Retail Store, Channel, and Consumer Strategies

Success or failure in retail — regardless of merchant type, size, or geography — will be driven by an effective and profitable consumer experience. Whether in a traditional store environment, online, or mobile, consumers want merchandise to be available, assistance to be on hand, product information to be accurate, promotions to be relevant, and the checkout process to be quick and easy. As store systems expand beyond traditional point of sale (POS), understanding the impact these new store technologies have on consumers is also critical. To support business and technology decisions that directly impact retail consumers, the Retail Store, Channel, and Consumer Strategies service tracks and analyzes important trends in store systems, ecommerce and multichannel capabilities, and consumer adoption of these technologies.

Approach

This service collects relevant global market data through in-depth interviews and primary research with retail IT executives, store and line of business executives, technology vendors, and consumers, complemented by secondary research from conferences, industry and technology associations, and third-party news sources. IDC Retail Insights' analysts develop unique and comprehensive analyses of this data, focused on providing actionable recommendations. To ensure relevance, our analysts work with subscribers to identify and prioritize specific topics to be covered in research reports.

Topics Addressed

Throughout the year, this service will address the following topics:

  • Technology to deliver the omnichannel customer experience
  • POS hardware and software technology directions and investment trends
  • eCommerce platform trends and deployment strategies
  • Digital marketing technology and strategies
  • Consumers' usage of mobile technologies
  • Delivering targeted, personalized promotions
  • The latest payment technology trends
  • Social as a marketing tool and a channel
  • Self-service systems adoption trends — including self-checkout, kiosks, and self-ordering systems
  • Loyalty management applications and advanced consumer intelligence and analytics
  • Industry short lists and vendor assessments for key solution areas (e.g., POS and ecommerce)

Key Questions Answered

Our research addresses the following issues that are critical to your success:

  • What are the critical requirements for successful omnichannel retailing?
  • What is the TCO/ROI model for store systems and who are the leading vendors?
  • What are the recommended implementation strategies for ecommerce platforms and digital marketing and who are the leading vendors?
  • What is the current level of adoption of mcommerce and social shopping?
  • How can retailers ensure that their technology model supports immersive consumer experiences?
  • What will retailers need to do to support changes in payment technologies?

Who Should Subscribe

The Retail Store, Channel, and Consumer Strategies service is ideally suited to support the needs of store operations and retail operations leaders and IT executives responsible for supporting all aspects of the customer selling process. Suppliers of store and cross-channel technologies will also benefit from this service.

Return on Research Investment

Core Benefits:

  • Detailed models of evaluation criteria and deployment models for customer selling systems, speeding up time to market for new implementations
  • Guidance on forming and delivering omnichannel business strategies that will help improve customer acquisition and retention, and ultimately increase revenue
  • Detailed best practices and advice around improving business efficiencies to reduce cost while at the same time increasing levels of productivity
  • Advice on navigating through the latest in customer-experience technologies and practices to differentiate in the highly competitive environment
  • Guidance on increasing revenue-generating opportunities through international expansion with "glocal" strategies, skilled technology, and services partners
  • Advice on achieving PCI and regulatory compliance through best practices and working with partners

Standard Subscription Deliverables

IDC Retail Insights values building client relationships and strives to foster a partnership with each client through continuous analyst interaction; timely delivery of current, concise, and relevant research; as well as custom research when needed. Each advisory service delivers strategic research covering business and technology issues. A summary of the basic service deliverables available to subscribers includes the following:

  • Analyst inquiry time specific to the advisory service area
  • 24 x 7 research access via www.idc-ri.com
  • Discounted admission to specific IDC Retail Insights or IDC conferences
  • Complimentary forum invitations (Web conferences, industry briefings)

Join Our Community

Our IDC Insights Community is designed to enable technology buyers to engage with our industry analysts, share knowledge and best practices, and connect with colleagues. To participate in our community, members create a profile to:

  • Participate in our discussions in our blogs, forums, and polls
  • Learn about and share best practices, tips, tricks, and tools related to business/technology alignment
  • Network with colleagues and join groups within each industry
  • Provide feedback to IDC's industry analysts and hear what we're up to

Visit us at: http://idc-insights-community.com and join our conversations.

Related Offerings

Related offerings to our industry-specific research practices include IT Spending Guides — segmented regional and country-level analysis by solution area; Go-to-Market Services (GMS) — a modular set of deliverables to assist clients in extending their market reach, validating their market strategy, and producing more responsive customer-centric marketing campaigns; and IDC Advisory Tools — a growing set of solutions designed to ensure clients that technology purchasing and deployment decisions are optimized. In addition, IDC Retail Insights experts are available for individualized consulting engagements to address specific challenges or to customize the results of our syndicated research offerings.