
the collective information.
In 2014, we’ll continue to work on the
convergence of data including supply
chain, search, shopper history, mobile and
social in order to give us better insight into
consumer behavior. But the critical next
step is determining how we use this data to
personalize the consumer experience.
We may start to see the decline of generic
“daily sales” email newsletters and an
The critical next step
increase in emails that tie back to specific
products a consumer viewed on a retail web
is determining how
site but didn’t purchase. These types of
offers better target a consumer’s individual
we use the data
needs to encourage conversion. It also to personalize the
has the potential to boost loyalty - when a
retail brand shows that it truly understands consumer experience.
what a consumer wants or doesn’t want it
increases the relevance of that brand. - @LoriMitchellKel,
@SAP_Retail
The retailers that are able to tap into
integrated customer data repositories,
mine it for consumer insights and then
execute promotional campaigns that are
truly relevant to the consumer will be the big
winners in 2014.

I believe that retailers will start to optimize

targeted promotions based on how
consumers buy rather than who they are. In
fact, this holiday season may be used as an
experimental first step into creating more of
these customized offers. For example, we
may see retailers providing custom deals
based on a shopper’s specific behavior on
the web site rather than on demographics
alone. It could be two-for-one, free shipping
or discounts on products that complement
items already purchased or in a shopper’s
online cart.

Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 24

Personalization

Diana McHenry
Director, Global Retail, SAS

Retailers are engaging and winning

customers in ways that would have been
Amazon has struck unique partnerships
with the U.S. Postal Service and Procter
Customer analytics
unheard of a few years ago and changing
the retail landscape in sweeping ways.
& Gamble, and it’s now diving into the
untapped pool of same-day delivery for
can drive personalized
IDC Research expects a 37% increase in
all kinds of goods — even perishables.
This gives Amazon an advantage over
marketing, service
retail technology spending with the majority
of spending on new projects. When you
Walmart and Costco, and will (undoubtedly) enhancements and
spur those two retail giants on to adopt
marry that prediction of innovation with similar customer satisfaction models. more relevant product
the trend of power shifting from retailers Winning retailers lead the pack because
to consumers, analytics rises to the top of they use analytical insights to change assortments.
the heap as the “must have” technology shoppers’ expectations. Immediate
investment of 2014. True, the analytics trend customer gratification — once thought to - @tellretailstory,
has been on the lips of retail soothsayers be impossible — is now within our grasp @sasretail
for several years. But this is the year when because of retailers who bravely explore
analytics steps up as the fuel that drives in- their data and innovate. The good news is
your-face retail innovation. that all consumers win because of customer
analytics. Innovation like this is something
Analytics has been woven into retail we can all cheer about.
companies for years, and much of it
operated behind the scenes. Customer
analytics, on the other hand, holds
enormous promise for retailers hoping to
get closer to consumers in order to drive all
kinds of improvements from personalized
marketing campaigns to service
enhancements to more relevant product
assortments for omnichannel environments.

Customer analytics also is at the heart of

movements like tracking customer activities
throughout a store and mobile check out that
relies on tablets instead of cash registers.
Customer analytics has spurred department
stores like Belk and Macy’s to transform
themselves, and it’s given birth to companies
like Zappos, Gilt and Quirky. Customer
analytics also inspired Amazon to do what it
does best: change the retail game.

Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 25


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About Retail TouchPoints
Retail TouchPoints is an online publishing network for retail executives, with
content focused on optimizing the customer experience across all channels. The
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Retail TouchPoints 2014 Technology Preview • 26