Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business. You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

US retailers look to tech providers for pandemic response

Consumer buying skews sharply toward online shopping

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens' Retail Software and Services Report for the US finds the way goods are bought and delivered is changing rapidly in the country. More than three-quarters of retail outlets now allow customers to buy products online and pick them up in stores, while 58 percent of retailers provide curbside pickup, up from 4 percent in 2019, the report notes.

E-commerce in 2021 is expected to contribute about a fifth of overall retail revenue, up from 12% in 2019, the report says.

"As we return to normalcy after the pandemic, the sudden change in buyer behavior is having huge ramifications across the retail industry," said Michael Witty, a retail expert and director in the ISG Consumer Services business. "Retailers have had to revamp their digital engagement with customers, their physical store locations and layouts, and their supply chains."

The report sees retailers embracing new customer-focused website improvements, with visual search features, digital stylists and chatbot recommendations. Social networking has also become a direct commerce channel, with in-app checkout on some Instagram posts.

In addition, store locations and layouts are changing as retailers reduce their large-format mall footprints (ISG says 25 percent of existing malls are expected to close by 2022) and focus on high-tech experience centers and pop-up shops. Low-volume and dark stores are also becoming micro-fulfillment centers, the report says, with some converted to no-inventory locations to facilitate the return of merchandise purchased online.

In addition, retailers are facing a lack of visibility into supplier inventory, and an inability to accurately forecast local consumer demand and employee absenteeism caused by illness or staggered work arrangements, the report says.

Retailers are struggling to ramp up transportation capacity to meet the sharp increase in online demand, and to make up for a shortage of raw materials, ingredients and components caused by delays in international shipments. The report notes the need for functional supply chain silos to evolve into an interconnected dynamic network. This would enable more collaboration, eliminate inefficiencies and generate real-time data for better decision-making, the report says.

The retailers that performed well during the pandemic were the ones that had their merchandise planning and management systems integrated with their supply chain systems, the report adds.

The report finds many e-commerce platform providers are offering microservices that allow for a greater degree of customization, configuration and quicker time to market. Vendors are taking an API- and mobile-first approach to platform building. They are also offering many new and out-of-the-box functionalities such as promotions, recommendation engines, progressive web applications and loyalty programs, and leveraging machine-learning for greater insights into customer behavior.

The report also looks at retail transformation services, including providers that help manage merchandise and enhance the customer experience in digital stores. Retailers are experimenting with technologies such as algorithmic retailing, artificial intelligence and the internet of Things for better inventory tracking, workforce enablement, shrinkage prevention and operational planning, the report says.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens' Retail Software and Services Report for the US evaluates the capabilities of 36 providers across five quadrants: E-commerce Platforms, Merchandise Planning and Management Software, Retail Transformation Services, Platform Migration Services and Managed Services.

The report names Capgemini, Cognizant, HCL, Infosys, TCS and Wipro as leaders in three quadrants. Oracle and SAP were named leaders in two quadrants, and Adobe (Magento), RELEX, Salesforce and SAS were named leaders in one. In addition, Logility and UST were named Rising Stars-companies with "promising portfolios" and "high future potential" by ISG's definition-in one quadrant each.

Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business.

You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy. Grab this goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, technologies, research, suppliers and partners, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid CX strategy.

While most marketers could list maybe a dozen key points for improving their brand's Customer Experience (CX), the researchers and writers at The Marketing Factbook have identified FORTY main 'CX Keys' which will help you drive your customers to new levels of delight, loyalty, advocacy and profitability.

The areas in which customers have direct contact with your organization are perhaps the most obvious places in which CX improvements can be made, and this report addresses all 24 of these 'Direct CX Keys', applicable to offline and online businesses alike.

At the same time there are many other areas that indirectly affect CX (such as the supply chain, policies and processes) in which every business can make simple but far-reaching improvements. This report guides you through the problems and solutions for all 16 of these 'Indirect CX Keys', many of which are often forgotten or under-played even in the best CX strategies.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)