Who's Stealing Your Customers?

Your biggest competitor is no longer the obvious one.

 

 

BY DREW HENDRICKS

 

Contributor, Inc.com@DrewAHendricks

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IMAGE: Getty Images

 

 

It doesn't matter if you're a telco, bank or retailer--Apple, Google and Microsoft could well be your biggest threat. Yes, they may well have been the organizations that helped you grow and expand in the first place. But, while you used them as a new revenue channel, they saw you as an unbelievable source of customer data. Now, they own your customer data, which they are using to reinforce their relationship with your customers.

This is only the start. As artificially intelligent, natural language interfaces like Google Now, Apple's Siri and Microsoft's Cortana get smarter and increasingly become the interface of choice for your customers, the relationship with your customers will migrate into the hands of the big tech giants. Further, these new speech-enabled interfaces present yet another way to learn about what your customers prefer, what they are looking for and what's happening in their life.

So how have they been doing this? Since Google first launched Google Now in 2012, it has worked relentlessly to make its digital assistant smarter and the next step in its evolution - Google calls it Now on Tap - will be to provide users with contextually aware information based on what they're doing within your apps. Apple is also not standing still and is working to build AI and strong contextually aware capabilities into Siri with iOS 9's Proactive that will also enable deep linking into your apps to surface content from 3rd party apps.

If you don't believe the effect of this migration of customer loyalty, look no further than the telco sector. Not so long ago, telcos owned the customer relationship, but as smartphones took off it was the tech providers that had the opportunity to start collecting the business critical interaction data, relegating telcos to do little more than monitoring usage. Now, telcos are left battling each other over airtime contracts rather than benefiting from the opportunities that come from truly owning the customer relationship.

Next on the hit list are the banks and with the launch of products such as Apple Pay, tech providers are again leveraging their strengthening position of trust with customers. If the financial sector doesn't respond soon, as with telcos, the customer relationship will migrate to the tech providers and banks will be consigned to simply providing the backend financial processes.

Retailers are also feeling the squeeze from the likes of Amazon. If Amazon Echo takes off, it has the potential to become a new disruptive technology for retailing, particularly when combined with Amazon's low cost, high volume markets with its own brand of goods, AmazonBasics. And you don't need to look very far to see where the data came from to deliver just what the customer wants.

So where is the next battle line currently being drawn? It's no secret that companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft, plus key customer facing brands including Amazon and Facebook, are all investing heavily in natural language. Not just because it's a differentiator or that wearable devices are becoming too small to touch easily and therefore need a voice interface; the answer is much simpler--more data.

They've realized that the information people provide when speaking naturally to technology provides them with a wealth of information that they could only dream of before. Think of a focus group and multiply it by a million and you get some idea of the insight into customer behavior that this type of technology can provide.

And, applying a little intelligence to this insight suddenly reveals massive marketing opportunities. For example, asking an app to turn down the heating for two weeks might result in a spin-off sale on travel insurance. Choosing a new route on a fitness app could lead to a subscription offer to join a private gym. Indeed, seemingly unrelated actions suddenly become purchasing opportunities. But only if you have the capability to be a part of the conversation, and only if you invest in the processes that are already available to interact with third party partners.

Of course, the OS goliaths aren't about to suddenly make this kind of knowledge and access available any time soon. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon and other goliaths aren't going to make the customer insight that they derive from natural language apps available to all and they're not going to truly open up their natural language APIs to allow enterprises to differentiate themselves by building their own speech-enabled interfaces and apps.

The solution is for enterprises to provide the personalized natural language services that their customers are demanding themselves. Make your app compelling enough that customers want to download and use it, rendering the controller device as the conduit for data straight to your servers. Use natural language technology that you own and control to reconnect with disenfranchised customers and capture customer interactions so that you can learn what your customers are truly thinking.

"From digital employees and mobile personal assistants, to wearables and IoT interfaces, millions of people already are using Artificial Solutions' natural language technology to gain a deep understanding of each and every one of their customers to create an smarter, easier to use and more productive customer experience," said Lawrence Flynn, CEO of Artificial Solutions, the leading specialist in Natural Language Interaction (NLI). "Artificial Solutions just announced the availability of Teneo 4, the first complete platform to enable users to rapidly develop natural language applications that embrace artificial intelligence through the use of machine learning and implicit personalization," Flynn added.

