[WEBINAR RECAP] Real-Time Data & the Future of Retail

Newly empowered with information and almost endless alternatives, shoppers have wrested control of the shopping experience, and their new shopping journeys are re-defining retail. Retailers, though, have been slow to respond, and it’s that lag that has caused a stubborn and significant divide in the expectations and perceptions between shoppers and retailers.

From start to finish in the shopping journey, shoppers are comfortable not only in using technology throughout, but also seamlessly jumping back and forth between retail channels and branded touchpoints.

The ease in which shoppers move between and across channels has far outpaced retailers’ abilities to adequately service them – shoppers are at the forefront of change, and they’re losing patience with retailers who aren’t keeping up with them.

In the webinar, “Real-Time Data & the Future of Retail,” guest presenter Adam Silverman, principal analyst at Forrester, reviewed the findings of a recent RetailNext-commissioned Forrester study, and together with Lauren Bitar, senior manager of retail consulting at RetailNext, presented four straight-forward recommendations for retailers to respond to shoppers’ ever-changing needs.

Silverman started by noting the role of the store is changing in today’s retail, running the gamut from showroom to distribution center, and inclusive of almost everything else in between. He then showed how service is a differentiator, and highlighted key differences in expectations between shoppers and retailers. Finally, he discussed the shocking truth about empowering and enabling technologies in the store – only 33% of surveyed retailers always measure conversion, and that was the metric that was most often used!

For the complete webinar content, be certain to view the recording as a webinar on demand. In addition, for the full report of the study, download “Real-Time Data Drives the Future of Retail.”

Webinar On Demand ~ Watch “Real-Time Data & the Future of Retail”

Join the #retail and #inspiringretail conversations on Twitter @RayHartjen & @RetailNext, as well as at www.facebook.com/retailnext.

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[INFOGRAPHIC] The Future of Retail Depends on Real-Time Shopper Data