Mega cities in emerging markets, ubiquitous internet, emerging middle class and individualization, digitization and automation of business would be the main trends that shape the consumer world in 2030, Dayan Jayasuriya- Engagement Manager, McKinsey & Company said.
Noting that consumer trends already impact retailers’ supply chains and operations across many areas, he said leading consumer players are working on seven operations themes to address challenges and opportunities from evolving trends, which include reshaping operations to adapt to customer needs , leveraging industry 4.0 to boost operations performance while pursing new optimization approaches .
Jayasuriya noted, “There is a wide range of digital solutions in retail operations that are already live today, which includes demand planning, order management, inventory management , front- end customer services, warehouse management, transport management , Omni channel fulfillment , robotics and seamless checkouts,” Jayasuriya told the Sri Lanka Retail Forum 2019, held in Colombo last week.
“Today consumer trend is more towards integrated shopping experience. It’s a complete eco system of experiential retailing .This obviously needs very large deployment of technology as well,” Murali Prakash Chairman, Sri Lanka Retail Forum said.
Sarinda Unamboowe- CEO and Managing Director, MAS Kreeda speaking at the event said there is a huge opportunity for Sri Lanka to cpaitalise on its growing mobile and internet usage and grow its retail industry.
He notes, “If we really look at how the world is changing, there is a lot more personalization of products. Today it’s all about aligning your retail thinking internally and introducing a seamless cultural integration within the external and internal customer.”
“And also, big malls or retail spaces are not going away. It’s just that they are not growing as fast as others. E-commerce is catching up, but it hasn’t surpassed that .Today, malls have become places of experience rather than just pure shopping.”
0 comments: