WE’RE ENTERING AN era when it will seem increasingly nonsensical to talk about cross-channel retail. Look even two decades down the road and there will be a generation of digital natives who take mobile shopping for granted because they’ve always been able to do it, even if they can just about remember an era when you couldn’t pay via mobile.
The fact they’ll be occupying the same world as consumers who can still remember using pounds, shillings and pence is a measure of how far we’ve come. But as we’ve seen in this report, that doesn’t mean we’ve already arrived at an era where omnichannel retail is the norm. Far from it.
Instead, our research offers up a picture of an industry undergoing profound change. Although larger retailers that have been able to put money and time into developing cross-channel strategies and mobile offerings have made great progress, other companies have done less well.
So looking ahead, will first-mover advantage prove crucial in determining which retailers are leaders in the omnichannel world that lies just around the corner? Perhaps, but here’s one final thought. Just as with the fixed web before, technologies associated with mobile and cross-channel retail are coming down in price. This enables smaller retailers to buy technology once available only on a bespoke basis off the shelf. Big retailers may have made the running in the Mobile and Cross-channel Dimension, but that’s no guarantee these companies will continue to be leaders.
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