Key Trends in Retail IT, 2017 - Driving Customer Experience and Operational Efficiency through Innovative Technologies

Table of Contents
1. Introduction 3
2. Summary & Key Findings 4
3. Market Drivers 5
3.1. Advance of online and mobile platforms 6
3.2. Customer expectations 6
3.3. Eroding margins 6
3.4. Hunger for data insight 7
3.5. Diminishing loyalty 7
3.6. Expansion into new services 8
3.7. Control over supply chains 8
3.8. Security challenges 8
3.9. IT investment focus 9
4. Key Technology Trends 10
4.1. Retailers' competitive advantage and market value will be linked to Big Data and real-time analytics capabilities 10
4.2. Major retailers will roll out Internet of Things (IoT) projects for greater operational efficiency and customer interaction, including beacons and sensors 11
4.3. Social media insight and communication will provide greater competitive advantage for innovative retailers 12
4.4. Self-service stores with in-store terminals and connections to interactive mobile apps will emerge 13
4.5. Robotics with machine learning functionality will be trialed for diverse functions from warehousing and delivery to smart shop assistants 13
4.6. Smart lighting is starting to be rolled out across stores for guiding customers to products and creating specific experiences 14
4.7. Systems integrators and telcos will battle major hardware and software vendors for leadership in driving smart retail concepts 14
4.8. Virtual and augmented reality will revolutionize customer experience and improve warehousing efficiency 15
4.9. Multi-purpose smart devices such as tablets will increasingly replace dedicated hardware 16
4.10. The ongoing shift from data center hardware to software-defined and cloud-based solutions willaccelerate as retailers go hybrid 16
5. Recommendations 18
5.1. Recommendations for vendors 18
5.2. Recommendations for retailers 19
6. Appendix 20
6.1. Definitions 20
6.2. Further reading 21
6.3. Contact the author 22
6.4 Contact Us 22

List of Figures
Figure 1: Market drivers and key technology investment trends 5
Figure 2: Retailers' IT investment focus over the next 2 years 9
Figure 3: Retailers will ramp up investments in business intelligence solutions 11
Figure 4: Retailers expect IoT to drive operational efficiency and create additional revenue 12
Figure 5: Retailers prefer leading vendors with retail-specific expertise 15
Figure 6: Cloud services spending grows stronger than hardware and software for retailers Global retail IT spending in US $millions 17