#CiscoChat Explores Mobile Data as the New Currency for Today’s Retailers

The Internet of Everything (IoE) is driving remarkable change and opportunities across nearly all industries. But few are as visible — and rapid — as the upheavals affecting retail. Today, retailers aren’t just competing with the store across the parking lot. Industry leaders face an expanding universe of mobile and virtual shopping possibilities vying for the attention of their customers.

Recent Cisco retail research shows that mobile commerce grew forty-seven percent in 2014 (Q2), far out-pacing e-commerce (ten percent) and total retail overall (three percent). And it’s not surprising, with nearly every customer using a mobile device of one type or another. Today, eighty percent of shoppers are now classified as “digital.”

Mobile devices — and rapidly evolving customer behaviors — are driving expectations for more fully optimized digital shopping experience s, in store and out. Yet traditional retailers have an exciting opportunity to meet this demand by offering hyper-relevant customer experiences that drive savings, efficiency, and engagement. In merging the best attributes of the physical store with the online experience, brick-and-mortar retailers can drive their own industry disruption.

With IoE-enabled experiences, traditional retailers can create a new dimension in shopping, offering customers a new world of possibilities as they stroll the aisles, devices and apps in hand. In the new reality of the Internet of Everything, retailers must constantly seek creative ways to leverage the power of mobility and mobile technology to engage with customers. In doing so, they can capture new wallet share and cement customer loyalty as they “know” their customers as never before.

Today, mobile data is the new currency for retailers. Retailers must know where customers shop, how long they shop there, and why they shop there, along with customers’ likes, dislikes, and shopping histories. Beyond customer experience, data is critical for development, staffing, and other operations.

During an upcoming #CiscoChat (Postponed. Stay tuned for more details for the new date and time), we invite you to connect with retail experts, strategy leaders, customers and brand leaders to discuss the critical relationship between the digital shopping experience and mobile technology — and how retailers can use it to stay competitive.

The opportunity for retailers is enormous. The Internet of Everything has a total Value at Stake of $19 trillion and, for a fictional $20 billion retailer, implementing IoE concepts can create an annual Value at Stake opportunity of $312 million. This represents a $219 million net margin increase. Understanding how data and mobility work to provide hyper-relevant shopping experiences, how IoE is changing retail and foreseeing the challenges that come with securing data and purchases on mobile devices is simply smart business. And one retailers can’t afford to ignore.

Join the discussion using hashtag #CiscoChat (Postponed. Stay tuned for more details for the new date and time).