Just 10 years ago, when asked about technology investments, many retailers and brands would say their tech stack was good enough. There was no need to spend. But the pandemic changed everything and forced the industry to accelerate the pace of its digital transformation. Companies made heavy investments in e-commerce and supply chain management platforms as well as tech that could bolster a retailer’s omnichannel capabilities.
Now as online sales plateau, retailers and brands are turning to technology to better engage shoppers online and in-store, better control inventories and manage workforce. But how can technology help with product?
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In a recent Fairchild Media Group Thought Leadership Roundtable, a panel of industry experts explored the topic. “Getting Product Right with Technology” featured Danielle Schmelkin, CIO at J.Crew Group, Michael Appel, managing director of retail turnaround firm Getzler Henrich Associates, and Greg Petro, CEO at retail tech firm First Insight. The roundtable was facilitated by Lauren Parker, Studio Director at Sourcing Journal.
To set the stage for the discussion, Parker noted that the retail mantra “is to get the right product to the right place, at the right time, in the right amount.”
“Yet, in today’s increasingly complex retail environment, getting that right is harder than ever,” Parker said. “Getting it wrong of course, wreaks havoc on pricing, margins, financial liquidity, and ultimately, consumer satisfaction. Luckily, there are a lot of technology solutions to give retailers the tools they need to get this right.”
When asked to describe what is required in the current retail landscape, Appel said for retailers to be relevant to their customers they need to be omnichannel. They need to be online and have physical stores and a viable social media presence, then use technology to gather, analyze and apply retail data to better plan future buys.
But that’s not all. Appel said if you overlay all of that “with the macroeconomic challenges that retailers have been facing, there’s more and more need to figure out ways to be more efficient, whether it be in inventory or marketing or every aspect of the business. So, it’s just a lot more challenging.”
Schmelkin said another factor impacting product accuracy is the customer herself. “The consumer has much more awareness now,” she said. With social media, information is there for the consumer in ways it never was before. So, the ability to create beautiful product is not just what they’re looking for anymore. There’s broader awareness that they bring to the table.” J.Crew addresses these demands with enhanced consumer listening via technology, as well as enhanced AI to visually define what different consumers are searching for online.
Petro agreed about changes in consumer behavior, especially shoppers’ “action and reaction.”
“Consumers are constantly changing, but in a way, that’s been enabled socially for them to engage [with brands and retailers], but also to view information globally, instantly, and then make decisions based upon that,” Petro said, adding that one issue not being addressed enough is “how fragmented the consumer is today. So, when you think about a company and the fact that they’re trying to create a set of products for a group of consumers, the question that I think must be asked oftentimes is, ‘Who exactly is the consumer?’ In the product sets you’re creating; you must try to understand how to serve them. Because that behavior has changed dramatically and with macroeconomic events; events that are happening societally are changing even more quickly than previously considered.”
But technology is only as good as its adoption. In other words, you need buy in from the top. “A CEO that’s going to be successful today needs to be conversant with all these areas. You’re not going to do the job of your of your CIO or your CFO, or if you have someone in data analytics, but you need to be conversant with it. You need to understand what needs to be done, and what you’re going to invest in, CapEx, etc. If the CEO isn’t right, that person is going to be left behind in the dust.”
To learn more about Getzler Henrich and Associates and how they work with both troubled and successful retailers to improve operations, click here.