the future of retail: a digitally transformed machine
TRANSCRIPT
THE FUTURE OF RETAIL:A DIGITALLY TRANSFORMED MACHINE
Intr
oduc
tion
02
Introduction brick-and-mortar retailers to usher in a
new type of engagement with their
customers while attracting new
“omni-shoppers” who shop through
various media, whether it’s a retailer’s
website, physical store, or mobile
channel. Through the implementation of
technology-enabled resources—such as
devices, protocols, tools, methodologies,
teams, etc.—retailers are giving their
customers, and employees as well, the
opportunity to make more satisfying and
productive decisions. These choices are
often determined by content made
available by the retailer, in the form of
information, data, analysis, reviews, and
more.1 From a revenue perspective,
digital transformation positively impacts a
retailer by lowering business operation
costs through using technologies that
simplify processes that once required
significant manpower and funding.
The archetype for the retail store of the
future appears as an amalgam of both
digital and physical. That is, physical retail
stores will pour more digital onto their
canvas, and pure-play e-commerce
retailers will dip their brushes into the
world of brick and mortar. According to
author Greg Verdino,2 “Digital
transformation closes the gap between
what digital customers already expect
and what analog businesses actually
deliver.” One size fits all does not apply to
digital transformation strategies—every
business will achieve a different result,
made possible through different
methods. The goal, however, is the same:
to deliver progressive and unparalleled
value to customers. The textbook retail
strategy is not centered solely on selling
products anymore. This means that a shift
is occurring, where retailers are no longer
focusing simply on what is tangible—in
terms of products and services—but
broadening their scope to also include
what is abstract: experiences.
When 90 percent of all retail sales
transactions occur in-store,3 maintaining
these stores is critical, but so is reaching
the digital customer, who displays
changing behavior and is a paramount
part of fueling the retail industry. A survey
from PwC4 discovered that 58 percent of
the surveyed participants deemed
convenience to be the main reason they
shop online, with 34 percent admitting
that their mobile phones will be the main
avenue through which they complete
retail purchases. This may mean that
more brick-and-mortar or pure-play
retailers need to adopt omnichannel
strategies, but first, it is important for
brands to understand the customers they
are targeting and how their individual
personas make their way through the
shopping process—something that wildly
varies among all customers. In general,
digital is forcing retailers to reimagine
their business models, and a lot of these
metamorphoses are already occurring.
This is evident through new digital
practices that are currently present in
retail, as well as future technological
innovations anticipated to make an
impact. Customers are one of the main
catalysts in changing retail, but their
needs and demands are an assemblage
of ideas steered by technology and other
driving forces.
Going shopping doesn’t mean what it used to. The
image of a customer walking into a typical store,
finding her desired items, and then interfacing with a
cashier as she checks out at a cash register is colored
in black and white; it’s no longer the retail standard.
The confluence of technological advances and
changing customer demands is forcing retailers to
rethink the mold they originally created, in which
they shaped their businesses. Traditional processes of
purchasing products—and the whole retail experience
in general—have evolved drastically, and the
customer is one of the main forces dictating the
direction of the path that retailers will take, heavily
influenced by digital transformation.
The retail panorama is fluid, shifting directions and
moving with the current that technology emits.
E-commerce retailers, like Amazon, are quickly and
significantly growing while many traditional
brick-and-mortar retailers are seeing revenue loss
due to digital disruption. Essentially every industry is
experiencing a type of disruption in its processes,
operations, infrastructure, products, services, and
business in general. A hurricane of digital is sweeping
across enterprises of all types, leaving completely
reshaped business models in its wake. You may hear
a lot about it, but what does digital transformation
truly mean for retailers, their customers, and the
industry in general? Digital opens a door for
Intr
oduc
tion
03
brick-and-mortar retailers to usher in a
new type of engagement with their
customers while attracting new
“omni-shoppers” who shop through
various media, whether it’s a retailer’s
website, physical store, or mobile
channel. Through the implementation of
technology-enabled resources—such as
devices, protocols, tools, methodologies,
teams, etc.—retailers are giving their
customers, and employees as well, the
opportunity to make more satisfying and
productive decisions. These choices are
often determined by content made
available by the retailer, in the form of
information, data, analysis, reviews, and
more.1 From a revenue perspective,
digital transformation positively impacts a
retailer by lowering business operation
costs through using technologies that
simplify processes that once required
significant manpower and funding.
