Four things retailers must know for 2011

The tides in retail change fast – and the currents of change are upon us. What do retailers need to know to keep their business afloat in 2011? We asked the Retail IT management team, who have decades of retail experience, what one piece of advice they would offer retailers this financial year.


James Rodger (Managing Director): In the age of Web 2.0, social networking and cloud computing, it is essential to have web-enabled products.

In the past, web enablement meant poor performance and feature-thin applications. This has all changed. Now, many providers offer online applications that are delivered either using a web browser or a thin client.

What are the advantages of these hosted models?

  • Lower total cost of ownership. The application is delivered over the internet which allows set -up in minutes with no specific skills. You don’t need expensive server hardware, which further reduces costs.
  • Real time data. Systems are run off the main servers and this means that data is real-time. This allows for up to the minute reporting and decision making.
  • In house skills. You don’t need expensive in-depth IT skills, as the main aspects of the solutions are managed by the software provider. Typically, all the retailer needs to worry about is reliable internet connectivity.




Lorenz Wolf (IT Director): Selling online is no longer optional for serious retailers of all sizes.

The internet is an absolutely key sales channel. It is the fastest-growing area and the most underexploited. The truth is that to get great ROI from this channel, a website does not need to be particularly sophisticated, or require immense technical expertise to set up: there are e-commerce products available now that even a non-technical person can set up in minutes. If you're able to put your products and your message in front of the right new audiences online, you'll see fantastic results.

Naturally, you can delve into much, much more depth here if you like (or if your competition demands it). However, the point is that even now the internet is still like the Wild West, and nobody has all the answers yet, and the competition is still much weaker than in 'real life'. There is plenty of room to profit here for all sizes and shapes of retailer.


Alan Holcroft (Director of Sales): Absolutely crucial for 2011 and thereafter will be lowering costs of ownership. I think we'll see retailers continuing to explore things like enabling self-service for customers, and breaking away from frustrating lock-down relationships. We will probably also continue to see more retailers moving towards SaaS models (software as a service), escaping frustrating and expensive relationships, and embracing real-time solutions and planned (OpEx) costs.

We will also continue to see retailers deepening their use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) techniques, as well as integrated marketing across channels. Retailers need to be able to build relationships with their customers, first by understanding those customers using proper data and segmenting them appropriately, and second by conveying a strong single message to them at every engagement – on print, online, and in store. Retailers with successful CRM techniques will reap the rewards with more frequent and higher value purchases.