In this Expert Insight Interview, Christine Russo discusses digital transformation in retail. Christine Russo and the Retail Creative & Consulting Agency sit at the intersection of information and innovation, serving industry retailers and retail technology.
This Expert Insight Interview discusses:
- Digital transformation in retail and what it all means in this day and age
- What retailers should focus on when it comes to digital transformation
- Bringing online technologies into brick-and-mortar stores
Digital Transformation
We hear much talk about digital transformation these days, with many people paying lip service to it before the pandemic hit until they realized it was time to try and catch up with the trends. There are now many different initiatives in the digital transformation space in the retail industry, and retail has changed so much in the past few years.
There is a lot of risk aversion in the retail industry, just like in most other industries, so people often think that a better solution will come if they wait long enough. So, it is difficult to decide when and where to pull the trigger and make changes.
What to Focus On
It is tough to pinpoint what retailers should focus on when it comes to digital transformation because the market is going through much consolidation. Digital transformation before the pandemic and in the early pandemic was a series of pieces of solutions to automate, scale, communicate better with the customer, and promote re-engagement.
Now, a lot of these practices are consolidating, which is good for the retailers because it means less decision-making, and it also means that the different technologies function well in and of themselves.
Improving the Customer Experience
The significant transformation we’ve started seeing in the recent period and what Christine Russo likes to focus on is the fact that we used to sit at home and shop online. We’ve all started to go back to stores, so e-commerce has come down a bit, as evidenced by retail reports.
People are returning to stores, which is excellent; it’s all part of the “omnichannel.” But going back to brick-and-mortar stores is a step backward for most people. Therefore, there is a real urgency in taking all the online technology and bringing it into brick-and-mortar stores to improve the customer experience.
Our Host
John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.
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