Hype Cycle for Retail Technologies, 2016 Published: 12 July 2016
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This research note is restricted to the personal use of [email protected] G00300331 Hype Cycle for Retail Technologies, 2016 Published: 12 July 2016 Analyst(s): Robert Hetu Retail CIOs can use this Hype Cycle to advise their businesses on how to cut through market hype when prioritizing retail technology investments to support unified retail and digital business. Table of Contents Analysis..................................................................................................................................................3 What You Need to Know.................................................................................................................. 3 The Hype Cycle................................................................................................................................ 3 The Priority Matrix.............................................................................................................................6 Off The Hype Cycle...........................................................................................................................7 On the Rise...................................................................................................................................... 8 Algorithmic Retailing................................................................................................................... 8 Retail Distributed Order Management......................................................................................... 9 Digital Workplace......................................................................................................................11 Customer Engagement Hub..................................................................................................... 12 Project P2P Solutions............................................................................................................... 14 Intelligent Virtual Store Design...................................................................................................15 Retail 3D Printing......................................................................................................................17 At the Peak.....................................................................................................................................18 Digital Wallets in Retail.............................................................................................................. 18 Cognitive Expert Advisors......................................................................................................... 21 Social Employee Recognition Systems..................................................................................... 22 Augmented Reality in Retail...................................................................................................... 24 Multichannel Location Analysis................................................................................................. 26 Master Content Management................................................................................................... 28 Smart Data Discovery............................................................................................................... 30 Workforce Analytics.................................................................................................................. 31 Sliding Into the Trough.................................................................................................................... 33 This research note is restricted to the personal use of [email protected] This research note is restricted to the personal use of [email protected] Real-Time Store Monitoring Platform........................................................................................ 33 Real-Time Customer Offer Engines...........................................................................................35 Social Commerce..................................................................................................................... 36 Digital Coupons........................................................................................................................ 38 Loyalty Management Systems.................................................................................................. 39 Retail Mobile Payments............................................................................................................ 41 Unified Merchandise Planning...................................................................................................43 Climbing the Slope......................................................................................................................... 44 Multichannel Master Data Management for Retail..................................................................... 44 Retail Mobile Shopping.............................................................................................................47 Customer-Centric Merchandising & Marketing.......................................................................... 48 In-Store Self-Service: Customer-Facing Applications................................................................ 50 Algorithmic Merchandise Optimization...................................................................................... 51 Electronic Shelf Labels..............................................................................................................53 Java-Based POS Software....................................................................................................... 55 Unified Price, Promotion and Markdown Optimization...............................................................57 Entering the Plateau....................................................................................................................... 58 Mobile POS.............................................................................................................................. 58 Appendixes.................................................................................................................................... 60 Hype Cycle Phases, Benefit Ratings and Maturity Levels.......................................................... 62 Gartner Recommended Reading.......................................................................................................... 63 List of Tables Table 1. Hype Cycle Phases................................................................................................................. 62 Table 2. Benefit Ratings........................................................................................................................62 Table 3. Maturity Levels........................................................................................................................ 63 List of Figures Figure 1. Hype Cycle for Retail Technologies, 2016................................................................................ 5 Figure 2. Priority Matrix for Retail Technologies, 2016............................................................................. 7 Figure 3. Hype Cycle for Retail Technologies, 2015.............................................................................. 61 Page 2 of 65 Gartner, Inc. | G00300331 This research note is restricted to the personal use of [email protected] This research note is restricted to the personal use of [email protected] Analysis What You Need to Know Forces not unlike wind, rain, thunder and lightning have engulfed retailers in a perfect storm. The retail storm exhibits the powerful forces of shifting lifestyles, social upheaval, political instability and a hypercompetitive marketplace driven by technological acceleration. Regardless of the number of channels a retailer has, customer expectations of consistent and fexible shopping between and across channels mean that all of the retailer's customer-facing processes must be unifed. Retailers of all types must engage in digital business transformation built on a foundation of customer understanding to facilitate a unifed shopping experience. Unifcation will only be transformative when the entire organization is reoriented toward customer centricity. Ultimately, the customer channel is the only channel that matters. Retail CIOs should use this Hype Cycle to identify technologies that will enable customer-centered digital business transformation that is critical for their organizations to survive the storm and thrive. The Hype Cycle This Hype Cycle contains technologies that should be considered by large retailers having many channels and operating in all segments and geographies. CIOs and business leaders of these retailers are confronted with a wide variety of technology options that can provide increased operational effciency, improved customer experiences and increased digital business effectiveness. As a result, prioritization of technology investment is critical, and the dynamics of combining technologies, for example, smart machines with algorithms and the Internet of Things (IoT), cannot be overlooked. Many retailers have engaged in store count and staffng reductions and real estate investment trusts (REITS) to improve bottom-line performance and fund new initiatives such as major technology investments to enhance digital readiness. Simultaneously, they are investing in new store prototypes, formats and remodels aimed at improving the customer's physical experience. Yet there is a need to operate