By Guy Courtin - Vice President Industry & Solution Strategy, Retail and Fashion at Infor Retail

Abandon all hope, all ye who enter stores. Consumers are taking their shopping online, and there’s no turning back. Or is there?

For all the hype and horror-stories concerning retail’s physical demise, data shows that only about 10% of all U.S. transactions came through e-commerce in 2018. While it still accounts for just a small portion of all retail sales, e-commerce continues to grow at a steady rate of about 8% per quarter. Bottom line, physical stores still have a prominent role for retailers and will continue to do so for a long time.

Did last year's Black Friday mark the last "traditional holiday rush" as we know it? It just could be and the reason is that retailers of all sizes can see the writing on the wall, as technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT) fundamentally change customers’ approach to the traditional shopping experience.

This article from Entrepreneur will provide some insight into digitization, AI and other emerging technologies. Is your business ready for the new technology?

The countdown is on! Three more days until #NRF2019. Visit with us at the Infor Retail at Booth #3647 and discover how to Leave Your Legacy with next-gen software. 

Is your omni-channel strategy killing employee morale?

After a year that saw unexpected innovations, disruptions, and new policies and tariffs, can we truly predict what’s ahead for the global supply chain in 2019? We’ll certainly try. In the final episode of 2018, Matt Gunn and Guy Courtin gaze into the crystal ball to gauge what the near future will bring to the world of supply chain, and whether businesses are better prepared to sense and respond to the many unexpected changes that happen each day.

What happens when the biggest names and the biggest brands in retail come together in one place? Watch these  highlights from 2018 and make sure to visit Infor and ICCG at NRF 2019 in Booth #3647 to learn more about how Infor is revolutionizing the retail industry with next generation solutions and how ICCG can provide the critical implementation strategy for Converged Commerce, Customer Experience, Demand Management, Dynamic Enterprise Performance Management, Enterprise Asset Management, Financials, Human Capital Management, Networked Order Management, Product Lifecycle Management, Retail Intelligence, and Supply Chain Management.

Retail’s Big Show promises attendees the opportunity to network with the best including nearly 40,000 retailers, vendors, and industry experts.

Independent Computer Consulting Group (ICCG), a Global Information Technology Solutions Provider for the Enterprise today announced that it will join Infor as a co-sponsor at NRF 2019, retail’s big show, January 13-15 in New York City.

ICCG, a Global Alliance Partner for Infor is focused on the Fashion and Apparel and Retail vertical. Consultants will be available to discuss Infor Retail’s next generation enterprise software suite, and how retailers and fashion brands can have the toolkit to transform. These tools leverage the power of science, design thinking, the supercomputing capabilities of the cloud, machine learning, and AI, and will usher our partners, customers, and today’s consumers into the future of retail.

Every retailer is facing a similar challenge. If you are a retailer and constantly feel the pinch from online giants like Amazon and Google, you have an opportunity to gain back control and competitive advantage with more personalized products and services, building that intimate relationship that these giants simply cannot provide.

In a perfect world, functionality and ease of use would be the top criteria manufacturers use when deciding to purchase, replace, or upgrade their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. Unfortunately, in the real world, cost considerations rear their ugly head. Business leaders are concerned about the price of not only purchasing the solution, but also how much it will cost to implement, support, and maintain. Further, there is significant concern that an ERP implementation will cause significant disruption to the business, cause the organization to lose focus, or even “break” business processes that the company looked upon as core to their success.

Digital technology is changing the world, one industry at a time. With these changes comes a reimagining of the supply chain, from the systems businesses use to communicate and interact, to the strategies they deploy to move goods around the world.

Digitalization gives rise to new business models, in which real-time connectivity, greater visibility, reactivity, and anticipation become the underlying characteristics of our supply chains. But this kind of change isn’t easy, and transformation doesn’t happen overnight.

By taking a staged approach to digital transformation, and building greater connectivity across the supply chain, businesses can pave the way toward a fully connected future, while still being able to tackle the biggest challenges they face right now.