The archetype for the retail store of the
future appears as an amalgam of both
digital and physical. That is, physical retail
stores will pour more digital onto their
canvas, and pure-play e-commerce
retailers will dip their brushes into the
world of brick and mortar. According to
author Greg Verdino,2 “Digital
transformation closes the gap between
what digital customers already expect
and what analog businesses actually
deliver.” One size fits all does not apply to
digital transformation strategies—every
business will achieve a different result,
made possible through different
methods. The goal, however, is the same:
to deliver progressive and unparalleled
value to customers. The textbook retail
strategy is not centered solely on selling
products anymore. This means that a shift
is occurring, where retailers are no longer
focusing simply on what is tangible—in
terms of products and services—but
broadening their scope to also include
what is abstract: experiences.
When 90 percent of all retail sales
transactions occur in-store,3 maintaining
these stores is critical, but so is reaching
the digital customer, who displays
changing behavior and is a paramount
part of fueling the retail industry. A survey
from PwC4 discovered that 58 percent of
the surveyed participants deemed
convenience to be the main reason they
shop online, with 34 percent admitting
that their mobile phones will be the main
avenue through which they complete
retail purchases. This may mean that
more brick-and-mortar or pure-play
retailers need to adopt omnichannel
strategies, but first, it is important for
brands to understand the customers they
are targeting and how their individual
personas make their way through the
shopping process—something that wildly
varies among all customers. In general,
digital is forcing retailers to reimagine
their business models, and a lot of these
metamorphoses are already occurring.
This is evident through new digital
practices that are currently present in
retail, as well as future technological
innovations anticipated to make an
impact. Customers are one of the main
catalysts in changing retail, but their
needs and demands are an assemblage
of ideas steered by technology and other
driving forces.
Going shopping doesn’t mean what it used to. The
image of a customer walking into a typical store,
finding her desired items, and then interfacing with a
cashier as she checks out at a cash register is colored
in black and white; it’s no longer the retail standard.
The confluence of technological advances and
changing customer demands is forcing retailers to
rethink the mold they originally created, in which
they shaped their businesses. Traditional processes of
purchasing products—and the whole retail experience
in general—have evolved drastically, and the
customer is one of the main forces dictating the
direction of the path that retailers will take, heavily
influenced by digital transformation.
The retail panorama is fluid, shifting directions and
moving with the current that technology emits.
E-commerce retailers, like Amazon, are quickly and
significantly growing while many traditional
brick-and-mortar retailers are seeing revenue loss
due to digital disruption. Essentially every industry is
experiencing a type of disruption in its processes,
operations, infrastructure, products, services, and
business in general. A hurricane of digital is sweeping
across enterprises of all types, leaving completely
reshaped business models in its wake. You may hear
a lot about it, but what does digital transformation
truly mean for retailers, their customers, and the
industry in general? Digital opens a door for
Cont
ent
04
Factors Driving Digital Transformation in Retail05
Technology Trends in Retail06
Comparing Past and Future Retail Models08
The New Customer Experience08
Changes in Other Aspects of Retail09
Retailers Already in the Midst of the Digital Shift10
A Digital Partnership11
How Stefanini Can Help12
Retail Customer Cases13
Sources15 11
05
06 07
08
09
1112
10
Fact
ors
Driv
ing
Dig
ital T
rans
form
atio
n in
Ret
ail
05
In addition to the ever-evolving demands
and expectations of digital/omni-customers,
many other factors contribute to the drive for
digital transformation in retail.5 They include:
• An already-in-progress blurring of the
division between digital and physical, with
virtual/augmented reality, for example,
and enabled by IoT—to which many
customers are already exposed
• Challenges with supply chain, regarding
the need for clear insights as well as an
increased speed in a shorter amount of time
• Increasing pressure for lower costs
• Staff empowered by new technologies
• Opportunities for better optimization and
marketing made possible by data
• Customers’ desire for personalized
experiences, enabled by digital
technologies such as smart displays
• Social media’s power to influence
customers through reading reviews,
comments, advertisements, and promotions
Realizing what customers desire and
expect can help determine what
strategies retailers should focus on and
what is required for them to succeed with
digital. In a survey by the Chief Marketing
Officer (CMO) Council,6 nearly half of
surveyed North American and European
consumers stated that they would
disregard brand loyalty and shop
elsewhere if they endured poor customer
experiences on a continuous basis, across
multiple engagement channels. Other
critical aspects which customers
determined contributed to a great
customer experience included: fast
response time to needs or issues (52%)
and knowledgeable staff available
immediately to assist (47%). Another
notable fact from the study shows that 70
percent of consumers are willing to share
some amount of their personal data and
information with brands, while 22
percent said they are only willing to share
data if it will be used to deliver more
tailored and relevant offers. Likewise,
consumers explained that their
willingness to share data hinges on
whether they will receive value in return.
