Technology To Disrupt, Revitalize Retail, Says Fung Business Intelligence Centre Report

For Immediate Release

TECHNOLOGY TO DISRUPT, REVITALIZE RETAIL, SAYS FUNG BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE CENTRE REPORT Sensors, apps, cloud storage and more can create competitive advantages for retailers, says Executive Director Deborah Weinswig

NEW YORK (April 1, 2015) – “The marriage of retail and technology is rapidly changing the retail landscape and providing a plethora of new opportunities for brands, retailers and consumers. Consumer choices that were unimaginable ten years ago are now at our fingertips,” according to

Retail in the New Connected World, the first in The Disruptors Series of special reports to be issued throughout the year by Fung Business Intelligence Centre Global Retail & Technology (FBIC).

 

Advances in technology are creating an environment where people are constantly connected online, creating new ways for retailers to interact with their shoppers, says Deborah Weinswig, Executive Director-Head of Global Retail & Technology, FBIC.

 

“These emerging technologies have the potential to disrupt retail, placing new pressures on stores to produce a seamless, omnichannel (anytime/anywhere) shopping experience for consumers, and providing new business models for retailers,” Weinswig says in the report.

 

Some of the newer technologies dramatically influencing shopper behavior and experience include smartphone sensors, microelectromechanical systems (MEMs), mobile apps, cloud computing and beacons.

 

“Each of these disruptors will have a different effect on consumer behavior and consumer interaction with retailers,” Weinswig says. “This first report is an overview of these technologies and what retailers can do to adapt to these changes and adopt disruptor technologies.”

 

These disruptive technologies create challenges for retailers: the technologies are still evolving, and their implementation requires embracing new business models. There are also challenges to adoption that retailers must consider, including privacy and security concerns on the part of shoppers,” the report says. “Overcoming these obstacles will take time, but retailers that do not master new technologies will be victims of disruption rather than the disruptors.”

 

The store of the future will incorporate these new technologies to improve the collection and analysis of consumer data, resulting in a more informed customer and more empowered associates.

 

To read The Disruptors Series, visit www.fbicgroup.com or www.deborahweinswig.com

 

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ABOUT US

 

The Fung Business Intelligence Centre (FBIC) collects and analyses market data on sourcing, supply chains, distribution and retail. It also provides thought leadership on technology and other key issues shaping their future.

 

Headquartered in Hong Kong, FBIC leverages unique relationships and information networks to track and report on trends and developments in China and other Asian countries. In addition, its New York-based Global Retail & Technology research team follows broader retail and technology trends, specializing in how they intersect and building collaborative knowledge communities around the revolution occurring worldwide at the retail interface.

 

Since its establishment in 2000, the FBIC (formerly known as the Li & Fung Research Centre) has served as the knowledge bank and think tank for the Fung Group. Through regular research reports and other publications, it makes its market data, impartial analysis and expertise available to businesses, scholars and governments around the world. It also provides advice and

consultancy services to colleagues and business partners of the Fung Group on
issues related to doing business in China, ranging from market entry and company structure, to tax, licensing and other regulatory matters.

 

CONTACT:   Debra Hazel

Debra Hazel Communications

718-634-4300 debra@debrahazelcommunications.com

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