Technology: The key to the hybrid world of retail
The way consumers shop and how retailers operate is changing as digital continues to transform the sector.
Source © Aleksei Gorodenkov 123rf The way consumers shop and how retailers operate is changing as digital continues to transform the sector
For today’s hybrid shoppers, there is no distinction between digital and physical retail; instead, there is simply retail that is low-friction, engaging, and available wherever and whenever they want it.
Retailers need to be agile and flexible to meet these changing consumer demands, while also creating an agile organisation that enables their staff to work flexibly and efficiently across different functions, both in-store and online.
A technological and cultural shift
To deliver the hybrid services that consumers need, retailers need to manage and enable store staff to handle online orders and contact from other stores.
In the back-office, staff also need more flexibility to work remotely and across different functions within the business, supporting both on and offline operations.
This requires a technological and cultural shift across the entire retail business. Retailers need to free staff to work more flexibly in-store, online, and across the back-office. This will enable them to provide a seamless customer experience and better manage their operations.
Retailers also need to consider how to train and manage their back-office and front-office staff in-store, in-office, and remotely. This can be a challenge, but it is essential to create an agile organisation that can meet the demands of consumers.
Creating the right tech environment
The right technology can deliver the right tools, apps, data, and info to wherever staff are and as they move across different business functions.
This will help retailers manage logistics, secure their operations, and ensure that staff can work productively regardless of location, device, or network.
Creating the right tech environment is essential to enabling staff to work flexibly and remotely.
Retailers need to provide their staff with the tools they need to create a productive environment for workers to interact regardless of location, device, or network.
This may mean giving everyone access to all the same systems and information that they would get in the office, or it may mean restricting access to just the core apps and programmes that they need to do their job.
Ideally, staff should be able to access what they need, wherever they are, at the touch of a button. This can be achieved through a remotely accessed desktop or dashboard that gives users access to what they need based on their location, device, and task.
The "any, any, any..." approach
The "any, any, any..." approach allows any user on any device in any location to access any app for any work type without it being a security risk to the company.
This approach enables employees, contractors, business partners, part-time seasonal workers, and customers to access the company's systems and services that they need from wherever they are.
Retailers must ensure that the devices and networks staff are using are secure, and they need to manage who has access to which data and services within the company.
Thriving in the hybrid world of retail
The digital transformation of retail is a complex and ongoing process.
By deploying the right technology and managing it effectively, retailers can create an agile organisation that can meet the demands of consumers and thrive in the hybrid world of retail.
About Kurt Goodall
Kurt Goodall is the technical director of Troye.