In the study, these consumers defined
value as saving money (77%), saving time
(49%), or making life easier (47%).5 In
some retailers, technology innovations
that address these drivers of digital
transformation and customer needs are
already in place and currently propelling
businesses to meet the pace of the digital
era, while other trends have yet to be
disseminated across the industry and
executed. Presently, technological trends
are altering the business DNA of many
retailers, and on the horizon are many
technologies that will likely be making an
impact soon.
70 percent of consumers are willing to share some amount
of their personal data and information
with brands.
Factors Driving Digital Transformation in Retail
Tech
nolo
gy T
rend
s in
Ret
ail
06
Technology Trends in Retail
Advancements are churning out of the IT
industry at a pace that makes it difficult for
retail to keep up. To match this increase,
retailers are putting more into their IT
budgets. Thirty percent of retailers say that
they increased their IT budget by more than
five percent7 —an adjustment necessary for
staying competitive and moving forward in
the industry. A recent Retail Systems
Research (RSR) report8 found that 72% of
surveyed retailers were reportedly in the
process of working on projects related to
IT. Putting new technologies into effect
not only requires a strategical change, but
a structural change—of a retailer’s entire
organization, people, processes, culture,
and business as a whole. But the most
important change comes in the mindset,
where new ways of thinking comprise
the component that truly breeds
transformation.
Some technological trends that will likely
begin to proliferate soon across the
industry, most prominently affecting
brick-and-mortar stores, are:
• More accurate item tracking and data
insights
Technology: RFID and smart barcodes
• Radio frequency Identification
(RFID) can be used in placing tags
on items for tracking purposes and
receiving data. The tags emit signals
which allow retail store owners or
managers to scan for the exact location of
the items and the quantity available in
inventory. This technology can help
retailers gain better insights into
customer purchase habits, item
popularity, and even theft prevention by
identifying customers leaving the
store with a tagged item. Likewise,
smart barcodes can serve similar
purposes and also have the ability to
present customers with product
information, push similar products to
the customer, and also deliver
relevant digital coupons.
A recent Retail Systems Research (RSR) report found that 72% of
surveyed retailers were reportedly in the process of
working on projects related to IT.
• Checkout without waiting in line
Technology: Mobile
• Customers can bypass the long
checkout lines by utilizing
mobile-enabled applications and
mobile pay—a function that may
eventually eradicate traditional retail
POS systems.
• Personalized signage and increased
customer acquisition
Technology: Smart beacons
• Through Bluetooth connectivity,
smart beacons can alert retailers
when customers are in close
proximity to their stores so they
can tailor their signs to market
them at specified times or ranges.
They also provide instant data
collection for retailers to find out
right away if their messages are
reaching their customers.
Tech
nolo
gy T
rend
s in
Ret
ail
07
• Virtual fitting rooms/showrooms
Technology: Augmented/virtual reality
• When one of the most significant
factors that prevents some
customers from purchasing items
online is the lack of physicality,
virtual fitting rooms or showrooms
can be a perfect alternative
solution. These virtual rooms are
powered by AR/VR and can provide
customers with the opportunity to
“experience” and demonstrate a
product without ever actually
touching or holding it.
• Virtual voice assistants
Technology: Artificial intelligence
• Like Amazon’s Alexa, virtual voice
assistants will likely increase in
popular usage and technical
capabilities, allowing customers to
order items from the comfort of their
own home. In-store, voice assistants
will be available for customers to
inquire about product information
and ask for different sizes, styles, or
colors. In many stores, AI assistants
will replace human consultants to
some degree, always available for
customers to inquire about in-depth
product information, including where
to find a specific item in the store and
which items would be best suited to
individual customer needs, based on
a preferences checklist.
Not all technologies will be right for every
retailer’s products or customers, but
formulating a flexible digital strategy can
provide the equipment to at least try new
technologies when they emerge—even if
they may end in failure. Finding the
balance between the palpable and the
imaginable, the physical and the digital, is
a challenging task for many retailers
aiming to attain an omnichannel approach
and leave behind the antiquated retail
construct of the past. Understanding how
retail has evolved throughout the years is
key to recognizing how many
technologies can act as an effective agent
of change, pushing retailers toward a
prosperous digital future.
brick-and-mortar retailers to usher in a
new type of engagement with their
customers while attracting new
“omni-shoppers” who shop through
various media, whether it’s a retailer’s
website, physical store, or mobile
channel. Through the implementation of
technology-enabled resources—such as
devices, protocols, tools, methodologies,
teams, etc.—retailers are giving their
customers, and employees as well, the
opportunity to make more satisfying and
productive decisions. These choices are
often determined by content made
available by the retailer, in the form of
information, data, analysis, reviews, and
more.1 From a revenue perspective,
digital transformation positively impacts a
retailer by lowering business operation
costs through using technologies that
simplify processes that once required
significant manpower and funding.
