[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/01\/17\/nrf-2017-retail-trends\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/01\/17\/nrf-2017-retail-trends\/","headline":"Retailers can make the most of the one resource that really matters","name":"Retailers can make the most of the one resource that really matters","description":"It\u2019s all change in retail. The one phrase on everyone\u2019s lips at NRF\u2019s Big Show 2017 in New York, from the innovation demos to the keynotes, is that retail will change more in the next five years than it has in the last 50. But for an industry that employs about 10% of the US […]","datePublished":"2017-01-17","dateModified":"2021-12-05","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/jack-dyson\/#Person","name":"Jack Dyson","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/jack-dyson\/","identifier":152,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d3b4b398e8aea3b7b406b7f646a735eb4ec2827c327fa6570e9ce500329a73a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0d3b4b398e8aea3b7b406b7f646a735eb4ec2827c327fa6570e9ce500329a73a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/thumbnail-0eaa3afd9295b14e3e65c65168850334.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/thumbnail-0eaa3afd9295b14e3e65c65168850334.jpeg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/01\/17\/nrf-2017-retail-trends\/","about":["Retail Trends, Data, News",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/trends-commerce\/","name":"Trends","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fad","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q787045"]}],"wordCount":941,"keywords":["2017 Trends","NRF | National Retail Federation","Retail"],"articleBody":"It\u2019s all change in retail. The one phrase on everyone\u2019s lips at NRF\u2019s Big Show 2017 in New York, from the innovation demos to the keynotes, is that retail will change more in the next five years than it has in the last 50.But for an industry that employs about 10% of the US workforce, that big change carries a big responsibility. And it means a change in the roles people play in commerce and retail, according to themes that emerged at NRF 2017. Of course there needs to be investment in technology, but this needs to be matched by an investment in people from non-traditional backgrounds, with skill-sets that haven\u2019t always been associated with the shop floor.One simple reason for this is that the store visit is now right at the end of the customer journey. Often a consumer will have already decided what they want before they even set foot on the premises \u2013 looking up price comparisons on line, seeing what friends have bought and what they think of things \u2013 so meeting this new, informed consumer and creating a seamless conversion is critical.\u201c[As a retailer] you\u2019re only as good as your last transaction,\u201d says Greg Foran, President and CEO of Walmart. \u201cAnd now we run an \u2018omni\u2019 business so customers can shop whenever and however they want. You can see people in our stores pull out their phones and make transactions online \u2013 ordering and getting things delivered to their home.\u201dWhere customers now have the power and can choose how and when they want to purchase, the onus is on the store owner to make that experience so enjoyable and easy that the customer comes back. \u201cWe\u2019re all trying to create a sticky relationship with the customer that says, \u2018Hey, I want you to come back and do business with me,\u2019 because we\u2019ve given them something or done something with them,\u201d says Foran. And to do that well, to make it truly personal, \u201cyou\u2019re totally reliant on the associates within your business.”For Wal-Mart, angling to meet this change means a combination of entry-level programs and academies to give their people the right skills, plus investing in retention and technology, so that associates on the floor have the tools, the confidence and the skills to complete their jobs quicker.Training staff in the right tech \u2013 and keeping them \u2013 is a big focus for Terry Lundgren, President and CEO of Macy\u2019s. Last year it trained 600 technologists on how cloud can be used to satisfy demand in peak periods, and the company\u2019s leadership institute ensures that training doesn\u2019t stop after year one, but continues into people\u2019s careers. But how to attract the right talent? After all, retail isn\u2019t the sort of thing you\u2019d think STEM students would aim for early in their education.\u201cTwo years ago we didn\u2019t have a team focused on data analytics,\u201d says Lundgren. \u201cBut now we do. We\u2019re looking at how to influence and understand consumer behavior, increasing propensity to purchase in store.\u201d But what about recruitment? His answer is: careful investment. \u201cWe\u2019ve selected a relatively small number of universities that we target, and then spend a lot of time on those campuses.\u201dWhat\u2019s interesting to Lundren is that while there\u2019s a need to recruit technologists, \u201cyou\u2019re never going to stop needing a merchant\u2019s skills. You still need to know how to sell, how to ask for the right things for your customer. It\u2019s part instinct, but also something that can be learned.\u201dJames Rhee, Executive Chairman and CEO of Ashley Stewart, seems to come at it from another direction. Privately owned, Ashley Stewart sells clothes for plus-size women, but when he came to it, he saw that clothes weren\u2019t what makes his \u00a0brand successful \u2013 it\u2019s how people feel. \u201cAt its best, the brand made women have very high esteem. It\u2019s tied to church and community. So how to bring this into a corporate culture that had lost sight of loyalty and friendship?\u201dThe answer: focus on the internal culture to transform both the business and its employee base. Rather than give sales figures as KPIs, he put happiness and community at the core.\u201cThe minute our employees felt safe, we became a leader in innovation. Until there\u2019s trust, none of it matters,” Rhee says. And this sense of loyalty carries over to the customers. He\u2019s happy for customers to shop elsewhere, because with their loyalty as a given, Ashley Stewart creates an ecosystem where the shopper can find the best deal possible.\u201cAnd the way you measure that is by building a marketplace,” he adds. “Because our customers trust us, we can talk to them about movies and lifestyle too\u2026so for our business model we took the relationships and the loyalty and friendship and used them as pillars to support the business while we rebuilt it.\u201dIn building loyalty, says Rhee, transparency is key. \u201cAs a big company, you can\u2019t hide any more. Customers ask: \u2018Do you embody the values we agree with? Where do you get stuff from? Is it responsibly sourced?\u2019 Consumers make judgements based on that. It runs on oxymorons of course, because they expect competitive prices too.\u201dThis tension between product, pricing and sourcing is an unavoidable fact in retail. \u201cEvery day in the company I stress values. When you have good values you attract great people. Both as candidates and with customers.\u201d  What happens in Vegas …\u00a0creates connections + drives results.Join hundreds of customer experience experts at CX Connect Oct. 6-8. Register\u00a0HERE.\u00a0"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2017","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"01","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/\/01\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"17","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/\/01\/\/17\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Retailers can make the most of the one resource that really matters","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2017\/01\/17\/nrf-2017-retail-trends\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]