Traditional commerce faces a particular digital and technological disruption. While its sales and growth seem stagnant, its competitors in e-commerce are seducing an increasing number of users. In Argentina, according to figures from the Argentine Chamber of Electronic Commerce (CACE), electronic commerce grew by 47% compared to 2018, which implies an eCommerce turnover of $229.76 billion in 2018. In addition, 90% of connected Argentine adults have already purchased online at some point, representing 18.3 million people.

Attracting and getting customers to come to the physical store is a major challenge for large chains. It's not just that e-commerce is an increasingly popular option, but consumers often walk past store doors with their eyes fixed on their smartphones. Are we experiencing a turning point? Here, I present 10 keys to the digital transformation of the sector:

Data-oriented: We are moving towards a business model focused on the analytical value of data and the detection of hidden patterns invisible to the human eye.
Customer data obtained in online and physical stores becomes information capable of anticipating trends and changes in consumers; and offer personalized products, solutions and experiences.

The network, a key aspect of smart retail: The foundations of the present and future of retail are built on its network because it involves offering more services available to consumers in stores such as Internet access and increasing intelligence in relation to consumer preferences to offer personalized services. To achieve all this, it becomes necessary to migrate more and more traffic to the Internet, to management services and to 'business intelligence' in the cloud. Therefore, all the changes that retail is carrying out and those that will come demand a network that is prepared to accompany them, that is flexible, adaptable, that is always available and that offers simple integration with security and connectivity solutions in the cloud. Therefore, moving towards software-defined networks (SD-WAN) is an essential step that retail must take.

Location Intelligence: Mobility data analytics will be key both for the perfect location of the store and for improving the interior design, with the aim of maximizing sales.

High-quality connectivity at low cost: Taking care of costs and controlling where to invest money is key for retail. But connectivity is something they cannot afford to give up. When you need to have quality connectivity 24/7, there are different methods to achieve this, for example adding MPLS, 3G, 4G links, but this can be expensive. SD-WAN allows you to balance traffic between different networks, guaranteeing that they will always have optimal connectivity, without high costs involved.

Click and Mobile: New concepts such as mobile-commerce or automation-commerce are revolutionizing electronic commerce, which already has two protagonists: the Smartphone and predictive Artificial Intelligence.

Infinite retail: The era of omnichannel, ubiquitous and infinite retail is born that satisfies a customer who demands a continuous purchasing process when moving from one channel to another.

Stock 4.0: The emergence of models such as dropshipping makes the sale of products a reality without the need to have physical stock in a warehouse, thanks to the creation of agreements and negotiations between manufacturers and wholesalers.

Digital customer service: The elimination of physical and temporal barriers with technology has improved customer service with tools such as bots or social networks, which provide solutions to questions or complaints in a more immediate and effective way.

Social Retail: Big brands use social networks as part of their multimedia strategy, promoting new purchasing processes that motivate the participation of followers, in addition to influencing, setting trends and making recommendations to consumers.

Pick up & Venta: As a result of the growing demand for faster deliveries, collection points independent of the product sold are multiplying, which implies the opportunity for new sales derived from the customer's presence in the store, even if it is simply to pick up a package. By Leandro Laporta, Director of Solutions and Alliances Architects for Latin America at Orange Business Services.