Unified Commerce is the Future of Retail

On this special episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast - Interview Series, host Daniel Newman welcomes Maria Morais, Global Industry Director - Consumer Industries at SAP to discuss retail and the shifting forces that are having an impact in the industry, including the technology behind it all.   Maria and I explored the trends that retail companies are watching and implementing as things return to normal in the post-pandemic era. The biggest trend is focusing on digital maturity. Companies that were already customer-centric, digitalizing processes across the organization have been able to embrace the unknowns brought about by COVID so much better than the companies who were stuck in the old way of thinking. We are living in an era where companies that embrace digitalization throughout all sides of business, not just customer-facing commerce, will be more efficient and better positioned for success.    Preparing for disruption. Maria shared how COVID-19 disrupted the retail industry and easily showed which companies were agile enough to handle the changes. Many larger companies were able to quickly adapt, but smaller companies struggled. This has to change. Companies, regardless of size, need to be prepared for disruption. Maria shared one great example of a small florist in London that started selling farm-to-table vegetable boxes during the quarantine shut down. This quick pivot allowed the company to stay afloat until lockdown restrictions were relaxed.   Unified commerce is the future. We discussed that omnichannel experiences are not customer-centric enough to be sustainable for the future. Unified commerce, which completely reimagines the way retail companies operate. It’s commerce everywhere. It’s bringing digital into every part of a brick and mortar location and empowering sales associates to better serve customers. It’s connecting every store and the website together no matter the location. Each retailer may be different and have different pain points, but the technology is the same.   Working toward sustainability. Lastly, Maria explored the demand for increased sustainability in retail. One of the main problems in retail is a lot of garments end up in landfills because it’s unclear what they are made of. How can you reuse something if you’re not sure what it is? Companies should work toward extending the product lifecycle through recycling initiatives and other business model changes. But this will take transparency in the supply chain. Some companies like L’Oreal and Nike are leaders in the space, but there is still room for growth.   If you’d like to learn how SAP is using technology to help retailers make these changes, be sure to check out their website. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast.   Disclaimer: This show is for information and entertainment purposes only. While we will discuss publicly traded companies on this show, the contents of this show should not be taken as investment advice.