The State of Digital Transformation in Retail (2022)

Written by Timothy Ware

Since Amazon first started selling books in 1994, retail has been changing rapidly. The direction of the digital transformation in retail is pretty clear. Consumers are looking for more buying options, more personalization, and more convenience. Even though we are in the middle of the third tech market correction, the direction towards more digitalization in retail is clear.

In this article, we go through exactly what the digital transformation in retail means for your business. 

Digital transformation (DX) provides a number of benefits to your organization, regardless of whether you are just starting the process or looking for the next big DX win.

To see how SignTime fits into your digital transformation roadmap, sign up for a free plan today.

What is digital transformation in retail?

Digital transformation is the process of making a business more efficient through the use of new technologies. This trend has been affecting every industry. However, no industry has visibly changed more than retail in the last two decades. 

The most obvious digital transformation in retail has been the rise of e-commerce. However, that’s not the only big change that has occurred. Since not every product class is equally susceptible to e-commerce, especially the last three years have seen the development of many new hybrid shopping models.

For example, curbside pick up has established grocery stores as another class of goods that can be purchased online. 

In addition, there are all of the third-party food delivery services. Uber Eats, Skip the Dishes, etc. all allow restaurants to provide delivery options. The backend technology here is even more impressive. 

Since restaurants have orders coming from many different third-party delivery services, as well as direct orders and the in-restaurant diners, modern point of sale (POS) systems and ticketing machines make sure that chefs prepare the food in the correct order and are not (too) overworked. 

Why are retailers digitizing their business? 

Some industries see digital transformation as a way to cut costs, improve their agility, or get an efficiency edge over the competition. These are all true for manufacturers. For retailers, digital transformation has a different prime mover: customers.

Yes, the retail market is becoming more competitive. Drop shippers are sending products from China that compete against local shops with much better prices, and sometimes, frustratingly, lower shipping costs too. Of course, the major e-commerce giants (Amazon especially, but also Walmart and many other new marketplaces) are also squeezing other companies. 

However, reducing costs and improving speed of service are still only secondary concerns of the digital transformation in retail. Companies that do not cater to the demands of their customers will quickly lose market share. Eventually, they may even cease to exist. 

So what are consumers demanding from retailers? 

What do consumers expect from digital transformation in retail?

If retail workers have always secretly complained about demanding customers, retail executives might be joining in now. The fact is that shoppers today have much greater demands for how their buyer journey should look. 

Here are five demands that consumers today are expecting from digital transformation in retail:

• Channel-agnostic shopping
• Price consistency 
• Ability to make informed purchase decisions
• Innovation
• Personalization

Channel-agnostic shopping

Forty years ago, every consumer essentially bought things the same way. They’d go to a store, browse for the items that they liked, and make a purchase. Budget shoppers might visit a couple stores, likely all found on the same main street or in the same mall. Savvy shoppers might have looked to wholesalers or the used market for even bigger savings. 

Now, customers want to read about products on third-party sites, see reviews, look at the product in person in a store, and then double check the prices—potentially even locally and internationally—to make sure they get the best product for the best price. 

They don’t care if that means stretching across two or three traditionally siloed sales channels. This leads to a related demand.

Price consistency 

While in-store, online, delivery, and in-store pick up prices do not need to be the same, they need to be consistent. A consumer is going to be annoyed if they see that a product on the shelf is actually cheaper if they order it online for in-store pick up and have to wait three hours for it to arrive at the in-store pickup counter. 

The fact is that in-store pickup costs the company more money in labor costs, so shouldn’t it be more expensive? That type of inconsistency will lead to social media complaints. 

Ability to make informed purchase decisions

Consumers have become a lot more savvy. They no longer want to make purchases on a whim. Consumers today research every major purchase to make sure they get what they want, when they want it, and at the best possible price. 

Content is one way consumers are researching their purchase decisions. Consider a content market strategy, for example a glossary of the important terms related to your product. The alternative is having consumers informed about decisions by your competitors—and guess what, they won’t be recommending your business.   

Innovation

Consumers want something new and innovative. It’s no longer acceptable to market the same products for years on end. Consider a product schedule that includes releasing new products or features consistently to keep consumers excited. 

Personalization

If you are able to provide personalized products and services, this is a great way to keep your customer base engaged with your brand. However, personalization requires a lot more coordination. Thankfully, there are tools to support this part of digital transformation in retail as well. 

SignTime should be part of digital transformation in retail

The retail industry has been changing more than any other with the advent of new technologies. In addition to ecommerce, online ordering with in-store pickers, curbside pick up, and many other brick-and-mortar/e-commerce hybrids have emerged during the pandemic. 

All of these options necessitate new tools to accomplish a digital transformation in retail.

E-signatures are an easy first step to digital transformation. As a non-disruptive technology, e-signatures don’t require a large consulting project to start. 

In addition, SignTime supports Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, and Word, as well as PDF, has an easy to implement SaaS model, and you can send e-signature requests via email or SMS.