Under enormous pressure to transform from the likes of Amazon.com and Walmart, the ‘bricks and mortar’ retail industry has been struggling to reinvent itself for a few decades now.
First came ecommerce in the late 1990s, but now we take ecommerce for granted. Then came social media and mobile technologies – and retail once again had to jump on board.
As digital transformation became the driving force in the 2010s, omnichannel became the mantra, as every retailer sought to establish better relationships with individual customers via a unified customer experience.
I’ve written about the successes retailers have had with digital transformation before, focusing on particular technology innovations that each company hopes will differentiate them in this increasingly competitive marketplace.
Last year, I discussed how American Eagle Outfitters was leveraging its mobile app as part of a coordinated omnichannel strategy. Then a few weeks ago, I explored how Neiman Marcus was leveraging artificial intelligence to better serve its luxury clientele.
This week I spoke with Sahal Laher, Chief Digital Officer and CIO at Destination XL Group (DXL), a specialty retailer of men’s big and tall apparel in the US and UK, operating in stores and online under the brands DXL, Rochester Clothing, Casual Male XL, Shoes XL, and Living XL.
Even though DXL still earns about 80% of its revenue from its stores, it has a sophisticated, cutting-edge ecommerce presence, along with various omnichannel bells and whistles including email, retargeting, and other initiatives.
The story Laher wanted to tell, however, didn’t focus on these flashier parts of DXL’s strategy. Instead, his transformation story centered on the store concierge system.
Read the entire article at https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2017/12/21/no-code-digital-transformation-at-retailer-dxl/.
Intellyx publishes the Agile Digital Transformation Roadmap poster, advises companies on their digital transformation initiatives, and helps vendors communicate their agility stories. As of the time of writing, Zudy is an Intellyx customer. None of the other organizations mentioned in this article are Intellyx customers. Image credit: Mike Mozart.