The archetype for the retail store of the
future appears as an amalgam of both
digital and physical. That is, physical retail
stores will pour more digital onto their
canvas, and pure-play e-commerce
retailers will dip their brushes into the
world of brick and mortar. According to
author Greg Verdino,2 “Digital
transformation closes the gap between
what digital customers already expect
and what analog businesses actually
deliver.” One size fits all does not apply to
digital transformation strategies—every
business will achieve a different result,
made possible through different
methods. The goal, however, is the same:
to deliver progressive and unparalleled
value to customers. The textbook retail
strategy is not centered solely on selling
products anymore. This means that a shift
is occurring, where retailers are no longer
focusing simply on what is tangible—in
terms of products and services—but
broadening their scope to also include
what is abstract: experiences.
When 90 percent of all retail sales
transactions occur in-store,3 maintaining
these stores is critical, but so is reaching
the digital customer, who displays
changing behavior and is a paramount
part of fueling the retail industry. A survey
from PwC4 discovered that 58 percent of
the surveyed participants deemed
convenience to be the main reason they
shop online, with 34 percent admitting
that their mobile phones will be the main
avenue through which they complete
retail purchases. This may mean that
more brick-and-mortar or pure-play
retailers need to adopt omnichannel
strategies, but first, it is important for
brands to understand the customers they
are targeting and how their individual
personas make their way through the
shopping process—something that wildly
varies among all customers. In general,
digital is forcing retailers to reimagine
their business models, and a lot of these
metamorphoses are already occurring.
This is evident through new digital
practices that are currently present in
retail, as well as future technological
innovations anticipated to make an
impact. Customers are one of the main
catalysts in changing retail, but their
needs and demands are an assemblage
of ideas steered by technology and other
driving forces.
Going shopping doesn’t mean what it used to. The
image of a customer walking into a typical store,
finding her desired items, and then interfacing with a
cashier as she checks out at a cash register is colored
in black and white; it’s no longer the retail standard.
The confluence of technological advances and
changing customer demands is forcing retailers to
rethink the mold they originally created, in which
they shaped their businesses. Traditional processes of
purchasing products—and the whole retail experience
in general—have evolved drastically, and the
customer is one of the main forces dictating the
direction of the path that retailers will take, heavily
influenced by digital transformation.
The retail panorama is fluid, shifting directions and
moving with the current that technology emits.
E-commerce retailers, like Amazon, are quickly and
significantly growing while many traditional
brick-and-mortar retailers are seeing revenue loss
due to digital disruption. Essentially every industry is
experiencing a type of disruption in its processes,
operations, infrastructure, products, services, and
business in general. A hurricane of digital is sweeping
across enterprises of all types, leaving completely
reshaped business models in its wake. You may hear
a lot about it, but what does digital transformation
truly mean for retailers, their customers, and the
industry in general? Digital opens a door for
Com
parin
g Pa
st a
nd F
utur
e Re
tail
Mod
els
• T
he N
ew C
usto
mer
Exp
erie
nce
08
Comparing Past and Future Retail Models
While customer needs and overall business
methodologies are factors that have
contributed to changing the face of retail,
technology has been the impetus with the
most noticeable effects. Retailers were once
confined to the “sales box,” in terms of the
services they provide, but now they have
become much more progressive—as their
area of work spans beyond store walls and
e-commerce boundaries, seeping into the
technology segment while becoming
creators and innovative thinkers in their own
right. Many elements are pushing retailers to
change virtually every facet of their
businesses to bring them up to speed
with future trends and assume the
identity of a digitally driven apparatus.1
The New Customer Experience
The essence of the conventional
customer retail experience was centered
on the ability to demonstrate functionality
across all touchpoints, emphasizing the
customer’s in-store journey. In the future,
the customer will encounter
individualized experiences tailored to his
or her specific buying habits or shopping
preferences, delivered through a
combination of multiple technologies in
stores. For example, behavioral analytics
can be utilized to look deeply into
customer preferences as well as aid in
delivering personalized promotions,
coupons, and offers on mobile phones.
