Episode 14 - Has Covid Increased the Divide Between Retailers

IAOP PULSEcast

The Covid-19 outbreak is first and foremost a health crisis that has impacted the lives of tens of millions across the globe. However, it has also had a growing and lasting impact on the global economy. The world that emerges post the battle may look very different from the one we lived in before the pandemic began, and will shape our world for years to come. This has certainly reshaped the sentiments of the end consumers towards shopping and their purchasing behavior in general. The retailers of today’s pandemic have been compelled to analyze the sentiment shift and re-draw/broaden their business strategies and technology interventions in order to revive and enhance the experiential value of the end consumers.

But those retailers who were able to understand the economic/ consumer behavior in advance to the pandemic, invested heavily in innovative technological solutions to overcome the crisis. They were not only able to stop any disruption to their business growth but also saw significant positive traction. Does this indicate that today’s retail CIOs should realign their ‘Must Have’ priorities to 1) embracing innovation and 2) staying competitive with technology up-gradation? Should this prioritization be seen as an increased budget spend for technology refresh?

This panel of experts discusses this obvious exemplification between active vs passive retailers in technology investment and how IT services and product organizations can transform their suite of offerings to be in line with increased client investment.

Featuring:

• Jamie Head, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Ocean Spray
• Vijay Verma, Executive Vice President, HCL America Inc.
• Kyle Andrews, VP/Founding Partner, Pretium Partners