Based on Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail 2012, launched on February 1, our solution recognises that we are all in a decade of change, and so retailers are focussed on promoting their brands consistently across all channels in a way that is seamless, differentiated and personal. It’s what today’s consumer expects and demands.

As No 1 UK Microsoft Dynamics partner we are excited to be part of this launch. Our product is an out-of-the-box retail solution, flexible enough to evolve with your business, simple to learn, intuitive to use, and powerful enough to enable you to make better decisions, faster.

Lots of events are happening over the next few months, including a significant presence at the Retail Business Technology Expo March 13th – 14th at Earl’s Court and a series of executive briefings for the retail community. We look forward to seeing you there and watch this space for further announcements on Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail 2012, K3 Retail’s plans and details of our early wins with retailers.

As digital retailing evolves, it is quickly morphing into something so different that it requires a new name: Omnichannel retailing. The name reflects the fact that retailers will be able to interact with customers through countless channels—websites, physical stores, kiosks, direct mail and catalogues, call centres, social media, mobile devices, gaming consoles, televisions, networked appliances, home services and more. Retailers must bear in mind that consumers don't think in terms of channels but brands, the brand promise has to be consistent everywhere. Unless conventional merchants adopt an entirely new perspective - one that allows them to integrate disparate channels into a single, seamless, Omnichannel experience - they are likely to be swept away.

Improved search tools, access to user reviews, instant price comparisons, active social networks and more are fundamentally changing shopping. Computers, smartphones and tablets provide access to endless sources of information that help consumers decide what to buy and where to buy it. And retailers increasingly rely on evolving technologies such as integrated inventory software, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and quick response (QR) codes to better manage inventory and offer new services.

But technology alone is not innovation. Too many retailers are spending on technology without transforming the customer experience—buying iPads for their sales associates, for example, without a vision of how that will enable them to win in an omni-channel world. And the pace of change is increasing; retailers’ choices on how to deploy technology across channels and throughout their supply chains are becoming more complex.

Customers are out in front of this omni-channel revolution. By 2014 almost every mobile phone in the United States will be a smartphone connected to the internet, and an estimated 40% of Americans will use tablets such as the iPad. If you doubt whether consumers are ready for technology-driven retail solutions, find a “dumb” video display in any public location and look for fingerprints on the screen—evidence that people expected it to be an interactive touchscreen experience.

A successful omnichannel strategy should not only guarantee a retailer’s survival—no small matter in today’s environment. It should deliver the kind of revolution in customer expectations and experiences that comes along every 50 years or so. Retailers will find that the digital and physical arenas complement instead of compete with each other, thereby increasing sales and lowering costs. Ultimately, we are likely to see more new ideas being implemented as customers and employees propose innovations of their own. In today’s environment, information and ideas can flow freely and retailers that learn to take advantage of both will be well positioned for success.

IBM ran a great session about data – did you know, 90% of all global data was generated in the last two years and that 80% of all data is completely unstructured? One thing I found myself asking was – where does your business see itself in managing data? Is it historical, real-time or predictive and how relevant is the data you collect?
An intriguing survey grabbed my attention on the second day of the show; of 28,500 people from 15 different countries, 76% of the respondents said they would welcome more communication from retailers – this has got to come as a surprise to businesses. The survey also found that customers are willing to share information about themselves, with three quarters saying they would divulge media usage, 73% willing to tell demographic information and 61% fine with sharing identifying information such as a name and an address.

Consumers between the ages of 18 and 25 would rather shop in brick-and-mortar stores for clothing and shoes, according to a study, although two thirds said they head online to do product research and price comparisons first – a fact that has been evident almost since the beginning of ecommerce. So, whilst social media plays a role in brand awareness, 88% said they opt not to shop on Facebook or Twitter.

With the growing number of selling channels, product choices and unprecedented access to information, retailers are challenged to keep pace with changing consumer buying behaviours. The omni-channel retail environment is making it more difficult for companies to meet increasing service-level expectations while minimising inventory costs and maximising margins. Solving these challenges was a huge focus of many vendors in the Expo, and is certainly the focus of our core campaigns for 2012 as a leading Microsoft Dynamics AX for 2012 Retail partner which launches virtually on 1st February this year.

Tom Allason, founder of Shutl

1. What is the greatest opportunity for your business?
Becoming the delivery standard. I would like to see Shutl influencing consumer buying behavior globally with shoppers gravitating towards retailers that offer ‘shutl’ and away from those that don’t.

