At Retail247 we pride ourselves on being retail experts. While we generally mean this in reference to the world of retail IT, we always have our ear to the door of the wider retail industry, listening to and embracing as much information as we can. This isn’t just to ensure we can serve our clients to the greatest standard possible, but because we are genuinely passionate about the world we, and our clients, operate within.
As a result of the last few tumultuous years, the retail industry faces a number of challenges to overcome in 2023. To get a gauge of where retail is headed over the next 10 months, we’ve spoken to a few members of the team to get their thoughts on what will be the key to success in 2023.
Martin Schofield – CEO
Technological success for me is still about setting the foundation that can manage the ever-increasing demands of omnichannel retailing and changing customer expectation. It’s been a bit of a recurring theme over the last few years, but we still haven’t quite made it. For example, customers expect slick and reliable service and will inevitably be disappointed without an accurate and real time view of stock. This, coupled with the desire to be represented on multiple channels driving product information that needs to be rich, informative and up to date increasingly means that technology needs first to focus on the basic principles of retailing.
Katya Budden – Head of Business Systems
The decline of Paperchase (an absolute favourite of mine) got me thinking about the future of retail for 2023 and what struck me was the closure of their Tottenham Court Road flagship some time ago. Should that have been an ominous beginning of the end? Retailers are struggling to find the balance between online vs bricks and mortar and I personally think shutting stores isn’t the answer. Instead, working in a single, smart and joined-up way across your retail estate is what the customer needs. The ability to shop from the comfort of your home or a quick trip to the local high street but with the same brand experience, linking digital and physical is key.
Theresa Stokes – Head of Change
Retail success for 2023 will be built on improving the customer experience both instore and online. Through the COVID period customers saw many changes to the way they could shop and get what they needed, when they needed it. Now, the customer expectation is to continue seeing changes in the shopping experience wherever or however they shop. That will need to come from investment in systems, people and processes that will enable retailers to deliver exceptional service.
So, here at Retail247 we are continuing to focus on providing a set of retail specific products and managed services that will help deliver great systems and processes to ensure retailers maintain and grow their store footprints, whilst at the same time making their online investments relevant in physical stores.
Rebecca Malia – Head of Business Development
As the growth of digital and omnichannel shopping continues to accelerate, I have to question the commercial reality of whether free online returns is a sustainable model. We are seeing a number of retailers introduce charging and I can see why. We also need to consider why the typical fashion return rate is so ridiculously high in the first place.
If retailers had more accurate product information and accurate stock availability data, would their customers make more informed buying decisions, and in turn return fewer items? I know I would. I took a few opinions onboard and asked this question to 10 people with an age range 16 – 55, and they all agreed when provided with accurate product data and stock accuracy, they were more inclined to patiently await the arrival of their chosen items, keep the items they bought and return to shop again (and again) with these retailers.
Alan Morris – Non-Executive Director
The key to success in 2023 is focus. So much is written about the challenges facing the retail industry right now, I’m surprised that any business can see the wood for the trees. Retailers must concentrate only on the things that add value to them, which presupposes they know what these things are. Whilst retailing is constantly changing, and it’s seemingly impossible to keep up with digital transformation, there are some fundamentals that remain the same. Providing accurate, consistent, and timely product, price and inventory data is as vital to delivering good customer service as it has ever been. Good customer service will lead to increased sales, improved profitability and long term sustainable business growth.
Happy 2023!