Mar 07, 2017 Zebra Technologies' "Retail Vision Study," released this week, finds that the majority of retailers surveyed globally expect to embrace radio frequency identification and other Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, as well as use analytic data from those systems by 2021, as more shoppers move to online sales. Seventy percent of retailers surveyed say they are already providing item-level RFID technology to better manage inventory, or plan to do so by 2021.
The survey asked retailers around the world to forecast their use of technology by 2021. The majority indicated that they plan to use automation technology to better personalize service at their stores, and to enable omnichannel sales with inventory visibility.
The survey was conducted by Zebra's market research partners, Research Now and Qualtrics. It consisted of online interviews of 1,700 retail decision makers across the apparel, department store, specialty store, supermarket, electronics, home improvement and drug store sectors.
In 2016, Zebra spent approximately six months interviewing global retailers , with a focus on CEO and CTO decision makers, says Ravi Kanniganti, Zebra Technologies' retail vertical market strategy director. It is one of a series of surveys Zebra conducts annually to elicit feedback from customers, he explains, adding, "These are critical for us to craft our long-term strategies."
In this case, Kanniganti says, the results were encouraging for Zebra and other technology providers, since they identify how dedicated retailers are to using technology to meet consumers' changing demands. "We know the retail market is going through fundamental strategy changes," he states. The focus for technology providers, he adds, should now be on ensuring that technology matches retailers' real-world use cases.
The key findings, Kanniganti says, were that stores are prepared to use IoT technology and cloud-based data to personalize experiences for stores' shoppers, and that they expect technology to enable new delivery methods and to further improve inventory visibility.
Stores are changing rapidly when it comes to the services they provide on their own premises. According to the surveyed retailers, 70 percent expect to be using IoT technologies to enhance visibility and employee customer service by 2021. Eighty-seven percent expect to use mobile point-of-sale devices to scan and accept payments in the store, while 85 percent will be using tablets to engage with shoppers and provide more detailed product information.
When asked about their existing IoT customer location technology as compared to future plans, the retailers reported that the expected growth was significant. For instance, 35 percent are using technology to understand where their customers are within the store, while 75 percent expect to be similarly tracking shoppers in 2021. When it comes to receiving alerts if a customer arrives to pick up an online order, 22 percent currently have technology that might include beacons, cameras or RFID to accomplish this task, while that percentage is predicted to rise to 71 percent in the next four years.
In addition, supply chain management is the focus for omnichannel sales. The majority (72 percent) reported that they plan to reinvent their supply chain with real-time visibility of inventory (provided by RFID or other sensor technology). For data management, at least 75 percent of retailers anticipate investing in predictive and software analytics for loss prevention and price optimization by 2021, as well as using cameras and video analytics to improve the overall customer experience.
A strategy for getting products to customers faster, after they place an online order, is another focus. The study found that by 2021, 65 percent of retailers surveyed anticipate that they will be piloting or using new delivery services that will get products to consumers more efficiently.
Some of these delivery methods vary according to the part of the world in which a store is based. For instance, in very crowded areas such as Singapore or Hong Kong, where the majority of consumers live in apartment buildings, some retailers are testing or deploying lockers for residents of large buildings, so that deliveries can be made more quickly without requiring receipt by a building employee or the residents themselves. In some cases, neighborhood stores are acting as a receiving point for customers' shipments. These kinds of delivery models will require a high level of inventory accuracy to ensure products are available when ordered, and that they are properly delivered to customers' receiving sites.
The most surprising result, Kanniganti says, was that one of the primary causes of consumer dissatisfaction reported was the inability to find a particular product on the shelf. Instead of being dissatisfied at being unable to find a store employee, for instance, consumers reported that simply not being able to locate a product was a key source of frustration. These problems can be resolved with RFID or other IoT-based technologies.
"Most retailers are going through the same issues worldwide," Kanniganti says—namely, focusing on combined online and physical store sales models. In Europe, stores have the greatest interest in location-based technologies, such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons, to recognize customers and their locations within a store. North America is moving more quickly toward online sales-enabled in-store pickup solutions, he reports, while Latin America is leading in the in-store experience space, such as offering mobile payments and smart mirrors in changing rooms.
According to Kanniganti, the study finds that consumer concerns regarding privacy are expected to be reduced when weighed against the convenience of personalized service throughout the next few years. The domination of millennials in the consumer market (a generation that was raised with social-media and smartphone technologies) will also reduce privacy concerns.
The retail sectors embracing the technology the most, according to the study, are fast-fashion apparel companies and supermarkets.
"We're very excited about these results," Kanniganti says, since Zebra's mobile computer, RFID and other smart-sensing technologies, as well as visibility solutions, are being demonstrated as relevant to the retail market. "That validates our strategy."