Smart displays and kiosks will also play a
paramount role in reshaping the
customer experience for the digital era,
and store associates will be empowered
through new digital skills and deeper
insights derived from customers.
Traditional store layouts and visual
merchandising won’t hold as much
significance as they once did, as the store
of the future will contain virtual, 3D fitting
rooms, augmented reality, and more. The
manner through which sales associates
serve customers will also experience a
substantial change, aligning with
constantly fluctuating customer behavior.
Overall, the approach through which
retailers address the customer experience
will center on proactivity as opposed to
reactivity—actively anticipating and
preparing for future transitions in the
customer experience instead of taking
action only after a change occurs, catering
to customers through every channel of
their shopping journey.
In the future, the customer will encounter individualized
experiences tailored to his or her specific buying habits or
shopping preferences.
brick-and-mortar retailers to usher in a
new type of engagement with their
customers while attracting new
“omni-shoppers” who shop through
various media, whether it’s a retailer’s
website, physical store, or mobile
channel. Through the implementation of
technology-enabled resources—such as
devices, protocols, tools, methodologies,
teams, etc.—retailers are giving their
customers, and employees as well, the
opportunity to make more satisfying and
productive decisions. These choices are
often determined by content made
available by the retailer, in the form of
information, data, analysis, reviews, and
more.1 From a revenue perspective,
digital transformation positively impacts a
retailer by lowering business operation
costs through using technologies that
simplify processes that once required
significant manpower and funding.
The archetype for the retail store of the
future appears as an amalgam of both
digital and physical. That is, physical retail
stores will pour more digital onto their
canvas, and pure-play e-commerce
retailers will dip their brushes into the
world of brick and mortar. According to
author Greg Verdino,2 “Digital
transformation closes the gap between
what digital customers already expect
and what analog businesses actually
deliver.” One size fits all does not apply to
digital transformation strategies—every
business will achieve a different result,
made possible through different
methods. The goal, however, is the same:
to deliver progressive and unparalleled
value to customers. The textbook retail
strategy is not centered solely on selling
products anymore. This means that a shift
is occurring, where retailers are no longer
focusing simply on what is tangible—in
terms of products and services—but
broadening their scope to also include
what is abstract: experiences.
When 90 percent of all retail sales
transactions occur in-store,3 maintaining
these stores is critical, but so is reaching
the digital customer, who displays
changing behavior and is a paramount
part of fueling the retail industry. A survey
from PwC4 discovered that 58 percent of
the surveyed participants deemed
convenience to be the main reason they
shop online, with 34 percent admitting
that their mobile phones will be the main
avenue through which they complete
retail purchases. This may mean that
more brick-and-mortar or pure-play
retailers need to adopt omnichannel
strategies, but first, it is important for
brands to understand the customers they
are targeting and how their individual
personas make their way through the
shopping process—something that wildly
varies among all customers. In general,
digital is forcing retailers to reimagine
their business models, and a lot of these
metamorphoses are already occurring.
This is evident through new digital
practices that are currently present in
retail, as well as future technological
innovations anticipated to make an
impact. Customers are one of the main
catalysts in changing retail, but their
needs and demands are an assemblage
of ideas steered by technology and other
driving forces.
Going shopping doesn’t mean what it used to. The
image of a customer walking into a typical store,
finding her desired items, and then interfacing with a
cashier as she checks out at a cash register is colored
in black and white; it’s no longer the retail standard.
The confluence of technological advances and
changing customer demands is forcing retailers to
rethink the mold they originally created, in which
they shaped their businesses. Traditional processes of
purchasing products—and the whole retail experience
in general—have evolved drastically, and the
customer is one of the main forces dictating the
direction of the path that retailers will take, heavily
influenced by digital transformation.
The retail panorama is fluid, shifting directions and
moving with the current that technology emits.
