Retailers Risk Being Left Behind in the Transformation Game

A recent article on “Digital Disruption” I came across featured a fascinating statistic from Google about our habitual smartphone use, which I found a little disturbing. From a cross sample of the UK population, 52% of us check our phones within five minutes of walking somewhere - even without being prompted by a notification.

That’s right, half of us don’t go anywhere without looking at our phones every few minutes. Is that still “disruption” anymore, or just how people are?

What it tells us about the way technology has become integral to our lives, apart from to maybe look up more often, is that consumers aren’t changing – they’ve already changed.

Consumers have been through the digital transition many retailers and brands are still struggling with and they are waiting for them to catch up.

But why do I say struggling with? Isn’t retail the fastest moving consumer industry?

Well, yes and no.



Every year, RR Donnelley commissions research into the way marketers plan and execute their communications strategies.

Most recently, we interviewed leading retailers from across the UK and Europe about how they are making the digital transition. We've detailed the findings in our report, 'From Retail to E-tail', which I'll tell you how to get very shortly.

One of the most startling findings from our research was that 40% of retailers admittedthey consider themselves to be “behind the curve” digitally. When you look at commentary around the retail industry, you soon see a disparate mix of misconceptions and contradictory, inconvenient truths which makes channel optimisation tricky to say the least.

To see the rest of this piece, just head over to my blog on the RR Donnelley website where we've inspected the findings from our research and what it means for retailers and brands.

There, you'll also be able to download the full 'Retail to E-tail' report for yourself.