2. What is the biggest challenge to your business?
Integration with retailers because while the ROI for Shutl makes offering it a no-brainer commercially (increased customers, conversion and profits) the implementation is not simple. It involves integration with the web front-end, stock management systems, changes to store processes and particularly in the case of a large retailer it will cross many different areas of responsibility. Our challenge is getting through to the right person within a retailer who has the vision to understand the impact of the proposition on their customers and who also values the commercial benefits of this impact over the work that is required to implement Shutl properly. We usually find ourselves competing for space in a retailer’s development roadmap with a number of other projects which while not having the same impact on a retailer’s business are much simpler to implement.

3. With the benefit of hindsight what would you have done differently so far?
I’d have taken Shutl live much sooner - albeit with a far less refined product. In some ways we spent too much time ensuring that we went live with the best possible service. But had we come to market six months earlier - albeit with a far more basic product - we would have given ourselves another Christmas and we would be six months closer to world domination.

4. What is the future of the physical store?
As this market becomes even more competitive retailers are going to work even harder at satisfying shoppers’ needs as well as their shareholders demands. In my mind this means giving customers what they want when and where they want it, which will necessitate changes across all of a retailer’s business and not just their stores.  This means having all channels (web, store, phone, mobile, social etcetera) equally good at helping customers discover/buy/return products. For me this means physical stores will need to be much smarter (at knowing who customers are and where stock is) and also much leaner (selling more goods without buying more by being more efficient with distribution of stock). This will mean smaller stock positions in each store. Stores will also need to be more flexible at being able to fulfill a lot of the back office functions like fulfillment.

5. What will the high street look like in a decade?
Although the stores themselves will evolve rapidly in response to customers’ expectations increasing as a result of what the retail innovators are doing (expectations only go 1 way), the high-street will probably not change too much.  There will always be the experiential and social part of shopping that cannot be satisfied digitally.

6. Will mobile devices be the primary sales channel in the future?
I don’t think there will be a primary sales channel in the future. There will just be customers and retailers and different means of satisfying customer needs.

7. What other retail business do you admire?
Apple for transforming what people thought was possible through retail. John Lewis for establishing a culture and values that are meaningful and evident in everything they do. And also Amazon: for not being afraid of anything, putting retailers and manufacturers onto the back foot, and for forcing innovation.

8. If you hadn't been a retailer what would you have liked to do? [rather silly question for a non-retailer – ed]
Found a company that could enable immediate delivery of online purchases.

9. What marks out of 10 do you give yourself so far for achievement?
A 6. By most measures 2011 was a good year as we took our service live across multiple (very different) major retailers and established that our value proposition makes sense to shoppers, retailers, couriers and our shareholders. We have also demonstrated that our service can operate beyond London. However, we would have liked to have done all of the above much quicker. I think there is room for a 50+% improvement this year and so I’m aiming for 9+.

When on line retail began at the end of the 90s, predictions were that the high street would be deserted, but it isn’t. And even though stats say online shopping spend is growing faster than on the high street, the fact that the high street still exists is surely positive in itself. While the internet has become the obvious place for most people to order books and gadgets, most food and fashion shopping still takes place in-store, with customers preferring to see their goods before they buy.

The cost of running retail premises are continuing to increase, with Retailers spending £14.5 billion in rent every year and sadly, one in seven UK shops lies empty – and this is expected to rise in 2012. Online retail bears its own running costs, though minimal in comparison, but as ecommerce growth continues, stores may be forced to close in favour of this more financially viable option.

High street shopping has been pin-pointed as an important social activity, which can only be seen as positive. But the question still remains as to whether customers are now using stores merely as a means to browse their product before they purchase online or as a means of picking up or returning items. As a sole online store, Amazon released a US app last year which enabled the customer to scan in-store items to determine how much cheaper they could get the same product online – this may just be mirroring what the customer was already doing themselves.

Mary Portas’ recommendations to the government have highlighted some worthy points, but will they ultimately make a difference? Time will be the teller, and 2012 could be the turning point for retail as we know it today.

*Research house - Verdict

With a typical large retailer already running as many as 30 IT projects, working out what to add for the future is getting harder and harder. This is particularly true as the embattled sponsor has not just to keep existing systems going but has to work out the business case for technologies that might well be proven in terms of functionality, security and cost, but cannot demonstrate how well they will be received by end users.

