零售业高管预测2024年技术增长将达到两位数

Tech Surge: RetailExecs PredictDouble-DigitInvestmentIncreases for 2024Market Report onLarge U.S. Retailers Sponsored by Table ofContents Executive Summary3Key Findings42024 and Beyond5Key Insights: E-Commerce Putting Pressure On Supply Chains6Making Investments Count8Spotlight: Big Data, Big Problems8Spotlight: How May AI Help You?9Conclusion10Methodological Notes10 ExecutiveSummary As new tech becomes the new normal, retail executives are laying out ambitious plansfor 2024 and beyond.Virtually all retail execs (99%) predict increased investment in newtechnology in 2024, averaging 10% among them, according to a survey of 100 U.S. retailexecutives in charge of IT, product development, or customer experience at companieswith a minimum annual revenue of $1B USD, conducted by Wakefield Research on behalfof SoftServe. These investments are about more than optimizing tech or back-end efficiency: they’reabout the people retailers serve.An overwhelming 94% of retail executives rank newtechnology as a significant driver for drawing in new customers—including 35% who cite itas themaindriver. Tech’s importance to customers and their experience—and, accordingly, to executives’investment strategies—all speak to a major push to make 2024 not just the year of newtech, but of new customer experiences.Retail executives’ top-three goals for 2024 includeimproving customer experience (44%) and customer retention (38%)—with customeracquisition (32%) not far behind.To achieve these goals, retailers are investing both toovercome roadblocks and to make the most of their new tech and reimagine success. Key Findings rank newtechnology as asignificant driverfor drawing in newcustomers put improvingcustomer experiencein their top-three goalsfor their 2024technology strategy will increaseinvestments innew technology,by an impressiveaverage of 10% cite store operations as atop-three driver for theirtechnology investmentstrategy will prioritize investmentsin inventorymanagement systemsin 2024 have limited in-houseexpertise on newtechnologies preventing themfrom being early adopters rank consumer datamanagement andprotection as a topchallenge in 2024 make technologyinvestments withoutthe customerexperience in mind 2024 and Beyond However, these ambitious implementationsaren’t all that are growing and evolving:threats are emerging and mutating as well.Retailers cite consumer datamanagement/protection (33%) as a top-three concern—mirroring the 28% who putcybersecurity in the same ranking.With in-store theft (31%) emerging as a problem,retailers are taking major action againstthese threat vectors by investing ininventory management systems (48%),echoing the more than 2 in 5 who havealready implemented enhanced securityand fraud protection (46%). Nearly all retail executives in charge of IT,product development, or customer experienceat companies with a minimum revenue of $1BUSD (99%) predict increased investments innew technology in 2024. The growth is sizable,with executives expecting a 10% increase onaverage, including nearly a quarter (23%) whopredict 15% or more.In fact, all executiveshave already implemented technology tomeet their 2024 goals, including mobile appsand technologies (48%), and big data andanalytics (40%)—investments that alignclosely with planned 2024 investment prioritiesof in-store analytics (46%) and customermobile apps (41%). Retailers’ challenges are about more thantechnology:33% cite ever-changingconsumer preferences and nearly as many(32%) cite workforce shortages aschallenges for 2024, drawing out the humanelement technology strategies musttakeinto account.In response to expectedshortages, nearly 3 in 10 (29%) expect toface rising labor costs as retailers seek toattract talent in a competitive market. Other existing implementations highlight howretailers are taking different tracks to meetdifferent goals. This includes implementingfamiliar but important solutions, such as IoT andother connected technologies (40%), legacysystems modernization (38%) and cloudcomputing and storage (38%)—but retailersaren’t afraid to try even newer innovations,such as blockchain (36%), augmented andvirtual reality (36%) and robotic processautomation (29%). Key Insights:E-Commerce Putting Pressure On Supply Chains Retailers may be emphasizing in-store solutions, but they are not slowing down on online sales ande-commerce. This means big investments in the technology that powers this revenue stream—while still being aware of how these efforts put even more pressure on the supply chain. Thisextends from end to end, in everything from retailers’ tech solutions and the big picture problemsthey face to the challenges they encounter in the supply chain and last-mile delivery. In 2024, retailers are likely to invest in: 44%omnichannelsolutions But this will not be easy, as macro roadblocks emerge and prevent retailers from optimizing onlinesales and other revenue streams. Among retailers’ top big picturechallenges f