The Internet has opened up competition from all angles. Who could have predicted, for example, that in only six years Airbnb would offer more hotel rooms than the largest hotel group without owning a single room themselves? You could dismiss this as an anomaly; just part of the internet revolution. Except that the next major shift in technology is already happening in the form of artificially intelligent natural language interfaces and apps. And this time, your biggest competitors are far more insidious.

Don't wait for the giants to disrupt your business further. Take back control of your customer conversations and own the data that will build your business in the future.

Amazon tests crowd-sourced delivery model

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015 | BY DAN BERTHIAUME

The online giant is launching an Uber-like program, called Flex, that uses on-demand independent contractors to deliver Amazon packages.  The service is now available only in Seattle (and only to members of Amazon’s Prime Now same-day delivery service), but the company  expects to  roll it out  to other cities where Prime Now is offered, including Manhattan, Baltimore, Miami, Dallas, and Chicago.

“There is a tremendous population of people who want to work in an on-demand fashion,” Dave Clark, Amazon senior VP of world-wide operations, told the Wall Street Journal. “This is another opportunity for people to work with the company.”

To qualify to deliver packages for Amazon, drivers must provide their own car, own an Android smartphone, and pass a background check. Amazon bills Flex as a way for workers to “be your boss” by setting the hours they want to work.

"You can work as much or as little as you want,” according to the Amazon site.

Grocery Shrink Ray Strikes Aldi Bread, Gillette Anti-Perspirant

By Laura Northrup September 29, 2015

The Grocery Shrink Ray quietly removes almost imperceptible bits of our packaged goods, graduallyshrinking some products over time so manufacturers can avoid raising prices. Once you’re aware of it, you begin to notice it every time you buy a slightly smaller replacement for a product that you use regularly. Two readers who bought bread and deodorant noticed exactly that.

Eric bought a new loaf of sourdough bread at discount grocer Aldi, and noticed that the new loaf was a tiny bit smaller than the previous one. 3/10 of an ounce doesn’t seem like a lot, but it would make a loaf of bread smaller. Even a less-fluffy bread like sourdough.

The interesting thing is that Aldi, based in Germany, apparently doesn’t think that Americans are too swift with our metric conversions: both versions of the loaf give the weight as 690 grams, while neither is true. 24 ounces is 680 grams.

Jason, meanwhile, may find himself a little sweatier in the future.

The deodorant on the right is a nice, even 4 ounces, while the item on the left has been shrunk to 3.8. The packages look to be the same size, so this is likely an example of nonfunctional slack fill: there’s just more empty space in the package.

Shipt CEO: Service differentiator in e-grocery space

Sep 29, 2015Jon Springer

What is in this article?:

• Shipt CEO: Service differentiator in e-grocery space
• Big box roots

“There’s been a lot of colossal failures in the grocery delivery business over the years and we don’t intend to be one of them, which is why we’re focused on a model with sustainability.”
— BILL SMITH, Shipt

As Bill Smith sees it, the e-commerce space for groceries still has plenty of room to grow. And the CEO of Birmingham, Ala.-based Shipt intends to stake out ground for a service-oriented, membership-based, on-demand grocery concierge.

Shipt, founded a year ago, this week is launching service in Charlotte, N.C. — the company’s eighth market and sixth state since making its first grocery deliveries in Birmingham this January. The company also operates in Nashville, Dallas, Tampa, Orlando, Miami and Atlanta, and appears to be prepping for a launch in Arizona, where the company is now soliciting personal shoppers on its website.

Unlike some counterparts in the concierge service — Instacart, for one — Shipt works independently of the stores in its delivery area, but tends to focus on a single store brand in each of its markets. Shipt offers customers delivery from Publix in all of its current market areas except for Dallas, where it shops Kroger.

In an interview with SN, Smith said Shipt’s long-term intention is to focus on one or two grocers per market. “You’ll see us support one organic grocer and one non-organic grocer.”

Shipt customers can receive their grocery orders in as little as one hour.

Photos courtesy of Shipt

Neither Publix nor Kroger have publicly endorsed an association with Shipt, although Smith said the company has “kept an open line of communication” with retailers. Moreover, he said, grocers have begun to inquire about partnering with Shipt, noting the service “is driving a tremendous amount of sales” to those stores. Smith declined to quantify that statement.

