SMRs — Conquering Challenges With Mobility And The Cloud

By Leslie Hand, research director, IDC Retail Insights

New technologies are helping small retailers understand their businesses better and are leveling the playing field with the big retailers.

Retailers face a number of challenges. The U.S. economy continues to struggle, consumers have less disposable income, sales growth has been minimal, and there is more competition than ever before. Small to midsize retailers (SMRs) face these same challenges, yet they must be able to do more with less than their larger competitors. Last year we discussed how the Third Platform — social, mobile, cloud, and Big Data analytics — helps SMRs compete. This year, we will dive deeper into some of these opportunities to see how SMRs are able to leverage them to improve the customer experience, benefit LP, improve inventory control, better manage their workforce, become truly omni-channel, and grow their business in general. Knowing where to invest their limited resources can be the difference between successfully balancing retail operations or falling flat on their faces.