Day one on the Retail Re-Engineered stage at Tech. featured a host of inspiring speakers from Adidas’ vice-president of global sales, to Farfetch head of supply chain products Tatiana Lopes, and representatives from our sponsors Accenture, Isobar and Sorted. From our five sessions, here are our five key takeaways. 

Give the gift of time

Parekh, Parag Retail re-engineered stage

Parag Parekh of Adidas began the day with two stories – one of his experiences in Amazon Go in the US; the other of a taxi journey in China that required payment with either WeChat or Alipay. In both situations, technology was used seamlessly to complete the transaction.

Parekh said retailers need to fundamentally adapt to the changing needs of the customer.

With technology as a background asset, rather than a gimmick, it can be used to genuinely drive a premium customer experience – staff and customers alike are given the gift of time to engage with the brand and each other.

Parekh also spoke of a need for collaborative and agile teams. Instead of separating the departments, business and technology should work together so they are properly positioned to react to changing customer desires.

Choose a brand experience

Isobar’s Alex Hamilton broke down customer experience offerings into three categories – those retailers whose primary aim is to remove friction, for example, Asos or Amazon; those who stand for something, such as Rapha and Charlotte Tilbury; or those in-between – including the now nonexistent BHS and Toys R Us.

From this analysis, it becomes clear that retailers need to choose a track to remain in the game.

Extend personalisation to fulfilment services

Our third session saw partners luxury marketplace Farfetch and delivery tech company Sorted sing the praises of the ‘ship-from-shop’ delivery model.

While customers are used to standard and next-day delivery offerings as the norm, allowing the customer to choose the best option for them goes one step further – whether it’s choosing the following Saturday or delivery in 90 minutes.

The ship-from shop-model permits this super-fast delivery service – as stock in local stores can be delivered by local couriers, ensuring the retailer never misses a sale.

Customer experience = transactions + something else

“Stores are experiencing a renaissance,” claimed Alex Jones of Fjord, “but they are no longer simple locations for transaction.”

Accenture, Fjord, and Kingfisher joined forces for our fourth session to explain the concept of service design and how retailers can use it to become customer-obsessed.

Retailers need to define their business and customer goals before creating a new store that properly conforms to customer experience expectations. In the case of Kingfisher, this meant radically rehauling its standard big-box model to create smaller store concepts offering personalised customer home design journeys.

Starting with the problem, not the solution, is the key to avoiding technology for technology’s sake.

Work twice as hard to ensure higher conversion rates

Good Growth chief executive James Hammersley closed the day by positing his ’Red Queen’ hypothesis.

Named after Lewis Carroll’s famous character, it states that to gain evolutionary advantage a species must evolve more rapidly than the speed of evolution of those around them.

In the world of retail, this means not only must companies keep pace with the competition, but they also need to work harder and think differently to set themselves apart and drive real growth.

Part of the problem lies in conversion rates, which often plateau over time. To tackle this, Hammersley suggests understanding the intent of your customers and focusing on why traffic isn’t transactional.

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The inaugural Retail Re-engineered stage returns tomorrow at Tech. with sessions including what makes a tech leader and a sure-to-be controversial debate on the existence of digital transformation.