Consumer Collaboration Integration

Consumer collaboration practices must be integrated into the fabric of the retail omni market in order for retailers to succeed going forward.  The retail omni market is growing and expanding across all aspects of consumer interaction and consumers are demanding simplicity and functionality in the collaborative capabilities.  One of the key contributing factors to the expansion of the omni market reach and capabilities will be the ability for consumers to collaboration among and across all aspects of the omni market including retailers, suppliers, transportation and delivery coordination and scheduling.  The consumer has taken control of their shopping and purchasing and they are utilizing technology in new and ever changing manners to help them in their drive to shop and also improve their ability to support and enhance their lifestyles.

When the Internet sales started and Amazon was in its infancy these Internet retailers were viewed as a fad that would never have a huge impact on the retail business.  Now these retailers have completed disrupted the retail marketplace and consumers have lead the disruption through technology integration. This technology integration includes social network technology that consumers embraced as a means to stay connected and now this technology has turned into a powerful collaboration tool that allows consumers to share and collaboration on shopping and product purchases with the technology providing consumers a means to both shop and socialize at the same time.  The social network technology such as Facebook has embraced the consumer’s experimentation with types of technology and technology capabilities to provide new methods of shopping and purchasing that would have been thought to be impossible ten years ago.

Now the Internet of Things technology is poised to drive a new wave of disruption through technology tools and capabilities that expand reach of the consumer and also provide new means and opportunities for collaboration.  The velocity of change driven by this technology is breathtaking and the imagination of consumers and all aspects of interactions across all aspects of not only the retail marketplace but also the consumer lifestyle and daily routines.  This new technology is going to push the disruption again into the retail marketplace and this time I am afraid that the Internet retailers will push a new marketplace that will only marginally involve brick and mortar retail.

This next wave of technology will push the disruption further across everyday life and will also blend all aspects of the consumer lifestyle further blurring the consumer life interaction.  This will disrupt work, leisure and very likely eliminate retail as we know it, except for the small specialty retailer. It will be interesting to see how the technology disrupts the real estate market.  I see this Internet of Things technology as the next new wave disruption and it will ripple across all interactions as consumers and businesses use their imagination to develop new method to interact and live.