BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - January 14, 2009) - Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company (
NYSE:
HHS),
surveyed 200 retail enterprises between October and December 2008 to reveal
the changing business and technology scenario in retail. Our research shows
that holiday sales performance this year and competitive performance in
2009 will decide the tipping point for 'retail recovery' as 80% of
companies are challenged by historically higher levels of cost of goods
sold and low consumer confidence. To obtain a complimentary copy of the
report titled, "State of the Retail Market: Technology and Business
Strategies to Counter Recession," visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5390.
The last six months leading up to the recent holiday season indicates a
shift in value chain priorities and IT investments when compared to the
beginning of 2008. Aberdeen's research data shows that during the last 2
quarters of 2008, technology and process spending was geared towards
accelerated product campaigns, door busters, and promotions -- in terms of
price discounts and frequency, customer loyalty programs, precision
merchandizing, and lean inventory management.
"The objective over the last six months within key retail sub-segments such
as department stores, fashion, apparel, specialty, and consumer electronics
has centered on customer-pull strategies and lean inventory techniques,"
states Sahir Anand, senior analyst and chief author of the report. "The
obvious reason for this strategic shift is to pull through the current
tough environment with minimal business risks such as store closings,
working capital squeeze, depleted customer satisfaction due to staff cuts,
and low margin attainment."
Retail technology complexities further intensify during a period of
economic recession as scarce IT resources need to be distributed between
"front-end" versus "back-end," customer-centric versus cost-centric, and
revenue-related versus non-revenue related priorities. Retailers are
accelerating the IT allocation roadmap changes that are likely to shape the
near-term (3 to 12 months) technology use, development, and adoption. The
three major technology priorities for 2009 include: prioritization of IT
spend towards mission-critical customer-facing and retail optimization
applications that directly impact bottom-line attainment, greater
application integration to improve retail value chain and process
efficiencies, explore greater visibility and acceptance for lean retail IT
techniques (on-demand, Software as a Service (SaaS)), and hosted
application delivery models. "These strategies could serve as best
practices for re-aligning your IT strategy with the larger business
strategy in retail," says Anand.
A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the
following underwriters: Epicor and Softechnics. Retailer Industry Leaders
Association (RILA) and Chain Store Age are the association partners for
this report. To obtain a complimentary copy of the report, visit:
http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=5390.
For additional access to complimentary Retail Research, please visit
http://research.aberdeen.com/index.php/-retail.
About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company
Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market
intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more
than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely
positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating
demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment
analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets,
corporations turn to Aberdeen™ for insights that drive decisions.
As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in
context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's
analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of
Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement -
Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role
Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit
Aberdeen
http://www.aberdeen.com or call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more
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© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
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Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
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Contact Information: Media Contact:
Sahir Anand
Sr. Retail Analyst, Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(617) 854-5271
Sahir.Anand@aberdeen.com