E-commerce retailers, like Amazon, are quickly and
significantly growing while many traditional
brick-and-mortar retailers are seeing revenue loss
due to digital disruption. Essentially every industry is
experiencing a type of disruption in its processes,
operations, infrastructure, products, services, and
business in general. A hurricane of digital is sweeping
across enterprises of all types, leaving completely
reshaped business models in its wake. You may hear
a lot about it, but what does digital transformation
truly mean for retailers, their customers, and the
industry in general? Digital opens a door for
Chan
ges
in O
ther
Asp
ects
of
Reta
il
09
Changes in Other Aspects of Retail
Frequent customer stamp cards and loyalty
programs will also undergo a digital
makeover, as we’ll likely start to see the
incorporation of blockchain and,
subsequently, a more simplified version of
these often-complex programs. Blockchain
allows transactions to be shared across a
network of computers, potentially turning
rewards points into digital tokens that
customers can use at virtually any
retailer—therefore creating a markedly
improved ease of use of such loyalty
programs and increasing the likelihood that
more customers will take advantage of
them.9
Conventional methods of pricing items, using
stickers and labels, will shift to a more
dynamic variation, with digital shelf-edge
technology that will monitor competitor
prices to get a leg up on retail rivals;
likewise, coupons and sales will be
pushed to the customer through similar
technology. The giant POS systems of the
past will phase out, as the store checkout
process becomes more streamlined
through mobile and RFID payment
methods.
The way through which retailers actually
acquire their goods and deliver them to
customers is experiencing some major
modifications as well. Long-established
supply chain operations are becoming
dynamic, integrating with Agile and
increasing in flexibility and transparency.
New technology can increase efficiency,
reduce costs, and assuage risks in many
capacities. RFID, BLE, and other emerging
IoT sensors are crucial in incorporating
digital into supply chains. Drone deliveries
and automated monitoring are other
factors that will impact logistics and
warehouse operations. The use of
connected warehouses will simplify
material flows and increase warehouse
efficiencies, so store associates and
shoppers can find out more information
about inventory and shipping schedules.
The results of relying on this type of
connectivity will include a reduction in
inventory shrinkage and more accurate
supply-demand matching, based on
customer preferences.10
With marketing, complete cognizance of
the customer is essential in creating
multimodal, targeted, and personalized
engagement strategies. The use of
personas and data analysis of customer
history, context, and predictions helps
marketers gain a full view of the customer
journey, including both off- and online
footprints and interactions.
Lastly, but most importantly, the structure
of the entire organization and its people is
imperative for fully integrating digital
transformation into the retail business.
Customary ways of training staff and
managing talent based on
long-established values and plans of
action are outdated. The retail store of the
future will be dependent upon using
automation to streamline employee
processes, as well as gauge staff
performance and reward them through
KPI measurement. Adopting
IoT-connected smart systems to manage
staff shifts and checkout procedures will
also be paramount parts of the new retail
experience.8
Reta
ilers
Alr
eady
in t
he M
idst
of
the
Dig
ital S
hift
10
Companies like Amazon and Walmart have
both already made major accomplishments
in the digital era as they incorporated IoT,
automation, virtual reality, and robotics.
Amazon’s opening of AmazonGo in January
2017 signaled a major milestone in retail.
The entire shopping experience was altered,
as customers gained the ability to walk into a
store and leave without having to stop at a
register and physically pay a cashier. New
technologies have enabled customers and
retailers to engage in a different way,
through the use of machine learning,
microphones, cameras, and data compiled
from multiple sensors. The “Just Walk Out
Technology” Amazon utilizes allows retailers
to detect when products are taken from or
returned to shelves, subsequently recording
these transactions in the customer’s Amazon
account and charging them accordingly.
Walmart has become another game-changer
in the retail industry, with their “Store No. 8”
technology incubation center, through
which they identify promising new
technologies and also invest in
entrepreneurship and startups. Likewise,
Walmart has also acquired an
e-commerce store to enrich their
already-strong digital presence. AR and
VR are regularly in use with employee
training, automation is part of the supply
chain, and robotics are present in many
stores. Walmart, in conjunction with their
acquisitions and investments, continually
aims to increase efficiency for their
customers and enhance their experiences
with digital, which is evident through
their success.11
Ulta Beauty is another retailer that has
applied digital transformation and has a
successful omnichannel strategy,
reaching customers across all touchpoints
and avenues while also managing
inventory seamlessly in real time for
thousands of products, in hundreds of
stores. They deliver their customers
personalized interactions and
recommendations for products based on
prior purchases and beauty interests. One
of the most important parts of succeeding
in the omnichannel revolution is ensuring
that customers and store staff access the
same information and data, unrelated to
what medium they are using—mobile,
desktop computer, or in-store, and Ulta’s
technology allows customers seamless
transitions throughout the entire retail
journey. This includes researching and
comparing products, deciding on what
they will buy, and then reviewing their
chosen, purchased items.8 As
demonstrated through their success, Ulta
has found the right way to transform their
company, through the convergence of
business and technology.
Retailers Already in the Midst of the Digital Shift
A D
igita
l Par
tner
ship
11
A Digital Partnership
The backbone of successful digital
transformation is comprised of partnerships.
