Consumer & Retail

The digital age is upon us. It’s everywhere you go. It’s in everything you do. 

 In a gist, digital transformation is using new technologies to create life-altering innovations that either disrupt industries or create new ones. It can make a service or product irrelevant and at the same time, pave the way for better products and services. 

While some industries continue to thrive in the midst of all these digital changes, other sectors are experiencing the complete opposite, causing many job losses and even bankruptcy.

New technologies are causing drastic changes in consumer behavior. Hence, ‘business as usual’ isn’t always true in the retail industry. The growing trend of e-commerce or online shopping has shifted consumers away from in-store shopping. Although it doesn’t necessarily follow that the high street is falling into the dark abyss of extinction, retail companies that aren’t able to quickly adapt to the changing times will definitely face decline.

 The digital age can’t digitize (yet) the transfer of physical goods to a customer. This can also be one of the facts that can lead many consumer and retail companies into thinking that digital changes aren’t going to impact them like other sectors. 

 Unfortunately, advancements in technology are already impacting the retail sector. With mobile devices being so accessible nowadays, being able to buy anything you can think of online has become the preferred way of shopping for many consumers. You can quickly search for a product you want to buy, compare prices, read reviews, order and pay for it online, and have it delivered to your doorstep the following day. 

 People love the idea of being able to do things automatically. With online shopping, they don’t have to drive to get to a store and buy whatever they want. All they need is a mobile phone or laptop to be able to shop. This is the very reason that brick-and-mortar stores need to update their business models for the digital age. 

 Even if physical stores can offer the ‘touch and feel’ shopping experience, today’s consumers no longer need it. As long as they get the right specifications or measurements, they will pick online shopping over in-store shopping anytime. This can cause store traffic and eventually, sales to go down fast.

 Some of the many challenges that retailers face are buying at the lowest price and selling products as high as permissible. But buying low is quite difficult, especially if you’re not as big as Walmart, which buys massive volumes of products to sell. While you can design your own merchandise and sell them at a higher price, cheaper imitations can easily catch up and bring down your sales faster than you can display your products on the shelves. 

 This is where adapting to digital transformation comes in. 

Consumer and retail companies need to focus on the digital value chain. They need to invest time and money in collecting data about customers, products, and locations and then, turning it into insights and into actions. 

This is where we at Mobility Art can help you.