Retailers in previous tough economies have looked to point solutions that they can adopt quickly and often without Capex approval, to fix a particularly tricky problem or to take advantage of a profitable business opportunity. While there is already evidence of this, particularly as technology can deliver benefits so much more quickly than it could in years past, there is also evidence that some retailers are using the current competitive environment to do a total systems replace.

Fortune favours the brave as all previous downturns have proved : those companies that invest and innovate, while of course managing their costs as far as possible, emerge more quickly from the downturn. And this includes those that recognise that when competitors retrench, this leaves the field open for grabbing market share.

IT vendors that recognise these dynamics become the trusted advisors that retailers depend on not only to manage whole systems replacements, but also work closely with them to get best advantage out of innovative technology.

The high street store as we know has already undergone dramatic changes, ever since the 50’s and the fast growth in car ownership and the redesign of town centres to accommodate them. Further change, in some cases decline, is inevitable in the next 3-5 years, and to keep up with the growth of multiple channels, chiefly the Internet, retailers need to shift from their current transactional model to more of an engagement model in order to appeal more directly to the consumer and offer a personalised experience. If retailers expect their customers to come to the store, they need to give them a good reason to do so.

An array of technologies can support this, starting off with mobile apps, which can provide the customer with vast amounts of information they may require upon entering the store, helping to replicate the online experience. QR codes are also rising in prominence, and already feature on shop displays, allowing customers to scan codes with their smartphone to obtain more information on their selected product (or even access video previews). Consumers themselves are often starting their shopping journey in the social media, reviewing and recommending and retailers need to take account of that and take part in helpful, but non-intrusive ways.

For instance, virtual shopping baskets are being offered by more and more retailers - especially supermarkets - as they add convenience by allowing the customer to build a basket before entering the store. Additional GPS apps, to help users locate the items once entering the store, have also been implemented in many stores here in the UK. Click and collect is yet another mechanism designed to appeal to today’s smart and savvy customers and has been a huge success.

It is expected that the vast majority of this technology – and indeed, more constantly in development – will drive the store of the future, and shops need to operate in a multi channel world to keep pace with how retail has changed. Retailers have welcomed Mary Portas’ recommendations but the smart ones will not be sitting back waiting for Government, legislators, town halls and citizens to do it for them.

First of all, fcommerce was expected to be the ‘next big thing’ this year (a prediction made in 2010) but this hasn’t quite materialised. ASOS for one noted that it was disappointed with sales on Facebook.

We believe that this is simply a matter of reality needing to catch up with the hype and clearly Fcommerce will take off, because it is an ideal forum for retailers to get closer to their customers and vice versa. However, some retailers have already been criticised for the way they have gone about it, selling aggressively into the Facebook community and prompting negative feedback from customers.

Retailers should of course take advantage of what Facebook does well, which is using it to reach the widest range of consumers by going where their customers are congregating, but the manner of the engagement is critical.

On the positive side, Facebook users share information with each other via the site, in effect becoming brand advocates and marketing the brand to their friends (as a result of ‘liking’ their page or adding a link to a specific product). This works already for iconic brands with huge fan communities, but not necessarily for retailers who want to make a direct sales pitch.

For these retailers, the approach has to be quite different. Fcommerce must not simply duplicate the ecommerce experience. For instance, Facebook is ideal for trialling new or exclusive products in order to obtain feedback before a wider release of the product; no sales pitch as such but a request for feedback. In this way, customers are involved and given a measure of influence without being made an offer.

Ultimately, consumers will decide, after all, as it should be remembered, Facebook is their channel and any attempt by retailers to hijack for their own purposes is doomed to fail. Fcommerce will take off when and if consumers decide they’d prefer to buy from Facebook than from the brand direct. The trick is to continue to optimise both channels, but to respect their differences. Consistency in brand presentation is key and over time, a way to identify the same customer operating through both channels will be important, but for now sensitivity to the way Facebook operates is the best approach.

1. What is the greatest opportunity for your business?

CRM, and the continuing journey towards being a truly integrated cross channel retailer.  White Stuff now has the technology to create a single view of our customers across all channels, and this will enable all our channels to deliver even better, more relevant and personal customer experience s and communications to our lovely customers.

