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Future Of Retail: How Brands Should Handle Automation In 2019
To help retailers and brands plan for 2019, Claudia Tajima and I are interviewing our Forrester peers to discover how their 2019 predictions will affect retail for our series: “Applying 2019 Predictions To Retail.” Recently, Claudia interviewed J. P. Gownder, VP and principal analyst on Forrester’s CIO team and an expert in automation technologies. Here’s what J. P. thinks retailers and brands should expect and focus on regarding […]
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Future Of Retail: Applying 2019 Predictions To Retail — Blog Series
To help retailers and brands plan for 2019 and beyond, Claudia Tajima and I are interviewing our Forrester peers to discover how their 2019 predictions will affect the retail industry for our blog series, “Future Of Retail: Applying 2019 Predictions To Retail.” In our blog series, we will explore how predictions across AI, automation, CX, […]
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What’s Going On With Online Grocery
Last week, IRI hosted its annual Growth Summit in Denver (where some hapless attendees were snowed in by an unfortunate blizzard on the second day). For anyone not familiar with IRI, it is one of the world’s largest analytics firms. Among a slew of other assets, it has proprietary data from checkout registers, which gives […]
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The French And UK Customer Experience Index Results Are In!
Each year, based on a survey of your customers, Forrester releases results of its Customer Experience Index (CX Index™). The methodology measures how well a brand’s customer experience strengthens the loyalty of its customers and ultimately drives business growth. The French CX Index and UK Retail CX Index results are in! Key highlights from 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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Goliath’s Challenge: DTC Startups Get Personal
In this battle between direct-to-consumer (DTC) startups — cast as the proverbial David — and their large, established brand opponents, victory is not about size or stature; it’s about skillful weaponry. In fact, if one looks at DTC startups’ long-term growth numbers, a scorecard tally suggests that today’s Goliaths will continue to dominate consumer retail […]
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New Retail Isn’t The Future — It’s The Present
The future of retail is already here: Alibaba’s New Retail is reshaping the retail landscape in China and beyond. JD.com, Tencent, and traditional retailers like Starbucks and Walmart are all jumping on the bandwagon. My latest report, “New Retail Is Transforming Commerce,” shows retailers what they can learn from early adopters and how they can […]
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A (Relative) Newbie’s Impressions Of NRF 2019
2019 marks my third year attending the NRF Big Show. I’ve been to enough shows to have an informed opinion but few enough that it still feels new — Goldilocks-approved! A few quick impressions: China and Brazil are making headlines. NRF says 99 countries were represented in its 37,000 attendees this year. While it’s been a […]
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NRF Big Show 2019: It’s Time To Rethink Brick-And-Mortar Experiences
At this year’s NRF Big Show, I focused my time on discovering and searching out new tech and experiences that will be incorporated in the stores of tomorrow. During my time, here are three quick observations that I made: Computer vision AI is taking the first steps to transforming brick and mortar. Computer vision AI […]
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Retailers: Extend Omnichannel Capabilities To The Customer, Not Just Operations
Omnichannel investments, including in-store pickup and endless aisle, continue to be top strategic investment for digital business professionals at retail organizations. Forrester predicts that digital touchpoints will influence 55% of total European retail sales by 2022, so a retailer’s digital presence continues to play a significant role in influencing consumer purchase decisions, both online and […]
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Keep Experimenting To Apply The Best Digital Technology For Your Store Environment
Retailers are slowly moving beyond omnichannel fulfillment capabilities in stores to invest in digital store technologies that empower store associates, improve customers’ engagement, and enhance store operations. There is no single formula for great execution on digital store technologies, and the varied performance of the retailers assessed shows that many are still figuring out the […]
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Luxury Retail 2018: What A Difference A Year Can Make
Luxury brands have gone from relative inertia over digital strategies to a flurry of activity, including technology upgrades, partnerships, and even acquisitions. Back in the summer of 2017, we warned that luxury brands were out of time when it came to improving their digital customer experiences and internal operations. Digitally mature and savvy luxury consumers […]
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Forrester Online Survey: Organize To Deliver And Manage Application Transformation
Every company faces a central dilemma: how to resolve the standardization and differentiation of its business apps to win, serve, and retain customers. That’s why we are still getting a lot of questions about this report. We have been wondering how much the move to cloud, mobile, and embedded machine learning or artificial intelligence will […]
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CES 2019 Delivers Dazzling Tech But Disappointing Experiences
I spent this week in Las Vegas at CES to check out the latest and greatest technology wonders, ranging from 3D printing, AI, and cryptocurrency to drones, autonomous vehicles, dancing robots, and wearables. A lot of what I saw has broad CX implications for accessibility, healthcare, and more. My focus was on who will use […]
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WEBINAR
Future Of Retail Three-Part Series
Join us for a three-part online event series on the future of retail where VP, Research Director Fiona Swerdlow speaks with Forrester retail experts about the biggest threats and opportunities that will impact your business in the year ahead.
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Highlights Of Another Record-Smashing Singles’ Day
I was in Shanghai last weekend to witness the largest 11/11 in history. Alibaba breaks another record, with 2018 GMV reaching RMB213.5 billion (US$30.8 billion), 27% higher than last year’s RMB168.3 billion ($25.3 billion). I’m excited to share some of the event highlights here: Stay tuned for the post-event report on Singles’ Day 2018.
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New Look’s CVA Is Bearing Fruit
Earlier last week, UK high-street apparel retailer New Look announced plans to close 85 stores, up from the 60 it announced in March. These closures are happening under the auspices of a restructuring deal (a CVA, first introduced as a “company voluntary arrangement” in the Companies Act 1980). Simultaneously, it unveiled a return to profitability […]
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What To Expect On Singles’ Day 2018
Singles’ Day, the world’s largest online shopping festival, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. There’s no doubt that we will see another record-smashing year, although gross merchandise volume (GMV) will no longer be the highlight. Singles’ Day has always been Alibaba’s testbed for new business models and technologies, and this year is no exception. AI and […]
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Predictions 2019: Retailers Must Invest In Digital To Navigate Change And Foster Loyalty
Digital is the rocket fuel for retail’s growth. But that growth requires retailers and brands to keep up — and step up — how quickly they evolve in terms of people, processes, products, and more. On top of all that, in 2019 we’ll see factors such as global economies, trade barriers, rising wages, and marketplaces pack a […]
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Predictions 2019: The Ebb And Flow Of VC Dough
Marc Andreessen once said, “Raising venture capital is the easiest thing a startup founder is ever going to do.” That’s a bit of hyperbole from Marc, but there’s a lot of truth to it if one’s timing is right. Technology startup markets can go through periods of irrational exuberance in which money seems to grow on trees. Those […]
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