Retail Critical Issues

Manufacturing & Logistics IT spoke to a number of experts from the vendor and analyst communities about current and possible future trends and areas of development within the world of warehouse management systems and voice-directed picking solutions – including those related to automation, augmented reality and the digitisation of warehouse processes.

Part 1: Warehouse Management Systems Technology Report.

According to Gartner, by 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) will identify online shopping as an addictive disorder. It predicts that a key driver will stem from retailers increasingly deploying AI and personalisation tactics, designed to drive greater awareness and engagement of products and services amongst consumers. 

By Dan Williams, founder and managing director at 100% Group. 

With more chain and independent store closures announced every week, it might seem as though high street retailers are losing out to the convenience of online shopping, yet the death of the high street isn’t nigh. In fact the opposite is true – what we’re seeing isn’t a death but rather a re-birth or evolution where the high street needs to adapt to changing buying behaviours.

By Matthew Robertson – Co-CEO, NetDespatch.

I regularly track the trends around retail and delivery because here at NetDespatch we work with both carriers and retailers, and it is important for us to understand how the market continues to evolve.  As a result, I have been monitoring the ongoing debate, particularly in recent years, around how we reinvigorate the UK high street and get consumers back into town centres.

Periscope By McKinsey, which offers a suite of Marketing & Sales Analytics Solutions to help companies achieve sustainable revenue growth, has announced the findings of its recent consumer research which examines significant habits and behaviours of consumers in Canada, Germany, the UK and US,  as well as highlighting some emerging trends with big implications for retailers this holiday season.

Salesforce, the CRM solutions provider, has announced new research from IDC that finds Salesforce and its ecosystem of partners will create 4.2 million new jobs and $1.2 trillion in new business revenues worldwide between 2019 and 2024. The research also finds Salesforce is driving massive gains for its partner ecosystem, which will see $5.80 in gains for every $1 Salesforce makes by 2024.

According to new consumer research from Global Freight Solutions (GFS) and IMRG (the UK’s association for online retailers), 45% of consumers are still more likely to abandon their purchase due to a lack of convenient delivery options, not a lack of free options.

By Frank Lochbaum, Managing Partner at KPS.

When Simon Russell, director of operational development at John Lewis, used the phrase “what Amazon can’t” (WAC) at the Future Stores event, you could hear murmurs of agreement from the assembled retailers around the room.

ONS retail sales figures reveal the amount UK shoppers spent fell -0.2% in September, and this time the new saviour of retail, online stores, fell even more dramatically, says ParcelCompare.

Salesforce, the CRM solutions provider, has released the third edition of its Connected Shoppers Report, which reveals that British and Irish shoppers are moving targets, jumping across physical and digital destinations as they browse, purchase and request service and support, with 4% of purchases occurring on emerging digital touchpoints that are completely separate from retailers’ and brands’ owned properties.