What does the growth of ecommerce mean for retail?

Growth is great. Or is it?

Retailers across the board are now under more pressure than ever to stay ahead of competitors, deliver an excellent customer experience and adapt to ever-changing customer demands.

These expectations have intensified in recent years due to the growth of ecommerce; a mammoth wave of disruption that has rewritten the retailer’s rulebook and what it means to sell products to the public and other businesses.

The pace of change has been relentless and high street retailers, as well as those with a physical presence, have been forced into reassessing whether ecommerce is an extinction threat or whether it’s a saviour brought about by the digital age. Since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, for many retailers this decision was made for them. Irrespective of strategic plans or customer buying habits, retailers had to move online.

Many retailers scrambled to rewire their operations from top to bottom. Others expanded their existing ecommerce capabilities to ensure that when brighter days finally returned, irreversible store cannibalisation hadn’t occurred.

As is often the case with systemic change, this entire experience has meant that many retailers have now successfully entered the omni-channel era.

The key question is what happens next?

If ecommerce continues growing at its impressive rate – globally, this is expected to reach $4.2 trillion – where does this leave retailers who have nationwide store estates supported by online fulfilment capabilities?

What do customers actually want from their favourite brands, and how can retailers stay sharp, ready to adapt to a seemingly never-ending wave of change?

This eBook dives into that topic and explores an easy-to-implement approach that can provide retailers with everything they need to thrive.