Strong collaboration and co-creation with
digital experts, IT technicians, business
executives, and customers themselves is
necessary for driving significant change in
the way retailers respond to the
increasing needs of customers. Many
digital shoppers are more in tune with
peer connection and engagement and
willing to provide feedback, which helps
retailers gain intimate insights into how
to best provide value and restructure
delivery models on a continuous basis.
When it comes to actually incorporating
new technologies and digital
transformation, retailers are often
confused about the best way to
accomplish it: utilizing their in-house IT
teams or hiring an outsourcing tech
company. According to a study from ISG,12
which tracked trends in outsourcing for a
Global 2,000 list of companies—including
104 retailers—80 percent of these
retailers depend on some degree of
outsourcing for completing projects,
software development, and digital
consulting. Internal IT teams may not
have the capacity to work with an
always-increasing flow of new
technologies and turn them into usable
solutions. Often, the more practical option
for retailers is to choose a company that
knows tech inside and out, focusing on it
as their core line of work; this usually also
ends up being less expensive than
utilizing in-house teams to keep up with
changing technology and the costs
necessary for creating valuable solutions
with them.
Having a partner that is willing to dive
deep to discover the ins and outs of an
individual business is critical, as well as
having esoteric knowledge on the
nuances of the retail industry. The tech
company a retailer chooses should be
well-versed in the unique challenges
facing retail as a whole and have an
arsenal of solutions to combat them.
Retailers have the responsibility to ensure
that the tech partner they choose operates
on the notion that digital transformation
expands beyond the borders of IT and
involves the evolution of existing
operational models. Becoming a retailer
with a successfully digitally transformed
business is dependent upon obtaining the
mindset and willingness to try, and fail, at
new things in order to identify and invest
in the best solutions.7
Having a partner that is willing to dive deep to discover the ins
and outs of an individual business is critical.
How
Ste
fani
ni C
an H
elp
12
As a partner that is big enough to act
globally—investing in an innovation
ecosystem, while taking customers through
the digital journey—we are also small
enough to be customer-centric and flexible
to adapt to their individual needs. Our
business solutions for implementing digital
transformation into retail include digital
onboarding, e-commerce, new business
consulting, loyalty, online financing, and
media performance.
We actively work to enhance the
customer experience for our clients
through engagement-tailored services,
self-checkout and intelligent
displays/ATMs, indoor marketing,
omnichannel solutions, AR/VR, intelligent
delivery, and more. Cost reduction is also a
high priority on our radar of solutions, so we
offer content services and document
digitization, facial biometrics/image
recognition, analytics/big data, CRM and
omnichannel services, self-care solutions,
automation/RPA, machine
intelligence/chatbots, digital auditors,
digital replenishment, and back-office
automation.
How Stefanini Can Help
Reta
il Cu
stom
er C
ases
13
We have a proven track record of delivering
successful digital solutions to many different
retailers—helping them transform their
businesses to keep up with the increasing
pace of technology. Here are several
examples of customer cases:
Leading Agricultural Equipment Company• Tablet-based digital solutions to
support sales
• Developed a tablet-based digital
solution that gives agility to Salesforce
by allowing them to quote and
implement prices in real-time, take
orders, and save quotes into the
central system.
Leading Retail Bank• Branding war room
• Designed a “Brand Connections” room
and developed dashboards for leading
Itaú’s branding campaigns’ indexes.
• Integrated real-time tracking of key
metrics, KPIs, and marketing
One of the Leading Beer Brands • Campaign and sales channel
reformulation
• Reframed the digital approach using
SEO techniques and good
media-performance practices to
achieve results.
• Boosted Facebook outcome, with
52% improvement in CPA efficiency,
4.8 times daily sales increase, and
3.1 times in total sales increase.
• Increased AdWords outcome, with
88% improvement in CPA efficiency
with direct impact on proposed SEO
and UX redesign, 44 times daily sales
increase, and 26 times total sales
increase. The overall outcome was a
50% Cost per Sales (CPA) decrease
and a 70% increase in sales volume
when compared to the previous
period.
goals, enabling the management
of creatives, channels, and media
investment.
• Expanded the project to the other
Itaú brands, such as Itaúcard,
Rede, and Personnalité, due to the
success of the model in achieving
the defined goals.
Leading Retail Athletic Company• Best practices for digital channels and
media
• Enabled the shopping process
through the right conversion goals,
with 100% adoption of media
channel resources.
• Developed media campaigns with
100% standardized parameterization.