Officials of Publix and Kroger were not immediately available to comment on Shipt. While Publix several years ago tested, then shut down its own Internet shopping service, Kroger is testing a "click-and-collect" Internet shopping model in several markets. 

“What we know is that surveys find that a lot of customers who shop with Shipt were not shopping the stores that we support on a regular basis,” Smith said. “So its not just dollars walking into the store, but its new market share.”

Smith likened the approach to customer service at Shipt to that of Publix, saying that its commitment to satisfied customers has helped not to reflect poorly on stores when issues arise. “Our shoppers go through special training in customer service,” Smith said. “And if people see our social media and see how we do customer service, you’ll see. We believe in making things right for the customer.”

Customers who order through the Shipt app can receive their orders in as fast as one hour, Smith said, but the service comes at a price: membership at $99 a year, or $14 a month, is required, providing for unlimited free deliveries on orders of more than $35 (orders of less than $35 are subject to a $7 delivery fee). Shipt pays for the service by adding a charge onto the items it sells — usually around 10% to 15% of the item price at stores.

“We think those two [membership and upcharge] revenue streams are sustainable,” Smith said. “There’s been a lot of colossal failures in the grocery delivery business over the years and we don’t intend to be one of them, which is why we’re focused on a model with sustainability.”

Big box roots

Smith founded Shipt a year ago, after a pre-paid Visa card business he also founded, Insight Card Services, was sold to larger counterpart Green Dot. Shipt began life as a concierge for big-box stores Target, Best Buy and Home Depot, Smith said, but the focus shifted to groceries because that’s what customers wanted. “People told us, ‘It’s great to get things delivered from Best Buy, but what I want is someone to bring me my groceries.’”

Shipt's business is rooted in the South, opening this week in Charlotte and already serving customers in Nashville, Dallas, Tampa, Orlando, Miami and Atlanta.

The same responsiveness to customer needs also drives Shipt’s emphasis on service, Smith said. “One of the things that been interesting to watch is the caliber of people we have shopping for us,” he said. “We have a lot of stay-at-home moms and people who have a full-time job but who want to make some extra income, and we’ve been able to attract a great group of shoppers who resemble our customers. So a lot of our shoppers are moms, and our customers are moms.”

Asked about challenges of running the business, Smith mentioned managing logistics — being sure its contracted shoppers are available at peak times, and that the selections at the Shipt app are up to date with what’s available in stores — is one concern, while maintaining a rapid expansion pace is another. “From a customer perspective, solving a problem like ‘What’s for dinner tonight?’ Trying to solve that is something that interests us,” he added.

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Regarding competition — Walmart this week also announced it was expanding Internet grocery in Charlotte, among other cities — Smith was philosophical. “The space is so new there isn’t a clear winner yet. And I don’t think there’s going to be a winner for some time,” he said.

“Being from the South, I think our culture is a little bit different. The way our company works and our approach to customers is just a little different, and I think that’s attractive to some companies.”

Walmart expands e-grocery in eight cities

Walmart on Tuesday announced that its “click-and-collect” Internet grocery shopping model was expanding to eight new cities, with additional markets to be announced in coming weeks.

Walmart said service was launching this month in Atlanta; Charlotte and Fayetteville, N.C.; Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah; Nashville; Tucson, Ariz.; and Colorado Springs. Additional markets will be added in the coming weeks.

Walmart said tests of online shopping in several cities currently underway — including in its home base of Bentonville, Ark.; San Jose, Calif.; Denver; and Huntsville, Ala. — indicated customers are increasingly demanding the convenience of online shopping, and Walmart’s huge store base provides the infrastructure to accommodate them.

"We’ve tested online grocery options — both pickup and delivery — in a handful of markets across the U.S., and each time we’ve added a new city, our customers begin using the service faster than they did in the previous one,” the company said in a blog post published Tuesday.

Walmart said shoppers using online shopping option in these cities can shop online, select a pickup time, and then pull into designated parking areas at their local stores where associates will load orders into their cars. Orders placed by 10 a.m. are available for same-day pickup. Walmart said it charges the same price for items purchased online as in stores and there is no extra fees for online service.

“With 70% of the U.S. population living within 5 miles of an existing Walmart store, this is an idea that simply makes sense for us,” the company said. “We have the locations already in place, and with our website and mobile app expertise, we’re able to combine those things in a way that helps our customers save time and still take advantage of our everyday low prices.”

