Retail PR pros are well aware that Amazon has upended the industry in recent years with its innovative ecommerce platform—so what can competing online businesses do to stay in the game? Retail analysts Total Retail, in conjunction with IBM, recently announced the release of its latest research report, The Amazon Effect: How Retailers Are Adapting Their Businesses to Better Compete with the Industry Leader.
The extensive report is comprised of data analyzing the ways in which Amazon is impacting retailers, including what technologies and innovations they have adopted from Amazon, and if their technology spending has changed as a result of what the industry giant is doing.
Total Retail surveyed its audience over a two-week period, collecting 327 responses. Several variables were examined to provide a comprehensive look into how Amazon is impacting retailers. Questions focused on Amazon’s areas of strength, including customer experience, personalization and order delivery.
What resulted is a 30-plus page comprehensive report. The data confirmed several of Total Retail’s hypotheses. Retailers believe Amazon has completely changed consumers’ expectations for order delivery, from speed to cost.
“Amazon is disrupting the retail industry, both online and offline, and its influence only continues to grow,” said Melissa Campanelli, editor-in-chief/content director of Total Retail, in a news release. “As such, we decided to survey our audience to find out what retailers really think of Amazon, and how they’re adapting their businesses to better compete with the industry leader.”
Perhaps surprisingly, the report found most retailers haven’t increased their spending on personalization and customer experience technology in the last two years.
Other key findings include the following:
- 53 percent of retailers’ e-commerce sales have increased over the last two years;
- nearly 25 percent of retailers’ brick-and-mortar sales have decreased in the last two years; and
- 45 percent of retailers believe their brick-and-mortar stores offer a distinct competitive advantage over Amazon.
The report is intended to serve as a valuable asset for retailers, as Amazon continues to exert its powerful influence on the industry as a whole. Campanelli continues, “We urge you to use this report as a research tool to gain insights into how the retail industry views Amazon, as well as to identify growth opportunities for your business. Take a cue from Amazon and become an industry disrupter in your own right.”
