George Lawrie

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

The holiday season is the year's biggest test for retail. Good use of data can help application development & delivery professionals improve results.

Application development & delivery professionals in retail must prepared for the year's busiest season. These three steps can help.

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 […]

Read an overview of the three main ways AI can augment supply chain management operations.

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 […]

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 […]

Supply chains have grown increasingly complex, crisscrossing the globe. Firms have struggled to maintain visibility and security. But blockchain could change that. Learn how.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Each Order Is Special To An Empowered Customer You’ve heard a lot of buzz about AI and blockchain reshaping logistics. Age-of-the-customer empowerment means that companies must use every means to close the gap between customer-facing and back-office applications. Today’s hub-and-spoke supply chains deliver low-cost bulk distribution. But to an empowered customer, each order has special […]

The National Retail Federation’s Big Show attracted tens of thousands of attendees . Far from resigning themselves to conquest by market places they are determined to make the right investments to thrive and survive. Three years ago we found retail CIOs most concerned about innovation and security https://www.forrester.com/report/The+Retail+CIO+Agenda+2015+Secure+And+Innovate/-/E-RES121188 At the NRF show in 2018 it […]

McGarrigle, Chairman of the World Retail Congress, makes his keynote opening address. © World Retail Congress     If you follow me on Twitter or if you attended WRC at the beautiful Cavalieri hotel in Rome  you’ll know that I had the privilege to moderate a panel of distinguished retailers to discuss the subject of […]