Penske Presents: Surveys Find Global 3PLs Experiencing Success Across Supply Chain

SAN DIEGO, September 28, 2015 — Today, the 22nd Annual Surveys of Third-Party Logistics Provider (3PL) CEOs, sponsored by Penske Logistics, revealed that 3PL CEOs are confident about the current state and future revenue growth potential of both their companies and the regional 3PL industries.

The annual surveys, which this year included the CEOs of 30 of the world's largest 3PLs, found that more than 80 percent of the companies surveyed were profitable in 2014. CEOs from North America and Asia-Pacific forecasted three-year revenue growth averages for their companies of 7.86 percent and 11.50 percent, respectively. European CEOs forecasted 5.33 percent growth over the same period.

CEOs across North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe were also asked to project regional industry revenue growth rates for the next three years in each of their regions. North American CEOs projected average industry revenue growth rates of 5.92 percent; European CEOs projected average industry revenue growth rates of 4 percent; and CEOs in the Asia-Pacific region projected average industry revenue growth rates of 5.75 percent.

The surveys are being presented today at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Annual Global Conference by their author, Dr. Robert Lieb, Professor of Supply Chain Management atNortheastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business, and Joe Carlier, Senior Vice President of Global Sales for Penske Logistics. The findings analyze responses from 30 major 3PL CEOs across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific whose companies generated more than $40 billion in revenue in 2014. The report was co-authored with Dr. Kristin Lieb, Associate Professor of Marketing Communications, Emerson College. The survey is underwritten by Penske Logistics, a leading provider of third-party logistics services.

"Last year, the logistics industry experienced one if its best years in many years and 2015 is on-track to be a good year as well," said Marc Althen, President of Penske Logistics. "The 3PL industry continues to deliver value, savings and efficiencies by collaborating closely with customers and adjusting to rapidly changing economic conditions, business challenges such as capacity and talent shortages, as well as consumer online shopping needs that demand new and agile supply chain and fulfillment models."

An encapsulation of key survey findings follows.

The Growth of Mergers and Acquisitions
Only seven of the 30 CEOs reported significant M&A activity by their companies during the past year. Following the onset of the global recession in 2008 there were relatively few large –scale acquisitions in the 3PL industry. That has changed dramatically since early 2014. Since that time there have been ten major acquisitions by 3PLs totaling $18 billion. This is leading to a significant restructuring of the industry in many markets, and will require substantial effort on behalf of those 3PLs to integrate those operations post-acquisition. It will also result in significant brand confusion in the marketplace that will have to be addressed by those companies. Many of the CEOs involved in this year's surveys believe this recent wave of M&A will lead to defensive acquisitions by other 3PLs.

CEOs across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific agree that the need for M&A stems from four key factors: 3PLs experiencing market pressure to expand service offerings; an increased desire to offer one-stop solutions to customers; the need to drive scale in specific markets; and a desire to expand their geographic footprint. North American CEOs predicted that 6.54 percent of their revenue growth over the next three years will come from M&A activity. European CEOs projected that figure at 3.67 percent while CEOs from the Asia-Pacific region predicted that 4 percent of their revenue growth during that period would be M&A related.

A More Focused E-Commerce Approach
Survey respondents cited significant changes in the e-commerce marketplace in the past year, referencing strong growth, an increased focus on next-day delivery and rapid expansion of international e-commerce.

In both North America and Europe, CEOs reported that Amazon had a particularly significant impact on supply chains and the e-commerce industry in their regions, highlighting the company's focus on same-day delivery and its developing relationships with 3PL companies for last-mile delivery. On average, e-commerce now accounts for an average of 11.85 percent North American 3PLs' revenue, and CEOs predict it will increase to 20.85 percent in three years. On average e-commerce revenues now account for 5.33 percent of European respondent revenues, and that percentage has been projected to grow to 9 percent in three years. Growth in Asia-Pacific's e-commerce market was aided by the region's massive e-commerce provider, Alibaba – a company Asian-Pacific CEOs believe might become a significant competitor for 3PL business in the region. For all three regions surveyed, CEOs said that the expansion of 3PL technology support for e-commerce was critical for the industry's ongoing success.

"Amazon's recent actions are impacting e-commerce in a major way," said Dr. Robert Lieb, Professor of Supply Chain Management at Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business. "The company's market dominance and huge popularity with customers creates a great opportunity for 3PLs to assist Amazon, and ensure customers get the goods they need – especially during peak e-commerce seasons."

