siliconindia | | December 20198s time is evolving, E-tail is giving more sleepless nights to Retail. The convenience of 24/7 shopping and with the cost advantages it comes with, E-tail is really growing in capability to take Retail head-on. Another new kid in the block is Voice Assistants like Alexa making strides to augment non-store selling but store based voice assistants are trying to bring the same experience in the store.The only stream which is connecting both is Omni-Channel which is taking the best of both worlds. Things have probably never been so challenging or hot in Retail. The internal and external forces are making it evolve into a different animal, a more agile and spirited one. Digital Transformation looks to be the best thing which has happened to retail in this decade. It is acting clearly as a force multiplier. Today we live in an era of hyper personalization and the customers just love it. It is only a matter of time that this becomes the default standard. Imagine you walking into a store and the facial detection know you and you are welcomed, and the sales agent greets you and discusses only the products which suits your taste and profile. This is no more fiction and it is happening and very soon we will get to see it in scale. With data goldmines at hand, Retail businesses are building meaningful relationships with consumers, making data management and analysis their cornerstone strategy. Digital capabilities are being used to fine tune what needs to be stocked and where and also what need to get displayed. Actually, it is becoming increasingly important to embrace Digital capabilities to manage the scale the Retail companies are targeting. Technologies like Augmented Reality are making the customer experience much richer and some of these capabilities will evolve to be the key differentiators in the sales pitch. It is not going to be around if you have this feature or not but will be around how good is the capability of the solution you have. It's not just about hyper personalization, it is now more and more about hyper localization. Gone are those days when everyone around larger geographies got similar products and services. Imagine the sign board of your store which changes daily. Difficult, right? With hyper localized cloud-based systems, it can happen and can get governed centrally with perfection. Now with the power of hyper localization, much deeper and focused territories are mapped and serviced differently, thanks to the Digital advent. It is not that early days no one knew the need of this, but the sheer effort was killing it and now with seamless digital tools talking to each other seamlessly, it is a reality. Technologies like AI and ML is adding fuel to the `Digital Fire' and making By Ashok Cherian, CIO, Page Industries Ashok brings over 25 years of rich IT leadership experience driving Strategy, Planning, Operations, Infrastructure, Security, Business Partnering and Applications with cross cultural engagements across geographies.THE DIGITAL FUTURE OF RETAILin my opinionAAshok Cherian, CIO
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