PROMOTIONAL RESEARCH

A leadership strategy and KPIs with data and customer experience at their heart will be central to sustained long-term growth, a report from Retail Week reveals.

Unlocking Growth in 2019, produced in association with Google, details how retailers should navigate what is set to be one of the industry’s toughest years yet to build a business fit for the future.

The report reveals that retailers need to move quickly and transform their operations in order to remain relevant and continue to compete, outlining five key steps.

1. Adopt a leadership mindset: 75% of retailers believe a new leadership mindset is required to thrive in the digital economy, according to recent Retail Week research. Unlocking Growth in 2019 highlights this further by showcasing the companies that have evolved in this area and flourished.

2. Start afresh with KPIs: new KPIs are required to ensure retailers are on track to deliver sustainable growth, and should be focused on better understanding of data to understand the true value of channels to protect margins and drive sales.

3. Invest in the right systems: managing data will be key. Retailers need to map out a strategy for the implementation of AI to understand and action data in a more efficient and predictive way. This will drive both efficiencies and boost customer experience.   

4. Put customer experience first: retailers need to look at the stories their data is telling them and work out where their customers are experiencing friction in the shopping journey. They then need to make the investments that will add the most value and drive experience, such as AR and VR, personalised marketing or more convenient deliveries, for example.

5. Make agile decisions: investments in technology need to be made with greater agility to allow retailers to test, learn and stay ahead of the competition.

The challenge for retailers will be how to achieve each of these steps.

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Unlocking Growth in 2019 takes a deep dive into each of these strategic objectives, with insight and case studies into how some of the world’s leading retailers are doing so.

Download the full report to find out more.