Additional Supply Chain and Logistics Industry Trends and Insights

• West Coast Port Issues: In early 2015, one of the worst labor conflicts in recent history, labor slowdowns at major West Coast ports, created significant supply chain issues for carriers, 3PLs, and shippers, particularly in the North America and Asia-Pacific regions. Consequences included long delays, the re-routing of many shipments, shipments getting stuck in ports, frequent mode shifts (ocean to air), changes in destination ports, long transit times, missed sales for customers and considerable customer unrest. Amid these significant issues, the conflict underscored the importance of companies addressing risk mitigation and choosing a proactive 3PL partner with a proven track record and strategy for handling disruptions. Despite their customer's problems with the affected ports, 3PLs believe that few of them will significantly change their degree of reliance upon those ports in the future.
• Global 3PL Industry Concerns: In Europe and North America, CEOs continue to be concerned by the truck driver shortage and talent management issues spanning the industry. Twenty-six percent of North American CEOs and 60 percent of Asia-Pacific CEOs cited the worsening driver shortage to be a key factor effecting the global 3PL market. Additionally, an inflexible workforce, oppressive regulations, rapidly changing market conditions, increased costs for technology upgrades and capacity constraints are dynamics these CEOs believe will affect the global 3PL industry over the next several years.
• Lower Oil Prices: In North America, 80 percent of CEOs reported that the decline in oil prices had a positive impact on key customers, particularly with regard to lower transportation costs. CEOs agree that lower oil prices are not likely to have a significant impact on the environmental sustainability programs of 3PLs.
• Economic Uncertainties: Changing economic conditions are impacting the 3PL industries in Europe and Asia-Pacific, in particular. While a few European CEOs reported observing some improvement in the Eurozone, many agree that the European 3PL market has not rebounded significantly in the past year. The majority of Asian-Pacific CEOs cite the declining GDP growth rate in China as an industry dynamic impacting the region's 3PL industry, with additional responses citing infrastructure issues in the region's emerging markets and difficulties in developing accurate economic forecasts.
• Future Impacts of Ride-sharing Services: Ride-sharing companies, most notably Uber, are believed to potentially pose a threat to aspects of the 3PL industry in the future. As an international transportation network with technology at its core, Uber operates in more than 60 countries and has attracted significant investment capital. The company could eventually pose a threat to 3PL business, by providing last-mile delivery services, becoming a small LTL carrier and taking business away from small-volume couriers.

4 ways retailers can improve supply chain management

Credit: Thinkstock

Supply chain experts share their tips for tracking and expediting inventory in today’s ‘I-want-it-now,’ multichannel retail world

By Jennifer Lonoff Schiff

1COMMENT

Retailers and their suppliers are under more pressure than ever before to deliver more goods to more destinations faster.

To stay competitive, “retailers need to know where things are at all times so they can redirect shipments, rebalance inventories and respond to new demands on the fly,” says Rich Becks, general manager, Industry Value Chains, E2open, which delivers cloud-based supply chain collaboration solutions.

And if there is a problem with their supply chain, and they can’t get products to stores and/or consumers, retailers (and their suppliers) risk losing customers.

So what steps can, and should, retailers take to make sure their supply chain operations are running smoothly? Following are four suggestions from retail supply chain experts.

1. Use cloud-based software that can track and manage inventory in real time.“Retailers struggle to balance uncertain consumer behavior and long, complex supply chains,” explains Kurt Cavano, vice chairman & CSO, GT Nexus, a supply chain technology company.

“These two challenges make it harder than ever to align supply with demand, which can quickly impact margins and sales,” Cavano says. “A solution to this is to implement a supply chain network in the cloud that tracks inventory and demand changes, and allows retailers to respond to the latest demand signals in near-real time.” This way, “retailers can adapt to things like seasonal trends and other fluctuations in demand on the fly.”

2. Use source tagging and RFID to keep track of inventory and stock levels. “To improve supply chain management from the moment product leaves the manufacturer's warehouse all the way through to the point-of-purchase, retailers should deploy a source tagging solution,” says Steve Sell, director, North America Marketing, Retail Practice, Tyco Integrated Security. “With an increased awareness of the volume and location of merchandise available across all channels, source tagging helps inform inventory management and supply chain operations at all levels to better inform business decisions.”

