Javelin Group: What’s in Store for the Next 10 Years of Retail?

Will Treasure, Javelin Group’s Director of Operations, recently published an interesting list of predictions for the future of retail.

“Retailing is a particularly dynamic industry, and in 100 years has changed from the butcher and baker ‘living over the shop’ via organized retail, self-service, and big-box to today’s omni-channel,” Treasure writes.

We couldn’t agree more. Retail is in the beginning of a seismic shift, moving away from product and store-centric focus to one of the customer. You can see this happening in a variety of places. Take Amazon as a prime example (no pun intended). Its laser-focused, customer-centric approach is forcing traditional retailers to become much more nimble, data-driven, and innovative.

One of Treasure’s predictions revolves around the impact of artificial intelligence (AI). “AI chatbots are already replacing first line customer service, machine learning will improve forecasting and supply chain management, and it is likely that AI will replace many back office retail tasks, “ he writes.

At Action IQ, we firmly believe that AI applied to customer-centric marketing and experiences  will drive the highest impact on a business and power an omnichannel revolution. ActionIQ is helping retailers embrace and navigate the AI revolution. Based on our experiences, we would propose an addition to Treasure’s list of predictions: successful retailers will build cross-functional teams (business and tech) focused on leveraging all the retailers data to build a more connected and personalized experience that differentiates them from their competition.

You can check out Treasure’s full article here.