2. What is the biggest challenge to your business?

Too much to do, and never enough time to do it all!  At the same time, the economy and consumer confidence is slowing growth down so existing resources get a little more stretched. But we have great people who really want to be different, make a difference and make the world a little happier!

3. With the benefit of hindsight what would you have done differently so far?

I would have liked to have accelerated and developed our International web proposition sooner so we could have built a bigger international customer database and be selling more overseas online by now.

4. What is the future of the physical store?

A happy one! Shops are the major element in our cross channel strategy and are very much the physical representation of our brand and they consistently deliver a really super shopping experience. We have 80 shops and plan to open more in key UK customer locations. We are also just opening our first two International shops in Northern Europe. With our ‘4 new ways to shop’ we expect more existing and new customers to browse and research online but buy in-store, or choose the new Click and Collect option in addition to buying online or via the phone. I can see the leading pure plays opening shops or having a physical retail brand presence in the future too.

5. What will the high street look like in a decade?

White Stuff is all about ‘local shops for local people’ and we love to be an integral part of our local community, and deliver remarkable personal shopping experiences and service.  I think the high street will need to create more retail theatre and brand  ‘showcases’  to deliver exciting, original, differentiated and entertaining customer experiences. The key malls will be the major regional or national shopping ‘entertainment and leisure destinations’ for groups and crowds to gather on a grand scale and be fully wired to exploit all the new potential with emerging mobile and social technology, tools and media.

6. Will mobile devices be the primary sales channel in the future?

I can see shop staff using mobile devices and social commerce more as part of the in-store brand and customer experience.  Another benefit of mobile devices in shops will be to gather retail customer opinions and feedback to enhance user-generated content on the web and via social networks.

7. What other retail business do you admire?

I admire ASOS, Net- a-Porter and Zappos for making a step change in creating new customer shopping experiences, service, choice and delivery over the last decade. I also love the retail ‘theatre’, entertainment, sheer scale and brand choice of shopping in Harrods, and the consistently good service and value at John Lewis.

8. What marks out of 10 do you give yourself so far for achievement?

You should ask my team that one as I always want to do more, faster, quicker, and my ‘to do’ list is never completed! There’s always so much to do, and loads of new stuff – it could never be a perfect score. It’s a bit like painting the Golden Gate Bridge – just as you think you’re reaching the end, there’s a new bit to start over again, and you never finish it.  (However, if pushed, I’d be happy to say probably 9/10 for fun and working with great people along the way).

9. Who would you place in the Top 30 Multi-channel/e-commerce Movers & Shakers?

The Top 30 features the great and the good of the industry! It’s inspiring to see so many of the names I respect and admire so much like Nick Robertson, Natalie Massenet, Scott Weavers-Wright, Robin Terrell, Laura Wade-Gery, Peter Fitzgerald, Clare Gilmartin, Miriam Lahage up there with the best!

10. If you hadn't been a retailer what would you have liked to do?

I originally wanted to be a vet, but knowing what I know now, I think I’d liked to have been a business psychologist!

The high street store of the future will have to keep pace with on line by implementing the latest technologies as a way of enticing consumers back in-store, not just so they buy there and then but so they continue the positive experience they have of the retailer that they have almost certainly started elsewhere, on the retailer’s web site or through social media. And the store will have to replicate and complement the value added services available to online customers.

Entrepreneur Theo Paphitis is more than willing to embrace the changing retail dynamic – which he described in a recent interview as the ‘fastest in living history’ – and is incorporating a great deal of technology for use in his latest venture, a lingerie brand that trades both online and on the high street.

To keep up with the sophisticated online world, the ‘Dragon’ has implemented a large computer screen featuring the brand’s website as its main window display, along with finely tuned video cameras throughout the store that enable him to oversee his operation at all times – to the point where he can read the labels off the clothes and see if they are on the right rack!

With this, and other Business Intelligence technology now available, retail entrepreneurs such as Paphitis can now manage promotions, alter point-of-sale screens, and even change the lighting, all from the luxury of their head office. By being able to respond ‘live’ to purchasing trends and having the ability to alter promotions during the day, the overall experience becomes much smarter and more customer-oriented.

All of this is vital to ensure consistent footfall in-store as ecommerce becomes increasingly popular and successful. Whilst other drivers can also be advantageous to stores – such as the addition of a click and collect service, for instance – it’s the incorporation of online tools into the shop floor environment, allowing for more intuitive and detailed analysis of what the customer is seeking, that will truly make the difference.