The modern retail system has worked to dazzling effect. From the 19th
century, store owners emerged from small beginnings to set in train an
industry that has seen some operators become nationally, even globally,
dominant. Along the way, they turned retailing into an art, and then a
science. Now retailers in emerging markets appear to be repeating the
story all over again, except on a scale and at a speed beyond anything
we have seen before.
Given all of this, it can be hard for those who work in retailing to
accept that the industry as we know it is living on borrowed time, on
the brink of transformation. There is now an urgency with which
conventional store-based retailers must now act and the extent of the
challenges this change represents in strategic, organizational, and
above all, technological terms.
Reshaping Retail sets out the driving causes, current trends and
consequences of a transformation in retail triggered by technology. The
changes go far beyond making items available for sale on the internet.
Starting by briefly setting the historical and business system contexts
for retail and describe the role that technology has played in the
creation of modern retail it then explains the underlying technological
drivers behind the current revolution - radical changes in the capacity
of both hardware and software, mobile telecommunications changes and the
advances of the Internet.
Ultimately, success will hinge on more than competence; it will come
down to a way of thinking. Customer-centricity will need to be valued
not just by the store owner, as in the past, but also by all employees
in the organization. It will need to become embedded in their daily
tasks. The same applies to technology, which must be at the center of
the organization and recognized as such by everyone.
With a combination of extensive desk and field research, interviews with
leading retailers and technologists, together with the real world
experience of practitioners in this area, Reshaping Retail will
inspire and help store retailers to make the necessary transformation
now to win in the new consumer driven world.
