Technology: The Bane Of Existence Or Breath Of Fresh Air For Retailers? Part 2

For the first time in history, consumers are ahead of retailers in utilizing technology to access information and use it in their daily shopping routine.

Customers routinely interact with many information sources and multiple "vendors" through a variety of communication channels as they engineer their own "programs" to get what they want out of their shopping experiences and out of their shopping budgets.

Meanwhile, most retailers are scrambling to meet rapidly changing customer expectations, but are struggling to do so with limited personnel, limited budgets and obsolete tools and organizational structures. And, by the way, the term "retailer" now includes anyone selling directly to consumers, with or without a brick and mortar channel. Count among them manufacturers, wholesalers, dealers, catalogers, and even other consumers.

To help you better appreciate the myriad of complex issues created by "technology" that impinge upon and affect the retailer-consumer relationship, we have created a conversation between a retailer and a technology-savvy consumer. They will discuss their relationship, how it has evolved and where it's headed. Their perspectives highlight the complex relationship and how it continues to evolve across four core topic areas:

• Creating Shopping "Partnerships"
• Making a Purchase
• Post-Purchase Support
• Listening to the Customer and Managing the Relationship Over Time

As we discovered through Part 1 of our conversation, consumers are ahead of retailers in utilizing technology to access information from multiple "vendors" and use it in their daily shopping routine. Now, the conversation continues. It focuses on the dynamics of the customer-retailer relationship at the time of a purchase.