The New Retail Operating Model of the Future How Retailers Need to Adapt Their Operating Model to Become Future-Ready
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The New Retail Operating Model of the Future How retailers need to adapt their operating model to become future-ready The New Retail Operating Model of the Future | How retailers need to adapt their operating model to become future-ready Introduction 05 Trends, Changing the Way Retailers Operate 06 The Operating Model in Theory 16 The New Operating Model in Retail Study 24 Recommendations for Action 40 Contacts 46 03 Retailers today are changing at high speed to become more consumer centric and to operate more efficiently. To achieve these ambitious goals, retailers need to fundamentally rethink their operating models. Finding the right way to organize, steer and employ will be the key success factors over the next five years. 04 The New Retail Operating Model of the Future | How retailers need to adapt their operating model to become future-ready Introduction Retail means change. Hardly any other Given all of these changes, retailers must Monitor Deloitte and the German Retail sector is experiencing changes as strongly ask themselves about their future plans Federation (HDE – Handelsverband as today’s retail industry, which has under- for operating as the environment changes, Deutschland) have dealt in cooperation gone a significant transformation over and how their organization will need to with these questions and developed the the past decade and continues to evolve change its operations. Retailers must ask survey “Future retail operating model.” quickly. themselves four key questions: In it, they asked renowned retailers and industry experts about the following External market trends such as emerging 1. How do I need to set up my organization points: new technologies, changing customer and processes to become more customer- behaviors, increasing competitive pres- centric and agile? • How important are changes within sure, and the non-traditional expectations retailers’ operating models? of the Generation Z/Millennial generation 2. Are my current steering mechanisms workforce are demanding that retailers the right ones to navigate through • How far are European retailers already on rethink their way of working. Many players changing market environment models? their journey, in terms of their operating in the market have spent the last decade models? redefining their (digital) strategy and 3. What are the needed employee skill focused heavily on changing their busi- sets, going forward, and how do I • What areas need to change the most in ness model by focusing on the customer become attractive to top talent? the next five years? experience and technology. The drive for change starts with the detection of rele- 4. What is the linkage of the three issues • Where are the most imminent gaps and vant trends and is followed by adaptations above and how can they be imple- what are the “must-haves” regarding the in strategies and business models that mented? future state of the operating model? need to be translated into the operating model, the basic frame for bringing a strat- • How will these changes impact the retail egy into action. Many retailers have never value chain? considered the need to adapt their strat- egy or business models. In this context, it • Finally, what are the calls for action and makes little sense, or at least not enough how can a retailer find its own way toward sense, to adapt an operating model to a new operating model? suit ad hoc topics. Change needs to be tackled starting with a strategy, followed by adaptations in business models and, finally, the operating model. The focus of the present study lies on the operating model and assumes that retailers adapt their strategies and business models on the basis of relevant trends. 05 Trends, Changing the Way Retailers 5 Operate The retail market is under pressure. The retail landscape is evolving. Success at the shelf is no longer about the depth and breadth of inventory, but rather creating engaging experiences for customers. Change is the new paradigm. Retailers need to adapt to current trends to keep a seat at the table. There are four main drivers currently pointing the direction of the retail market. They can be classified into four trend categories: Technologies, Customers, Workforce, and Market. 06 The New Retail Operating Model of the Future | How retailers need to adapt their operating model to become future-ready 5 07 Fig. 1 – Four main drivers pointing the direction of the retail market Customers Market The customer mindset has With customers demanding changed significantly over lower prices, pressure is the past years: focus is on growing; the result is increasing new aspects. consolidation among retailers. Technologies Workforce New technologies are arising New employee generations like in ever smaller intervals; increasing the “Millennials” transform expectations importance of attracting customers regarding working conditions. and managing companies. 08 The New Retail Operating Model of the Future | How retailers need to adapt their operating model to become future-ready Technologies: Fast Development and is not if, but which, technologies should Innovation Cycles be implemented implement to optimize Technology means innovation, it is today’s return and efficiency. Depending on the game changer. New technologies are implementation effort and the innovation arising in ever-smaller intervals, becoming degree, retailers can divide technologies increasingly relevant, and have the poten- into three categories: core, adjacent, and tial to transform whole industries. The crit- transformational technology. ical question retailers must ask themselves Fig. 2 – Three types of technology oT Risk/Reward high 3. Transformational Blockchain nenting new productstechnology for new customers 3D Printing Cybersecurity Analytics medium igital Realit 2. Adjacent panding of eisting business Implementation effort low Automation Cloud 1. Core Internet ptimiing of eisting business se eisting dd incremental eelop new technologies technologies technologies Innovation Degree 09 Core technology initiatives What does this mean for retailers? are “must-have” technologies to stay in the market. For retailers, these are mainly • To stay successful, retailers need to efforts to enhance their efficiency and assess how to use new technologies to retain customers by implementing tech- serve their customers’ needs and gain nologies that customers are expecting, efficiency (e.g., how will technology help such as Internet-based (online shopping, to gain efficiency effects, generate higher e-commerce, “click and collect” service) and revenue, enhance the customer experi- cloud (availability and decentralized access ence, and so on?). to all data) functionality. • Retailers must figure out all the initiatives Adjacent technology initiatives the business already has underway: leverage incremental technologies with How many technology initiatives are medium market maturity and are more being pursued in each realm, and how complex to implement. Examples are ana- much investment is going to each type of lytics (retail analytics, supply diagnostics), technology? digital reality (virtual reality, smart mirrors), automation (automated shelves, IT ser- • Both risks and rewards increase from vices), and cybersecurity. core to adjacent and transformational technologies. Retailers need to invest Transformational initiatives in core technologies to enhance their are designed to create new offers – if not organizational efficiency, in adjacent whole new businesses. These technolo- technologies to cover adjacent business, gies have the potential to disrupt whole and in highly risky transformational industries and are becoming increasingly technologies to create new markets and important; for example, the Internet of customers. Things (IoT) has changed the way people and things communicate, blockchain offers • Retailers must strive for a balanced the potential to create transparency and technology portfolio and cover all three trust over the whole value chain, and 3D areas of technologies. If a portfolio has printing technology could empower cus- only core products, the company is not tomers to produce personalized products prepared to be adaptive to changes in its from home. environment. Retailers should invest 70 percent of their resources in core technology, 20 percent in adjacent innovation, and 10 percent in transforma- tional innovation. 10 The New Retail Operating Model of the Future | How retailers need to adapt their operating model to become future-ready Customers: Preferences and Needs Fig. 3 – Customer preferences and needs Today’s consumer is an entirely new animal – and unrecognizable from their peer from the good old days. Who is this brand-new consumer? Customers evolve new preferences and needs, which are summarized in eight key drivers. Mobile Individualization of Customer experience products & services • Mobile The customer is king, and the smart- phone is his scepter. The increasing use of mobile devices makes products and information accessible from everywhere. Consumers demand a means for effort- less shopping. Demand instant Health & Less loyalty to brands • Demand instant availability & availability & delivery sustainability delivery Consumers expect instant availability and just-in-time delivery. With all information being available at every point in time, customers want to shop anywhere and anytime, both on and offline. • Individualization of products & services Well informed Social media Customers no longer accept off-the-shelf products. They want to buy products and