The National Retail Federation Retail ‘Big Show’ kicked off in Manhattan, New York on Sunday Morning. Fleur Brown, Chief Industry Affairs Officer from the Australian Retailers Association and Professor Gary Mortimer from the Queensland University of Technology are there to capture and share the latest retail insights over the next three days.
The NRF Big Show has become the most important annual event for retailers around the world. This week, over 40,000 people from over 6,200 brands will come together to experience the latest retail trends and insights from 1,000 exhibitors, and 170 educational sessions and engage in networking programs.
NRF’s Retail’s Big Show introduces retail leaders to thought-provoking insights, emerging ideas and trends, innovative products, services and retail technology.
The morning began with an address by Walmart U.S. President and CEO, and US National Retail Federation Board Chairman, John Furner.
Furner began his address covering the key challenges facing retailers in 2024.
Omnichannel optimisation
2024 will see a continued increase in retailers adopting the omni-channel approach. Retailers need to develop an omnichannel strategy, which integrates all existing channels for customer interaction – stores, online and social media – ensuring they work together to create a seamless customer experience. It was offered businesses that adopt omnichannel strategies experience higher year-over-year customer retention rates.
Failing to upgrade technology
When used effectively, technology can improve employee productivity, improve the speed of customer service, and reduce human error. It can also reduce the costs of doing business through automation. But technology can be a curse for retailers who continue to rely on outdated systems that become a daily source of frustration, often failing to serve the purpose they were intended to.
Retail teams often claim that outdated technology is their biggest frustration with the industry. Organisation intranets, email systems, and learning management systems are all examples of outdated technological practices that are still widely used despite the fact they operate in isolation and cannot be connected to external technologies and software.
Furner reflected on his career with Walmart, offering… “you just can’t just keep doing the same things.”
“We added pharmacy and auto-service centres, then super centres and fulfilment centres. At Walmart, we keep changing and shifting, seeking to understand new markets. It is vital to keep looking forward.”
Internal team member communication
In retail, it can feel like every store, brand and business for themselves. However, the most successful retailers are those who have mastered internal team member communication, both on a store-to-store basis and at scale. And those who haven’t, often experienced limiting degrees of communication, information, or in some cases, people missing out on information entirely.
For example, when launching a new product, each employee must know what it is and how to sell it. But if this information isn’t always readily available. It may only be available or communicated via an intranet message that teams don’t check. This will inevitably lead to an uninformed workforce performing to different standards, leading to unpredictable customer experiences. Internal communication problems go hand-in-hand with outdated technology.
Customer experience is paramount
Customer experience plays a pivotal role in deciding the success of your retail business. It’s often the retailers that deliver an excellent experience that thrives in the competitive market. The sector is aware of the importance of customer experience, with over 45% of retail businesses selecting it as their top priority in the next 5 years.
Limited continuous learning
Much of the retail sector fails to embrace the need for continuous learning. There are very few industries that change as often as retail. Stores are always introducing new products and offers, employing various strategies to entice their customers. However current training approaches fail to acknowledge this evolution, and there’s an apparent lack of continuous training for retail employees, leaving them ill-equipped to deal with the consumers.
* This content was generated from the NRF Big Show 2024.
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