Retail

  Most retail owners I've spoken to over the years have strong opinions about what's wrong with their business. The footfall is down. Online sales aren't converting. Staff turnover is killing consistency. But when you ask them what their actual plan is to fix any of it — the room goes quiet. Not because they don't care. They care enormously. It's because nobody ever taught them what a real retail strategy looks like, and the people selling them software or services have a vested interest in keeping that definition fuzzy. So let's make it clear. And let's talk about where consulting fits in — because that's another area where retailers get burned regularly, often by paying good money for advice they either can't use or were never going to act on. A Business Goal Is Not a Strategy — And That Confusion Costs Real Money Here's something that took me a while to understand properly. A goal is "we want 30% more online revenue next year." A st...

  With the retail sector reshaping and changing, the expectations of the customers, digitalization and competitive landscape are bolstering this evolution. Competition has shifted from products, prices, to customer experience. They need to offer smooth customer experiences, smooth operations and adaptability to the changing trends. Retailers need to develop the plan they can follow to achieve these goals, and connect the business goals with the technology investments. Implementing a clear retail technology strategy enables companies to determine the tools, systems and processes they need to enable sustainable growth. The retailers can develop a technology roadmap to boost customer engagement, optimize operations and enhance overall business performance – not piecemeal. Additionally, strategic planning helps minimize risk of investing in solutions that aren't in line with organizational objectives. When it comes to retail transformation, there's no shortage of expertise. When m...

Nobody walks into a retail system implementation expecting it to fail. The budget's approved, the vendor's been selected, the kickoff meeting has coffee and optimism in equal measure. And yet, somewhere between that first meeting and go-live, a lot of these projects quietly fall apart — not dramatically, not all at once, but in the slow, grinding way where timelines stretch, costs balloon, and the system that eventually launches is a shadow of what was promised. I've seen this pattern repeat itself across organizations of very different sizes and sectors. The common thread is almost never the technology itself. It's the decision-making that surrounds it — how the system was selected, how the rollout was planned, how change was managed, and whether anyone with real retail technology strategy experience was in the room when the critical calls were made. If you're a retail leader evaluating a major platform change, thinking about ecommerce personalization services , ...