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Is Technology Just Ahead--Or Is Retailing Behind?

It’s time for retail business design to catch up with technology.

March 1, 2010 by Mike Wittenstein — Customer Experience and Service Designer, Storyminers

Many of the solutions I saw offer exceptional functionality across silos and departments—exactly the location where improvements can be made. The problem may be that the retail organizations lack the infrastructure, governance, or interest in working across their own internal borders. It’s time for retail business design to catch up with technology. Let me know if you’re interested in hearing more on becoming more adaptive. I think it’s time to shake things up.

I went to NRF last month. The quantity and quality of new technologies and ideas was stunning. I asked dozens of sales directors, marketing leaders, and retailers roaming the aisles at the Javitz Center why these obviously helpful and practical solutions weren’t flying off the shelves. The answers I got back most frequently were that “Retailers are very conservative about investing right now,” or “If retailers don’t get exactly what they want, they don’t move [into a new way of doing things],” and “ It [selling to them] just takes a long time.”
Many of the solutions I saw offer exceptional functionality across silos and departments—exactly the location where improvements can be made. The problem may be that the retail organizations lack the infrastructure, governance, or interest in working across their own internal borders. It’s time for retail business design to catch up with technology. Let me know if you’re interested in hearing more on becoming more adaptive. I think it’s time to shake things up.