Retail

With the emergence of reliable e-Commerce and the ever increasing global collaboration of consumers, retail organisations have to step up their game like never before. Gone are the days of consumers going to the local high street to buy goods and making purchasing decisions solely based on the few product lines on offer. With the increase of high speed internet connectivity, social networking and other innovative technologies, consumers are now well and truly in the driving seat.

Consumers are much more engaged in the buying process, and have the resources to evaluate purchasing decisions in seconds, reading customer generated reviews, comparing product specifications and prices to inform the purchase. It is not uncommon to see people browsing the shelves and scanning barcodes with their Smart Phones to be informed of the prices competitors are charging for the same product; and it should be borne in mind that this trend towards a more “procurement savvy” consumer is set to increase rather than decrease.