Home topics small-business-resources retail Retail Small Business Retail “We’ll see a two-speed sector develop”: Seven retail experts share their 2018 predictions James Harkness January 24, 2018 There was a massive shift in the retail sector, last year, with ecommerce giant Amazon making its long-awaited debut as some of the incumbents continued to see diminishing returns. As the Amazon saga continues to play out, with a question marking hanging over the longer-term impact, we asked seven industry experts to gaze into their crystal balls and share their retail predictions for 2018… Dan Ross, Managing Director ANZ, Optimizely: “I expect to see more companies pushing the limits of what’s possible within their organisation. Rather than basic website AB testing as so many organisations have relied upon to date, I see more and more companies utilising data from around their firm to improve on their customer experience and internal operations. Basically saying ‘we have all this data, why aren’t we using it?’ “Retail will be the most experimental sector in 2018. The CX bar is already being raised and with Amazon coming in full force, that trend will only accelerate. There will be a chasm created between the firms that choose to experiment, innovate, and compete vs those that choose the status quo.” Georgina Nelson, Founder & CEO, TruRating: “Customer experience will continue to drive innovation and improvement within the retail sector in 2018. Those companies that focus on providing the best customer experience, including a great range of products and excellent customer