Luxury retailers worldwide are currently favoring technology investments, focusing on areas such as customer experience, digital payments, and enhancing sales and visibility, according to Romita Majumdar’s report for The Economic Times. Ravi Kapoor, Partner and Leader of Retail and Consumer at PwC India, notes that about 55% of these investments are directed towards online platforms, driven by the surge in e-commerce due to the pandemic. Key areas of expenditure include payment technologies, social commerce, resale, supply chain and logistics, as well as NFTs and virtual reality.
Mohan Krishnan, Global Head of Retail Strategic Initiatives at Tata Consultancy Services, highlights the interest of retailers in advanced technologies like 3D, XR (extended reality), and generative capabilities for product development and customer experience. Indian tech and IT giants, such as Cognizant and Accenture, play a crucial role in driving this transformation by assisting luxury retailers in reimagining digital commerce platforms and adopting a technology-led approach to enhance sales.
Ganesh Kalyanaraman, SVP and Delivery Head – Global Growth Markets at Cognizant, emphasizes the contribution of Indian talent in improving customer experience and store operations for global luxury retailers. This is achieved through analytics-driven personalization, multiverse fusion, intelligent inventory tracking, and omnichannel enablement.
As brands recognize the significance of investing in new technologies, it is anticipated that spending on these innovations will increase, reaching up to 3-4% of sales by 2030, according to Kapoor. Retail companies are significantly investing in tracking demand trends and consumer behavior for communication purposes and strategic supply chain planning, as mentioned by Anand Ramanathan, Partner and Consumer Industry Leader, Consulting at Deloitte India.