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How Retailers Can Compete: Customers, Supply Chains, Security and AI

Retailers can compete by aligning digital and store experiences, strengthening supply-chain visibility, supporting frontline workers and applying technology to defined operational needs.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
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Retailers compete by making shopping consistent across channels while improving supply-chain resilience, frontline work, security and sustainability. The case for that strategy is straightforward: consumers increasingly combine online and in-store shopping, while retailers face pressure from costs, disruption and changing expectations. Technology can help, but the useful question is whether it solves a specific operating problem—not whether it is fashionable.

Why competing now means joining up the shopping experience

Consumers want to shop on their own terms: they consult multiple sources before buying and expect personalization, easy checkout and fulfillment, free shipping, and the ability to move between channels. In IDC Retail Insights’ Consumer Sentiment Survey, 2024, conducted in July 2024 and reported by CIO, 77% of consumers said they buy through a mix of digital and physical shopping; 17% bought only online or only in physical stores. The figures are reported by CIO; the underlying survey’s sample, methodology and full geographic coverage are not established here.

That mix makes consistency a practical requirement. A shopper should not encounter conflicting prices, product descriptions or stock information when moving from a retailer’s website to a store. As Karen D. Schwartz, an IDC adjunct research advisor, puts it: “Meeting consumers where and when they want requires retailers to truly understand their data and ensure consistency across channels in terms of pricing, product descriptions, and availability.” (CIO analysis, November 14, 2024.)

Build resilience into supply chains and store operations

Retailers also need to manage uneven costs and supply disruptions without losing sight of demand. In the IDC Supply Chain Survey, 2024, from May 2024, nearly 40% of retailers reported supplier cost increases in the preceding year. About 30% reported each of supplier unpredictability or unreliability, transportation costs, and transportation delays. CIO reports these figures; the underlying study’s sample and geographic scope are not established here.

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The operational response described in the CIO analysis is to improve planning, warehouse and inventory management, and the connection between planning and execution. More agile, visible, automated and digitized supply chains can help retailers coordinate decisions across those functions. The aim is not automation for its own sake: it is better ability to respond to changing demand, supplier problems, returns, cost pressure and skills shortages.

Give employees tools that help them serve customers

Hiring and retention are connected to the work environment: employees care about values, culture, flexibility and whether they have usable technology to do their jobs. Mobile devices and wearables can support tasks such as scanning, mobile point of sale, clienteling, finding product information, and checking inventory or fulfillment data. The right tool depends on the retailer’s existing systems and workflows; a handheld barcode scanner may suit scanning work, but compatibility must be checked with the retailer’s own technology.

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Robotics is another option, but the cited number is a plan rather than a result. In IDC’s Global Retail Survey from July 2023, as reported by CIO, 36% of retailers planned to invest in robotics for guest and store services within the following 36 months. The article also identifies computer vision, electronic shelf labels and RFID among store technologies. These examples describe areas of interest, not proof that a particular deployment will reduce costs or improve service.

Connect security and loss prevention across the business

Ransomware, fraud and organized retail crime can affect retailers with distributed stores and complex supply chains. The CIO analysis describes combining physical and digital security teams and their data, and enriching shrink analysis, as ways to approach the problem. It also names secure access service edge (SASE) as part of a broader zero-trust strategy. These are approaches to consider, not a comparative assessment of security products or a guarantee of protection.

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When evaluating a security initiative, retailers should look at whether it connects the relevant fraud, shrink and security information and whether it fits the organization’s broader security strategy. A tool that leaves important teams or data isolated may fail to address the coordination problem the initiative is meant to solve.

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Make sustainability measurable across operations

Sustainability and circularity are not confined to packaging or a single reporting project. Retailers are embedding practices in reverse logistics, transportation, supplier management, inventory and order management, design and manufacturing. But those efforts depend on partners sharing usable information and on systems capable of exposing activity across the supply chain; legacy IT and limited visibility can stand in the way.

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CIO reports that nearly 80% of retailers considered sustainability and circularity very important or critical, based on IDC research from December 2023. The same article says fewer than 22% could report on Scope 3 requirements for their supply chains. These are reported IDC figures, not independently verified measurements, and the study’s sample and geographic coverage are not established here. The difference between stated priority and reporting capability highlights why visibility and partner data matter.

Use AI for defined retail problems—not as a blanket strategy

The November 2024 analysis describes potential uses for AI, voice, augmented and virtual reality, and robotics in search, personalization, content creation, data accuracy and customer service. It also points to possible AI applications in sourcing, fulfillment, hiring and threat detection. Those are use cases to assess individually; the article does not establish that a technology will deliver a particular result.

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One figure is explicitly a forecast: IDC’s FutureScape: Worldwide Retail 2024 Predictions, published in October 2023 and reported by CIO, projected that through 2027, 95% of retailers would test or invest in generative AI for product data, customer support and customer experience initiatives. This is a forecast, not a current adoption rate or a verified outcome.

A retailer assessing an AI project should start with the work to improve—such as product-data accuracy or customer support—and determine whether the necessary information and systems are available. The same discipline applies to other technologies: connect each proposal to channel consistency, supply-chain visibility, frontline support, integrated security data or another clearly defined need. The CIO analysis does not rank vendors or identify a winning product.

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