After years of steady ecommerce growth, we have seen an unprecedented acceleration of the shift from physical stores to online shopping over the past eighteen months. This has prompted new consumer demands and amplified existing challenges for retailers. The shift to digital-first happened across all industries, creating competitive advantage for some while leaving others scrambling. Retailers are facing the limitations of their aging technology stack in allowing them to offer buy online pick up in store (BOPIS), social commerce, adding new payment methods, launching subscription programs and more.

Our goal in this study was to understand how well retailers have been able to pivot to a digital-first world, the challenges they face, the opportunities nascent in the marketplace, and how their technology portfolios are able to support these shifts profitably.

What we found was that retailers got the job done - yet consumers continue to want more. The respondents’ most frequently cited business challenges include consumers' demand for more convenience in their online experience, and their expectation that shifting between digital and physical realms will be seamless – certainly more seamless than today.

Retailers are faced with aging technologies – however, 90 percent agree that the ability to continuously innovate and test new customer experiences would create a competitive advantage.

Furthermore, more than 80 percent responded that improving the online checkout experience is a priority.

What opportunities do retailers see to improve the online shopping experience? Simply, providing a unified view of inventory availability for their consumers, and the ability to apply the same business rules across all consumer touch points. Despite clear signals telling retailers what to improve, as this report reveals, they are reluctant to add enhancements. The survey results suggest that respondents believe their technology portfolios can only take so much change. When it comes to embracing the ecommerce opportunities in front of them, retailers are holding back. Unwisely, in our view.

And so we return to the most classic of organizational inhibitors: Existing technologies are very difficult to change. A customized ecommerce platform bought seven years ago is unlikely to have the flexibility required for today’s demanding retail customers. Further, the patchwork of technology solutions retailers are putting together leave them resource-scarce. It’s going to take time and money to get a unified commerce platform implemented any time soon.

Knowing all this, when we look specifically at technology enablers in place and those on the horizon, budgets for new updated technologies to support merged channel capabilities are shockingly low.

This is particularly disconcerting, given the evidence that investments in technology by companies like Walmart and Target yielded phenomenal top- and bottom-line growth during what was for many the worst of times.