INVESTIGATIVE FEATURE
Similarly, one of its major competitors,
Alibaba, opened its first physical
store in Beijing, China at the beginning
of this year. Other notable brands
that have launched a physical
presence include Warby Parker,
Bonobos, Birchbox, Shoes of Prey
a n d C a s p e r.The 2016 Commonwealth Bank ‘Retail
Insights Report’ predicts that this trend
from e-tail to bricks and mortar will
continue, revealing that 18 per cent of
Australia’s online retailers are planning
to establish a physical outlet in the
coming year.“Human beings are highly emotive, we
love a great experience, and we love to
touch and feel and be able to try
things on,” says Stuart. “At this stage,
there’s a very real requirement for
physical stores and I don’t see that
changing any time soon. What I can
see changing is the experience within
the physical stores. Having smart
change rooms, endless aisles —
seamlessly integrated technology that
enhances the experience is
increasingly important.”SAFETY FIRST
Unfortunately, customer and internal
data is of great value to cyber criminals,
and with the increasing role that
technology is playing in the retail sector
and huge amount of customer data that
is extrapolated to improve and
personalise the customer’s shopping
experience, the sector is highly targeted
and at risk. According to the ‘2016 NTT
Group Global Threat Intelligence
Report’, the retail sector experienced
the most attacks per client of any
industry sector.“Unfortunately, with technology, as
soon as someone comes up with a new
secure base, someone else comes up
with a way to hack it or get into that
database,” says Jack. And as the number
of channels consumers can use to
engage with a brand proliferates, so too
does the capacity for security breaches.While security breaches have costly
consequences related to operationWhile security breaches have
costly consequences related to
operation downtime and
recovery, the biggest
ramifications are related
to brand reputation and
customer relationships.downtime and recovery, the biggest
ramifications are related to brand
reputation and customer relationships.
A large number of high profile
companies have been hacked in recent
years, including British Airways, which
was subject to a large-scale cyber attack
that saw tens of thousands of its
customers’ frequent flyer accounts
hacked in 2015. While no personal data
was allegedly stolen, frequent flyer“At this stage, there’s a very real requirement for physical stores
and I don’t see that changing any time soon.”- Stuart O’Neil, Head of Business at SAP Hybris ANZ.