IDC: Top 10 Retail Tech Trends for 2013

Framingham, Mass. -- The omnichannel retail experience figures prominently in IDC Retail Insights’ Top 10 Predictions for the Retail Industry 2013. A hallmark of IDC’s offering for three decades, the annual report provides IDC's outlook on the IT market, across industries, in the coming year.



“The year 2013 will be a turning point in terms of industry momentum around delivering on the omnichannel promise,” said Robert Parker, group vice president, IDC Retail Insights. “This trend means we will be applying “new rules” to both the customer experience and supply chain execution. Technology will have a critical role."



Here are IDC Retail Insights’ Top 10 Predictions:

1. Omnichannel retail maturity will move from foundation to convergence, and from precision to immersion;


2. Retailers omnichannel objectives will require platform & architecture investments;


3. Retailers pivot merchandising and marketing on customer analytics to drive revenue and profit; relevance and reciprocity being the watchwords;


4. Retailers will invest in customer analytics, merchandising, and marketing technologies to curate commerce and contextualize communications;


5. The time is right to break down marketing silos;


6. Marketing processes and infrastructures will align with the omnichannel business;


7. Retailers will remove barriers and instead encourage the “stop start shopper;


8. The convergence of web-based customer experience touch points to unify the customer journey;


9. Retailers will optimize omnichannel customer service and cost by enabling trustworthy, efficient and effective supply chains; and


10. Retailers will invest in technologies that enable visibility, visualization and virtualization.