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Retail disruptors as a whole were nimble. "Instead of "I think it's incredibly shortsighted to have no plans for
quick to fail, we like to call it quick to succeed," Martin smart mobile devices for your staff," Rosenblum said.
said. "Disruptors are leading the way, recognizing that be- "Whether it's their devices or yours, you've got to build
ing agile and trying things very quickly, versus multiyear the apps for them. And as the reader prices continue to
cumbersome implementation, has become a necessity." drop, RFID is going to do some very surprising things
Disruptors were more apt to react, especially as the cost for retailers. I believe that RFID will ultimately take away
of technology becomes more affordable in the midmarket the need for in-store physical inventories, and that's a big
and other segments as well. deal."

"You have small merchants, which eight or 10 years ago Industry analysts have noted that as mobile push offers
wouldn't have been able to compete at all with large mer- gain in popularity, strong opt-in features are a critical
chants and the pace of innovation," Fodor said. "The soft- ingredient, especially now that global brands must comply
ware tools that are available today have been miniatur- with the 'right-to-be-forgotten' mandate under the General
ized to be bite-sized and more consumable technology Data Protection Regulation in Europe, which went into
purchases for small merchants." He noted that First Data's effect on May 25, 2018.
Clover ecosystem, for example, offers about 300 merchant
apps. "Just like the Wi-Fi has a unique identifier, the cell radios
have a unique identifier," Rosenblum said. "From the first
Another observation was that as retailers grow, their ex- time that you enter an email address on that phone and
pectations change. Over the next three to five years cross- it gets associated with that radio, that's when they can
channel fulfillment is expected to drive customer traffic really start personalizing to you. A big watch out for every
for 83 percent of the largest retailers, compared with 20 disruptor and non-disruptor alike is to not be intrusive.
percent for merchants with less than $75 million in rev- You have to walk a very delicate line."
enues, RSR noted.
Think disruptive
Similarly, experiential offerings were prized by 63 percent An inherent component among most disruptors was the
of large merchants versus 30 percent of smaller merchants. lack of stagnation, particularly in high-turnover product
"Smaller retailers wouldn't exist if they didn't create some categories. "There's a real challenge around product
kind of experience," Rosenblum said. "As they get larger development at the moment, especially in apparel,
they become more fixated on improving the experience where you really want to do iterative kinds of designs,"
that they offer, because there tends to be more of a sea of Rosenblum noted. "My takeaway is that non-disruptors
sameness if they don't do that." are those who are more set in their ways and are less likely
to have plans for more advanced technologies."
More evenly matched were merchant expectations that
loyalty programs, interactive technology and personal- But that doesn't have to be the case. "Technology is going
ized marketing would drive store traffic in the future. to be where you differentiate yourself either through the
Solve issues, drive sales customer experience and customer-facing technologies or
internally through efficiencies that you're going to gain
Disruptors more than non-disruptors tend to invest in through internal forecasting and different sources of
technology to solve real issues, rather than purely for the transportation or supply chain, speed to market," Martin
sake of innovation, and technology doesn't have to be per- said.
fect.
She added that it's not a question of size, but a question of
As one CIO in the RSR report stated, "Innovation for the vision and being able to execute. "Looking for scalability
sake of innovation is very unhealthy. If you're driving just and getting on the technology curve is going to be a
to create change all you're doing is spending resources differentiator for them," Martin said. "Technology has
that could be used in a much better way. So you need to become the price of admission for retailers."
always be thinking, 'What problem are we trying to solve
and how are we trying to make something – something Moving forward, the same strategies that have propelled
very particular – easier.'" disruptors can be applied to retail in general. Merchants
will stand to benefit by being open to transforming store
RSR discovered a substantial number of non-disruptors models to enhance the guest experience, embracing
had no plans to implement business enabling technologies, technology to solve real issues, and balancing human
with the sharpest divide in six categories: smart mobile intelligence with data intelligence to reach critical
devices for in-store staff, radio frequency identification decisions.
(RFID), personalized mobile push offers in-store, integra-
tion of Internet of Things devices and data, and in-store Ann Train is a Senior Staff Writer at The Green Sheet. She can be
clienteling (a data-based method of establishing long-term reached by email at annt@greensheet.com.
relationships with key customers) and augmented reality.

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