IDC Retail Insights: Top 10 Predictions for Global Retail

The need for digital transformation, more integrated IT and operations, business security, and rethinking the future of work are among the themes that dominate IDC Retail Insight’s top 10 predictions for worldwide retail 2017.



While the predictions largely focus on the near- to mid-term (2017–2020), the impact, in some instances, will be felt for years to come, according to IDC. Most of the predictions refer to a continuum of change within the wider ecosystem of the retail industry and global economy.



Below are IDC’s top 10 predictions:



1. By 2019, digital transformation Investments will triple, drawing funds away from store capital and profoundly changing the retail industry;



2. In 2017, no less than 40% of new retail applications purchased will be deployed in the cloud to speed and secure business objectives.



3. By 2018, 30% of major retailers will adopt an omnichannel digital B2B2C commerce platform, improving customer experience, process efficiency, and inventory management;



4. A surge in cybersecurity breaches will result in a 20% escalation of spending on managed services by 2018;



5. Retail mobile enablement will triple mobile investments in 2017 and double spending on wireless infrastructure through 2019;



6. Intelligent assistants will become a must-have app in 2017 and support shoppers' "jobs to be done" in context-aware omnichannel conversations by 2018;



7. By 2019, robotics and IoT technologies will increase in-store, in-warehouse, and in-distribution center productivity by 1.5x for early adopting retailers and by 3x for later adopters;



8. By 2019, 20% of major retailers will use augmented reality to enrich the product selection experience and convert shoppers to buyers three times faster



9. By 2018, retailers will pursue alternatives for secure networks that protect data and eliminate or lower fees; and



10. By 2019, artificial intelligence will change how 25% of merchants, marketers, planners and operators work, improving productivity by 30% and key performance indicators by 10–20%.



"Retailers must recognize and drive digital transformation,” said Leslie Hand, VP, IDC Retail Insights. “Retailers dealing with legacy, disconnected, and siloed systems have latencies and speeds that cannot support modern commerce, nor do most of the legacy systems allow retailers to quickly launch the types of services that customers today are expecting. At a time when customer expectations are rising and customers are more digitally fluent and digitally equipped than ever before, customers are expecting that their shopping experience will be easy, convenient, frictionless, and available anytime everywhere."