3 Major Tech Trends Transforming The Retail Landscape

Another holiday shopping season has come and gone, and in its wake most major retailers are scratching their heads, wondering how earlier-than-ever Black Friday openings translated into retail’s smallest growth rate since 2008 (a measly 0.7 percent).
While a myriad of explanations have been offered for America’s softened interest in shopping — bad weather and personal economic issues being the most cited — another view is that traditional retailers are beating back against the technological revolution in retail.

Between our collective move towards e-commerce, the new technologies being introduced into stores and an increasing reliance on smartphones and apps, retail is undergoing a massive tech transformation.

Retailers of the future would be wise to come on board.


A changing tide: the online retail market’s steady growth
Just as predicted, the ease and comfort that online shopping affords us is in many ways besting the traditional in-person shopping experience. Case in point: though many traditional retailers struggled this winter, Amazon sold 306 items per second on Cyber Monday (27 million purchases in total), setting a new record.

In general, the online retail market has grown steadily: It is now valued at $226 billion, and is estimated to rise to $327 billion by 2016 — a 45 percent increase. Though retail giants like Amazon and eBay may dominate the market, venture capitalists are pouring money into the sector, with flash-sales sites like Fab.com – which raised $105 million in July 2012 — reaping the benefits.

1. E-commerce is replacing physical stores. In fact, e-commerce is set to replace physical retail spaces altogether in some parts of the world. American companies like Toys“R”Us, looking to gain a foothold in foreign markets, plan to open mobile-friendly retail websites in places like China, Australia and France.

The way of the future is clearly to commit fewer resources towards opening brick-and-mortar stores and instead, cultivating virtual ones. More and more companies are acknowledging that this is where the real opportunity lies.

2. Smartphones are forcing retailers to keep prices competitive and websites active. This e-commerce explosion is thanks in no small part to the increasing use of phones and tablets for Web surfing and shopping. But our use of mobile devices isn’t limited to shopping on-the-go or from the couch.

A study by Pew Internet shows that more than half of all adult cell phone owners used their device to help with purchasing decisions while already in store. People either called friends for advice, used their phones to look up product reviews or investigated the prices of items they wanted. Smartphones give us direct access to the world’s information on nearly every retail product, which forces retailers to keep their prices competitive and their Web presence active — lest they lose out to more aggressive online retailers and flash sale sites.

www.forbes.com