The most successful innovations are the ones that quietly integrate into the very fabric of our daily lives. Prime examples are cell phones, cars, antibiotics, pacemakers, and electricity—all of which have irreversibly transformed lives globally. So much so that one day, a generation wakes up and cannot imagine life was any other way.
The new technologies have tended to produce winners-take-most outcomes. Dominant firms have acquired more market power, market structures have become less competitive, and business dynamism has declined. Advances in digital technologies hold considerable potential to lift the trajectory of productivity and economic growth and to create new and better jobs to replace old ones.
It’s not about a particular tool or system, it is about being curious about other possibilities because the tools we will use now time will be totally different from the ones we were using two years ago. A worldwide transformation of marketing is underway, the challenge for brands is to connect with customers through all these new gadgets and devices in real-time and create campaigns that work across social media, display advertising and e-commerce. Did you know that worldwide almost 85% of consumers end up selecting the products that Amazon suggests, that’s the power and market potential technology determines.
Unfortunately, lockdowns and health risks generated by the pandemic have resulted in a record number of retail closures in 2020 across the world. Many of these closures, such as Microsoft Store and Pier 1, have been permanent. Others, like JCPenney and Macy’s, have temporarily closed locations or reduced the number of open locations. However, some retailers like Walmart and Target generated great earnings last year.
Today globally retailers need solutions that allow them to sell products online at the same level of efficiency, system integration, and customer satisfaction as in physical stores. Simply having an online option and an in-person option may not be enough. Businesses will eventually need to synchronize these two domains with e-commerce and POS integration. This will allow them to best integrate online and offline transactions, inventory, and promotions across all in-person locations and online stores during and after the pandemic.
Covid-19 has globally shifted customer demand in the retail space. Understanding how to predict and take advantage of these shifts is a vital component of staying on top of the industry. Data is essential to the demand forecasting process. By using machine learning, forecasting customer demand becomes substantially more accurate. These innovations are all enabled to recognise your voice. It is estimated that by 2022, the global artificial intelligence (AI) software market is expected to grow approximately 200 percent year-over-year.
With the United States expected to have more than 77 million homes with smart home devices in 2025, the voice commerce trend is proving to have serious potential for the retail industry. 62 percent of those in the U.S. age 12 plus use voice-operated assistants, as of 2020. IoT devices in consumers’ homes, such as smart mirrors and smart displays can help deliver product content in non-intrusive and helpful ways.
Screens may not even be necessary. With voice commerce, smart speakers only need to hear the consumer’s voice and respond accordingly. Voice commands can help customers find products and even make purchases. The voice commerce sales reached $1.8 billion last year, per industry data analytics. They’re predicted to reach $40 billion by 2022 globally. However, this can change as consumer behavior changes. It’s important to note that newer generations may adopt this behavior more and more, which can impact products targeting that demographic.
Walmart’s Voice Ordering service is a perfect example of this technology in action. By asking smart speakers to add products to a cart, they can place orders entirely by voice. Those items can then be made available for pickup by Walmart’s workers. Tools like machine learning, data science, computer vision, augmented reality, and more have shown that 2020’s challenges have been an opportunity for improvement rather than an impediment. Problems become opportunities, and 2021’s challenges for the retail industry are no different. Globally companies must adapt and use retail technology innovations and the latest ways of marketing to succeed in the market.
As technology advances, there are many new niches waiting to be monetised and opportunities to be taken. Digital transformation and data-centric cultures will continue to disrupt businesses that cannot adapt to rapidly changing customer preferences, new technologies, and supply chains. We must bring consumers experiences that they find engaging, accessible, and valuable. The real-time conversations brands have with people globally as they interact with websites and mobile apps have changed the nature of marketing. The modern-day marketing department needs to combine the creative side of the discipline – using powerful narratives to tap into people’s wishes and aspirations – with the technical side of data, digital engineering and analytics. Getting creative marketers to work alongside technical staff can be a huge challenge. With so many different ways that customers access media, whether, through Facebook, YouTube, news websites, via mobile or tablet apps, a strong idea can quickly gain huge scale. Marketers need to update their skills in order to make the most of these fast-moving, and highly relevant campaigns through digital. They need to work closely with data specialists, web developers and social media professionals.
Today’s connected consumers are using smartphones, iPads, laptops – and even glasses and watches – to access the content. As a result, marketing departments need to provide compelling campaigns across these different devices and become proficient in using technology. Marketers need to work closely with IT departments and technologists. They need to understand the processes behind developing websites, handling data and running social media campaigns. For marketing is not what it used to be, as we just discussed that there is a revolution that has taken place and is continuing, a technological revolution that is overpowering and also affecting the working of other sectors and departments, so marketing has become much more as a diverse process wherein ideas, data, technological working has to be taken care of simultaneously, more the innovative ideas, better the campaigns and brand promotion.
It is now accepted that Marketing now must be the Bay Pilot for the companies to steer them through these digital age canals.
