Strategic Armoury of Innovations for Online Retailers

Over the last decade, online retailing has picked up considerable traction and is estimated to cater to close to 2 T$ by 2020, , around 10% of total retail volume in developed countries and around 4% in developing economies.

In this fast-growing sector, players survive only by adopting innovative methods that enable them grab significant market share from traditional (bricks) model organized retail. The methods span the functions of marketing (including customer-relation management, product configurators, upselling and crossselling), technology (internet, QR-codes, smartphones, payment gateways warehouse management and automated delivery), supply-chain management (eg. JIT and integrated customer-supplier pipeline), finance (managed operational leverage models, innovative payment systems and e-cash).

This paper draws from research and news published on these numerous innovations, shortlists some that are more recent and impacting, and ratifies them with primary data collected by a survey on customers. The paper also attempts to collate important strategies in a framework to show trends and prognosticate likely innovations that would yield clear sustainable advantage against competitors in the retail space.

In conclusion, the paper lists and describes selected innovations in retail (especially e-retail), recommending they be adopted as best practices in the retail industry.