Retail Omni Market Framework

All of the pieces and parts are available and in use now for the support and long term success of the retail omni market and the challenge now for the partners is really the culture and putting these pieces together into a framework that supports the marketplace demands efficiently and effectively.  The pieces require focus on the connectivity to support the demands and the connectivity requires the collaboration and commitment from the partners in the network. The challenge is not the framework or the technology, the challenge is the collaboration and the partner connectivity across the collaborative network. The challenge is the commitment to the collaborative network from the partners to make the framework work.  This requires a commitment to the network and then the framework will support the demands identified through the network.

The commitment to the network requires a culture change to an open collaborative practice rather than a command and control practice for the retailers.  This must me a standard practice across all partners that participate in the collaborative network in order to take full advantage of the network potential capabilities.  The collaborative network is a commitment to the process and a commitment to the partnerships and relationships that will enhance the framework and allow the partners to truly sense and respond to the omni market demands.  The collaborative network requires the commitment form all partners to reduce friction in the flow across and through the network and most importantly to take full advantage of the framework and the technology.

We have reached a point in the retail transformation where the collaboration and partnership across the network and the participants is required in order to continue the transformation to the next level.  We have reached a point now with the technology where the friction across participants in the network must be addressed in order to move forward. The technology allows for a smooth flow of information and participation and now the partner culture must be modified in order to take full advantage of the collaborative network capabilities.  You can see the capabilities and potential opportunities throughout the industry delivered by social networks and the organic connectivity that allows the social networks to flourish. This same type of organic connectivity must be developed and maintained in the collaborative network in order for the entire supply chain network to flourish.  

Consumers are already in this place where they utilize the combination of the social network practices and capabilities along with the technology to support their lifestyle and this requires the retail omni market to fully plug into this social network.  The method for the retail market to connect is through the supply chain collaborative network and in fact many of the pieces and parts of this supply chain collaborative network are already plugged into the consumer social network. Consumers are already using many of the connected partners in their social network to support their purchasing and delivery requirements.  The missing pieces in this equation are the retailers. Unfortunately this has traditionally been a sticking point in the market where retailers have struggled with the changing consumer demands to try to make the consumer conform with the existing retailer practices that are most beneficial to the retailers. These retailers must embrace the social aspect to meet the consumer demands rather than fighting to bend the consumer demands to the retailer.