Identifying the top five retail challenges with UK:DRIC

by Jess Savage, Creative Manager

The UK Digital Retail Innovation Centre (UK:DRIC), a national centre for testing and developing disruptive digital innovations, launches on 30th May. The new centre aims to help shape and inform the future of cities and places with a special focus on retail.

To get the conversation started Maybe* is working with the UK:DRIC to ask retailers and retail influencers to identify their top five retail challenges.

Maybe* is reaching out to thousands of retail professionals by using a chatbot to ask a series of questions in order to produce evidence-based insights into the challenges faced in the current retail landscape and what needs to happen to future-proof our high streets.

Using AI, the Maybe* platform will identify the top five retail challenges from the answers given via social media and the chatbot. These insights will be shared on Monday 20th May, ahead of the centre’s launch to ignite the conversation around the future of retail.

“We are seeing a rapid evolution of the retail model. My top five challenges that retailers need to find a way to address are : Being agile, testing new ideas faster, accepting that every sale is influenced by many channels, using new tech wisely and listening and reacting to customers faster."

Polly Barnfield, CEO and Founder of Maybe*

Here’s some of the retail challenges that have been highlighted already:

If you’re a retailer or a retail influencer and wish to share your own thoughts, tweet your top 5 retail challenges using #futureofretail and tag @UKDRIC.

2. Recognising the need to transform but not knowing how to actually go about it, resulting in procrastination, delay, wasted money and of course ultimately no change.
— Oliver Banks (@ollie_banks) May 1, 2019

1. Unlevel playing field
2. Short-termism
3. Cultural shift - embracing innovation, agility & accepting failure
4. Defining success when stores are no longer purely about selling.
5. Accepting can’t be all things to all people anymore.
— Natalie Berg (@Natalie_Berg) May 1, 2019

Identifying the top five retail challenges with UK:DRIC

“We are seeing a rapid evolution of the retail model. My top five challenges that retailers need to find a way to address are : Being agile, testing new ideas faster, accepting that every sale is influenced by many channels, using new tech wisely and listening and reacting to customers faster."

Here’s some of the retail challenges that have been highlighted already:

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