• Used tagging coherence, with a
branding campaign, while making a
visible impact on Nike e-commerce.
• Branded campaigns and increased
sales by 16% (21% against a
historical average of 5%).
Retail Customer Cases
!
Reta
il Cu
stom
er C
ases
14
Leading Technology Company• E-commerce usability testing and office
suite user perception
• Used test planning, according to
business objectives, and created
scripts and a selection of profiles
suitable for interviews.
• dentified usability problems in the
evaluation and shopping process for
Office 365.
• Understood the perception of the
Office 365 suite and its subscription
system.
• Recommended changes on how to
improve the usability of the
e-commerce platform, targeting an
increase in conversion rates.
Leading Food Processing Company• Development of digital platform
• Demonstrated great success in
displaying the Heinz portfolio through
organic access.
• Targeted successful recipes created
with Heinz ingredients.
• Translated the “no one does better
than Heinz” concept, highlighting
digital products.
• Focused on findability/SEO for
launching media support.
Quality of Life Services Company• A new approach to digital media
presence
• Discovered the behavior profile of
each target of the company.
• Tailored communication to suit the
needs of each type of customer.
• Focused on the “what” and “how”
of things that should be developed
for the digital platform, ensuring
Sodexo’s product development
pipeline in the medium- and
long-term.
Recycling Company• Created loyalty program and OEM
campaign.
Leading Food Processing Company• Created robotic inventory for small
stores or departments.
We are a business partner with the utmost
experience in our field and dedicated,
talented experts working with the common
goal of delivering value through technology.
We can support any retailer’s digital strategy
with scale, fulfilling their value purpose. Our
plug-and-play partner capabilities can
connect retail companies to all parts of an
innovative ecosystem, and our end-to-end
capabilities, integrated and modular at the
same time, help achieve their value
propositions faster and more efficiently.
Stefanini is a digital transformation partner
that will set the best strategy tailored to
your company’s purpose and technological
goals, exhibiting the commitment to initiate
top-down changes that permeate the
entirety of your retail business for success in
the new era of digital.
!
Sour
ces
15
1 “Disruptions in Retail through Digital Transformation: Reimagining the Store of the Future,” Deloitte, November 2017
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/in/Documents/CIP/in-cip-disruptions-in-retail-noexp.pdf
2 “What is digital transformation?” The Enterprisers Project, https://enterprisersproject.com/what-is-digital-transformation
3 Frank Lavin, “Traditional Retail Might Not Be Dead, But It Is In A Coffin,” Forbes, 2017
https://www.forbes.com/sites/franklavin/2017/04/17/traditional-retail-might-not-be-dead-but-it-is-in-a-coffin/#1556b77a49e8
4 “2016 Total Retail Survey US,” PwC, 2016 https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/consumer-markets/library/2016-total-retail-survey-us/us-key-findings.html
5 “Digital transformation in retail: transforming for the new commerce reality,” i-SCOOP,
https://www.i-scoop.eu/digital-transformation/retail-industry-digital-mobile-shopping-transformation/
6 “Consumers Express Low Tolerance for Brands that Do Not Provide a Flawless Customer Experience,” CMO Council, July 2017
https://www.cmocouncil.org/media-center/press-releases/consumers-express-low-tolerance-for-brands-that-do-not-provide-a-flawless-customer-experience
7 Eleks, “Digital transformation in retail: industry vs. technology, who follows whom?” Medium, May 2017
https://medium.com/@ELEKSSoftware/digital-transformation-in-retail-industry-vs-technology-who-follows-whom-c49f052b9f81
8 Shelly Kramer, “How the IoT Will Change Retail,” Converge, August 2016 https://www.convergetechmedia.com/iot-will-change-retail/
9 Patrick Palacios, “5 benefits of blockchain technology for retailer loyalty rewards programs,” Digital Commerce 360, November 2017
https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2017/11/17/5-benefits-blockchain-technology-retailer-loyalty-rewards-programs/
10 Chong Mock Seng, “The Digital Future of Retail,” Digitalist Magazine, March 2017
http://www.digitalistmag.com/customer-experience/2017/03/15/digital-future-of-retail-04964810
11 Daniel Newman, “Top 7 Digital Transformation Trends from NRF 2018,” Forbes, February 2018
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2018/02/14/top-7-digital-transformation-trends-from-nrf-2018/#459d2c6e6aff
12 Dan O’Shea, “Why more and more retailers are outsourcing their IT,” Retail Dive, August 2016
https://www.retaildive.com/news/why-more-and-more-retailers-are-outsourcing-their-it/423959/
Sources