George Lawrie
VP, Principal Analyst
Author Insights
Blog
Rationalize Your Product Portfolio For Real Customer Focus
Smart Manufacturing Offers More Choice If you follow our research on smart manufacturing and product lifecycle management, you know that manufacturers today have more ability than ever before to develop and bring to market exciting new product variants. You have also seen our work on collaborative work management, project portfolio management, and accelerating product delivery with […]
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Learn How Modern PLM Lays The Foundation For Smart Manufacturing And Supply Chain Resilience
Manufacturers used to compete on economies of scale. Design engineers were the only users of product lifecycle management (PLM) systems. Their task was to design the lowest unit-cost piece parts for mass production. But now manufacturers must compete on customization and on time-to-market. It’s why industrial giants have bet their future on software. Drivers and […]
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We’d Love Your Feedback On New Applications Designed To Master Supply Chain Resilience
Lead time and availability determine customer experience. We all learned about that during the crisis. But now there is a global shortage of everything, from 20-foot containers to lumber and basic chemicals. You must master supply chain resilience to meet your customers’ lead time and availability expectations. Moreover, you must guarantee supply chain sustainability to […]
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Digital Business Models Mandate More Sophisticated B2B Pricing Processes And Applications
Industrial manufacturers need tighter integration with applications such as CRM and enterprise resource planning to price product and service bundles effectively.
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NRF 2020: Robotics Realize Real-Time Retail
I’ve just returned from NRF 2020. There were more than 40,000 attendees and 800 exhibitors from 99 countries. They showed how to deliver real-time retail, applying technology to win, serve, and retain the most demanding retail customers. This year, the emphasis was more than ever on boosting supply chain responsiveness to anticipate customers’ latent demand. […]
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Modern Retail Planning Anticipates Customer Intentions
Don’t Just Satisfy Customers; Anticipate Their Every Desire! One of our retail clients told me: “No one rewards you for merely satisfying customer demand. These days, you need to be three steps ahead . . . You must embed superior retail planing to anticipate their whims and desires!” “Finger in the air” techniques used to […]
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Blog
Use Trade Promotion Management To Boost Return on Promotions
Trade Promotions Are Hard To Execute We all know that sometimes brands run promotions that don’t seem to make sense. I expect that you have seen “buy one, get one free” offers in stores with bare shelves. Colleagues say that movie-themed merchandise often hits the stores just when the movie season is over. We have […]
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Holiday 2019: AD&D Leaders Should Deploy Sophisticated Analytics In Their Trading Support Applications To Optimize Holiday Planning
The holiday season is the year's biggest test for retail. Good use of data can help application development & delivery professionals improve results.
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Holiday 2019: AD&D Leaders Should Test Customer-Facing Applications Early To Guarantee Performance During Peak Trading
Application development & delivery professionals in retail must prepared for the year's busiest season. These three steps can help.
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The Future Of Retail: From Store To Stage
Did you know that 90 former Toys R Us big-box stores are now Urban Air Adventure Parks? Here at Forrester, we’ve been anticipating that retail, entertainment, and hospitality would ultimately merge. We discussed the trend here and have more research in the pipeline for you. Application development and delivery professionals must look sharp and emulate […]
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Embed AI In Your Digital Supply Chain To Win, Serve, And Retain Customers
Read an overview of the three main ways AI can augment supply chain management operations.
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Blog
Benchmark Your Retail Technology Investment Plans
When benchmarking retail technology investment plans, we found that retailers around the world plan to: Maintain interest in SaaS for agility — and exploit PaaS for differentiation. Retailers will invest in SaaS to manage application load variability, such as holiday shopping. But retailers will also invest in PaaS and cloud microservices management frameworks. They do […]
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Blog
QR Codes Return
Forrester sees evidence that QR code deployment is increasingly popular, the reason being that in-store consumers want to know more about their prospective purchases. One of my colleagues blogged about QR codes here: Amazon Blends Digital and Physical Experiences At Their New Book Store Forrester colleague Riccardo Pasto wrote about China’s mobile-equipped consumers. They scan […]
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Blockchain And Supply Chain
Supply chains have grown increasingly complex, crisscrossing the globe. Firms have struggled to maintain visibility and security. But blockchain could change that. Learn how.
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Shapeshift Your Retail Offer With Software-Defined Stores
We’ve all learned about the advantages of software-defined infrastructure. We don’t think twice about network or desktop virtualization. But what about using software to define and remotely manage store infrastructure and applications? Think about the rise of pop-up stores or the rapid proliferation of store banners as retailers shapeshift in anticipation of customer trends. The […]
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The Future Of Department Stores
Department stores can enjoy a bright future — but to do so, they must change to survive and thrive in the face of fierce competition from brands’ direct-to-consumer initiatives. Synchronizing supply and demand to sell inventory at full price is one issue. But the department store’s bright future depends on enticing customers through the doors […]
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NRF 2019: It’s A Visionary Retail Revival
NRF 2019 attracted more than 800 exhibitors that demonstrated to more than 37,000 attendees. If last year’s theme was (Alexa’s) voice, this year’s show was all about computer vision driving: Frictionless retail. Computer vision specialist Scandit, with clients such as Sephora and Louis Vuitton, showed that any retailer can offer a grab-and-go experience like Amazon […]
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Use The Power Of Predictive Analytics To Delight Retail Customers Locally
Forrester readers sometimes ask me if machine learning can really have any relevance to retail. We start by discussing their current approach to demand management. How do they determine the assortment and depth and breadth for each store cluster, or even for each store? Depending On Sales History Alone To Plan Assortment Depth And Breadth […]
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Modern PoS Is Both Volvo And Ferrari
Whose Customer Is This? All of us shop online and in stores. We are customers both of a retail brand’s eCommerce organization and of its store organization. Sometimes we buy online but, when we just can’t wait, collect in-store. Sometimes we return unwanted online purchases in the store, crossing an invisible border between the world […]
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Modern Point Of Service Is Both Volvo And Ferrari
We’ve just published the all-new “The Forrester Wave™: Point Of Service, Q3 2018” report — and it turns out that brands and retailers have a lot to choose from to deliver the best experience for their customers. Whose Customer Is This? As a retailer that must provide your customers with great experiences, your expectations for your […]
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