I attended the NRF (National Retail Federation), the world's largest retail conference and expo based in New York last week. Nothing less than the future of retail was on display at the 2020 NRF big show which was attended by 38.000 visitors from all over the globe! Here are my 4 top take-aways:
1) The future is digital - and the future is now
All the digital transformation topics addressed during the show are not new in the retail orbit, but it seems to me these are now well established and now is the time for realization.
2) Optimizing the customer experience is everywhere.
Technology´s main goal is to support an optimized customer experience through all channels. The seamless omnichannel experience is one of the hottest topics since years, but 2020 NRF shows it has become reality. A key driver for the future is seen in the intensive personalization of the customer experience - measured at every touch point, aggregated and analyzed to drive business decisions.
3) Data Analytics is business critical.
Retail business will create and collect huge amounts of data even faster than before. Data analytics, data aggregation and the data quality will drive more and more of our business. The business leader of the future, is the one that will not get lost in data but gets the most out of it.
4) AI - Artificial Intelligence - the general problem solver?
AI was 'the' hot topic and the biggest ‘buzz-word’ for the show. AI is seen as the only viable solution for processing the enormous amount of data measured, aggregated or collected from different sources.
All in all it is about the operational excellence of digital data management that will decide the business leaders of tomorrow. Data has never been so hot…