“For example, warehouse stock levels can be continually monitored so that stocks can be replenished whenever sensors detect a near out of stock situation,” says Mark Morley, director, Industry Marketing – Manufacturing, OpenText, an enterprise information management provider. “Tagged goods in a warehouse can [also] help to guide pickers to their exact location,” making for faster fulfillment.

To gain further visibility into the supply chain, “implement RFID,” says Melanie Nuce, vice president, Apparel & General Merchandise, GS1 US, a supply chain standards organization. “A more precise level of inventory visibility ensures the retailer knows where their product is in the supply chain. Standards, such as Electronic Product Code (EPC) enabled Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), are allowing leading retailers to pinpoint their inventory in real time,” she explains. “By using RFID, a retailer can inventory 20,000 items per hour at 99 percent accuracy or higher. All of this means a simpler, more efficient way to deliver on the promise to the consumer.” Furthermore, “by combining RFID-enabled inventory and source tagging with smarter, more sophisticated electronic article surveillance (EAS), retailers gain real-time insight into the supply chain, from what is available to sell via online and in-store channels to how much is needed on the shelf,” adds Sell.

3. Become a part of a B2B e-procurement network. “B2B [or e-procurement] networks can help companies predict supply chain disruptions and act quickly to adapt business processes,” says Sundar Kamakshisundaram, vice president, Procurement and Business Network Solutions, Ariba, an SAP company. “Businesses need to know their entire supply chain – not just their suppliers, but their suppliers’ suppliers, too,” he says.

Using a B2B procurement network can “help [retailers] move from responding to risk to proactively predicting it to create advantage and get ahead of supply chain disruption,” he says. That’s because “business networks, and the cloud-based technologies underlying them, have made it possible for more efficient buyer/supplier collaboration.”

4. Make sure your marketing and supply chain teams are in sync. “When executing a promotion, a lot of retailers overlook the alignment of the supply chain and marketing teams, which is crucial [if you want] to successfully launch a promotion,” says Pat Sullivan, senior vice president, Promotions Management, HAVI Global Solutions, a consulting company. By having marketing alert the supply chain team ahead of time that a big promotion is coming up, “the supply chain team can determine how much product is needed to prevent falling short [and] how the product will be shipped,” minimizing, or avoiding, delays or disruptions.

Is data eliminating the need for chief merchants at retail?

By Tom Ryan

SEPTEMBER 29, 2015

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With software increasingly driving allocation decisions, some recent industry coverage explores how the chief merchant role is evolving.

Some articles discuss how areas such as marketing and supply chain are being incorporated into chief merchant responsibilities in today's complex omnichannel world. The traditional role of spotting trends has become less important with algorithms taking over, according to the stories.

The stories reflect trends seen in a number of unconventional moves around the role of chief merchant carried out by major retailers:

• Kohl's, after a long search, recently decided to hand over merchandising responsibilities to its chief marketing officer;
• Target earlier this year split its chief merchandising and supply-chain officer roles;
• Last November, Walmart decided not to replace its chief merchant and instead has its VPs over key categories reporting directly to the retailer's U.S. chief.

Last week, J.C. Penney promoted John Tighe, who had been overseeing buys for men's, children's, footwear, handbags and intimate apparel, to chief merchant. But on its second-quarter conference call, Marvin Ellison, JCP's president and CEO designee, said the chain has to get better at the "science of retailing" across allocation, replenishment and presentation.

Photo: RetailWire

"The toughest thing to do is get the right product, right style, right quality, and to get the customer to be committed to it," he said.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the shift in emphasis to analytics in merchandising is due to sophisticated software that enables merchants to gain ever-faster reads on sell-throughs inside their own stores as well as at competitors. Younger generations are also seen as much more apt to tap Big Data in guiding buys. The article also points to how consolidation has created chains "so big that buying by instinct isn't an option any more."

Omnichannel retailing is also complicating inventory management and other standard retail processes.

Still, the creative side of merchandising earned some praise. Waiting for hard data may slow a merchant down in reacting to a trend and overly relying on data can lead to a sea of sameness across stores. At the same time, extrapolating data adeptly can be considered an art.

"Everybody has data," Brett Wickard, founder of "lean retail" software company FieldStack, told Retail Dive. "Using it is the hard part."