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“I think some of the larger retailers should use their real estate for more hybrid ideas,
click and collect is a good one.” Dan Cunliffe, MD of Pangea
Disruption in retail
The retail market is going through a tough time right now, with one of the worst Christmases on record for the high
street we are seeing empty shops becoming an alarmingly regular sight. In the latest episode of Comms Business Live
David Dungay was joined by two experts in the retail space. Dan Cunliffe, MD of Pangea, and Daniel Scott, Director of
Virocom, spoke about how they view the next wave of disruption for retailers and how that may impact resellers
DAVID DUNGAY (DD): WHAT IS YOUR
CURRENT ASSESSMENT OF THE
RETAIL MARKET?
DANIEL SCOTT (DS): e retail
market is going through a
transition, historically shopping
centres used to take large
footprints just outside towns
and they are now realising that
as the online competition is
consistently growing they have
to adapt. You can buy anything
online, it doesn’t matter what
product it is. If you went to a
store those products might not
be so easily accessible, so they
are having to change. Shopping
centres are having to embrace
dierent forms of technology
and dierent ways of bringing
people into the shopping centres
by oering entertainment. I
see a lot of ice and cinemas
in shopping centres, as well
as other attractions. Shops
are looking for anything that
will improve the customer
experience when customers
come in.
DAN CUNLIFFE (DC): I think some
of the larger retailers should use
their real estate for more hybrid
ideas, click and collect is a good
one. Why not integrate third
party services like Deliveroo to
get services out there quicker?
I think it is about creating
an experience of pre, post and
during for customers coming
into your store. at might be
though pop-up stores, moving
outside of your store for a short
period of time where there are
lots of people. Why wouldn’t a
retailer or a fast-food restaurant
go to a festival environment
for example just to build more
brand presence? ere are
solutions which enable you to
deliver an in-store experience
outside.
DD: IS VOICE, ALEXA AND OTHER
AI DEVICES, IMPACTING THE WAY
PEOPLE PURCHASE?
DS: Yes it is. But I think we
have to understand what our
customers want before we make
those decisions. It’s very easy
to get a shiny new product
that people want to talk about,
articial intelligence is an
example of this. Sometimes we
need to go back to basics and
understand what value we draw
from getting customers into
the stores. ere are certain
applications and products which
understand how people are
interacting and communicating.
Some companies use chat bots
to understand what customers
are actually asking for. A lot
of people don’t want to shop
at shopping centres outside of
their local vicinity. ey want
to go to their shops and interact
with people. For me it’s more
about upskilling your sta, and
giving real value to them. Yes,
AI and IoT devices do have a
part to play but I think that is
still quite shiny and new.
DC: When it comes to ordering
items with voice activated
devices I think it is about
the value of the item or what
the item is. If it’s a passing
comment like, “Hey Alexa,
buy me some milk and bread”
I think that is quite normal. If
you are going to but something
a bit more expensive or
something that takes a bit of
eort then I don’t see it playing
a big part at all.
DD: WHERE DOES THE CHANNEL FIT
IN, WHERE CAN THEY LOOK TO ADD
VALUE TO RETAILERS?
DC: I know my customers have
gone to retailers with cost
cutting solutions. From a cost
auditing perspective there is
some pretty cool solutions
around IoT with things
like building management
solutions. With those solutions
users can improve the way they
use energy, particularly with
the bigger retailers, and we can
help them understand how to
manage their spend.
DS: Tier 1 and 2 retailers
typically have between 50
and 200 sites, they have a
huge proportion of hardware
and software items that are
going about a daily routine
of keeping the lights on.
Historically, these retailers
have IT departments that are
very stretched. ey are under
increasing pressure to cut
costs, I think as resellers we
can oer real value to them by
taking a view and looking after
assets, certainly from a GDPR
perspective, or managing
equipment which is going end
of life.
22 | Comms Business Magazine | April 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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