Fujitsu: Major changes in store for retail by 2020

The next five years will see continued consumer adoption of advanced technology drastically alter how retail is conducted.



According to a new study from Fujitsu Americas, 50% of retail will be automated by 2020. Advancements in enterprise technology, supported by Big Data playing a larger behind-the-scenes role, will allow retailers to offer enhanced front-end experiences using mobile platforms, smart sensors and social media.



For example, Fujitsu predicts consumers will be able to use location-based services within stores to support their shopping experience, with customized offers in real-time. This will require business insights and analytics that enable retailers to easily interact with customers throughout the shopping process.



In addition, using mobile phones and computers to research prices and select promotions, customers will only purchase items on their shopping lists and no longer make impulse buys.



Fujitsu says shoppers will constantly be online, utilizing social media to aid in their omnichannel buying experience, with smart devices as the main tool for shopper engagement.



These devices will offer order management, social interaction and smart services management. With this advancement, employees' routine tasks will be automated, and the role of sales associate will be transformed, enabling a greater focus on relationship-building with customers and driving incremental sales opportunities. Store employees will expand into broader roles and will be expected to deliver across more capabilities than ever before.



Brick-and-mortar stores will still be the dominant channel, but their mission will shift toward on-demand shopping with improved customer experience, with heavy focus on convenience, order fulfillment, showrooms and personalized services.



Retailers will use consumption, usage and purchase intelligence via “smart monitoring,” ranging from refrigerators and wardrobes to social groups, in an effort to understand shopper needs and drive key decision-making. Point-of-sale and gaze-tracking data will aid retailers in identifying what products their customers are most considering and develop strategies for creating a “perfect” product cycle, where production, inventory and price are all informed by real consumer insights.



Furthermore, Fujitsu predicts new selling platforms will emerge through the integration of POS services, e-commerce, electronic/biometric payments and CRM systems for a seamless cross-channel shopping experience. This increased demand for multichannel and platform technologies means an even bigger demand for advanced analytics and big data in 2020.



Operations improvement will include store and order fulfilment, merchandising, space usage, shelf inventory and data that will provide customer traffic flows, delivered via camera and sensor-based analytics. This will be taken a step further through predictive merchandising and inventory management, made possible through advanced monitoring of the weather, fashion trends and consumption and usage patterns of consumers. Structured and unstructured, predictive and artificial data and learning will be essential in order to monitor, map and identify shopper needs and enable the delivery of targeted offers and information direct to opt-in shoppers' smart devices. Actionable insight will be delivered in real time, directly to consumers, associates and managers.



"Retail technology is changing significantly to respond to a more empowered, technologically-savvy shopper, and retailers without a multi-connected, multichannel strategy will fall behind if they make the cut at all," said Marc Janssens, executive VP of retail at Fujitsu America Inc.