Digital Disruption in the Retail Sector: Impact, Opportunities, and Skills

This presentation explores the concept of digital disruption and its profound impact on the retail sector. It delves into the role of data as a critical business tool, examining how digital disruption has transformed industry operations and created new job opportunities. The presentation includes an online research questionnaire and a discussion guide for interviewing industry professionals, providing insights into the skills and knowledge required for success in this evolving landscape.

PR2-Presentation
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
1. What is digital disruption?.....................................................................................................4
2. How this will impact on the sector represented by your degree with emphasis on the role of
data as a business tool?..............................................................................................................4
3. Define what this means in terms of types of jobs within the sector and the skills that will be
required to build a successful career within it............................................................................5
4. An online research questionnaire to be sent to an industry professional...............................5
5. A discussion guide for use in a face to face interview with an industry professional...........6
6. Test the questionnaire and present if and how the research technique worked effectively
along with future corrections if required....................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
Reference List............................................................................................................................9
Appendix..................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
Information and data plays a significant role in making effectual decisions by the
administration of retail industry. In this context, this presentation enlightens on the concept of
digital disruption and the way it influences the operations of retail sector. It highlights the
impact on data which is considered to be a business tool. In addition, it also discusses the
different varieties of jobs present within the sector and skills required for the same. Research
questionnaire and a discussion guide are also developed in this study to acquire more
knowledge from target respondents regarding the digital disruption and its influence of career
of the respondents.
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1. What is digital disruption?
 Digital disruption refers to the changes that occur due to emergence of new advanced
technologies
 It modifies the fundamental expectations and attitudes among the culture, market and
industrial procedures (Skoget al., 2018).
It is believed that digital disruption helps in progress and evolution of a business
establishment or an industry. According to the views of Munandar and Albab(2020), digital
disruption result in paradigm modification of the operations that are carried out in a business
organisation. Digital disruption aids the business establishments within the retail industry to
remain competitive and innovative. This might be beneficial or a drawback for an
organisation. Implementation of digital disruption might be beneficial in the sense it would
provide the business establishment with new end technologies that might be helpful in
dealing with existing competitors. On the other hand, it might be considered a drawback if
the establishment do not acquire adequate expertise in its workforce who would be able to
make other’s understand about digital disruption.
2. How this will impact on the sector represented by your degree with emphasis on the
role of data as a business tool?
 Utilisation of big data and business intelligence for effective implementation of digital
disruption
 Digital disruption aids the retail industry to enhance its customer base by offering them
with exclusive support and services
Industries experiences digital disruption when the desires and requirements of customers are
frequently changing and it becomes quite challenging for the business establishments to
understand the same. Based on the above mentioned statement, de Morais(2019) added that
better understanding of digital disruptions assists the management of business establishments
to successfully meet the requirements of its potential customers, thereby opportunities for
attracting new customers is elevated. In this respect, it can be stated that with utilisation of
data through business intelligence and big data, organisations in retail industry are able to
make better decisions thereby escalating their brand in the market.
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3. Define what this means in terms of types of jobs within the sector and the skills that
will be required to build a successful career within it
The retail sector is hugely affected by digital disruption as digitisation of the business
processes and operations has helped in making them more efficient as well as flawless
(Deloitte.com, 2020). This has necessitated different kinds of new job roles such as IT and
others dealing with upcoming technologies. For example, the retail sector is hugely
competitive with various organisations striving to make their position better among the others
so that more profits may be acquired from the market. There has been an increasing use of
new technological innovations and it is gradually becoming more important for candidates to
have a diverse set of additional skills and knowledge in order to be considered for a particular
job role within this sector.
For example, it is crucial for individuals to have a sufficient knowledge about artificial
intelligence and Internet of Things in order to build a successful career within the retail sector
as these technologies are increasingly being used here and is expected to increase further in
the future. It is also beneficial for candidates to have additional knowledge related to
advanced robotics with intelligence, senses and dexterity. The use of machine learning and
block chain has also become popular these days and the role of data and information is
gradually opening up newer venues within the employability market today (Huang and Rust,
2018). Therefore it may be stated that it is crucial for individuals looking for employment in
the retail sector to strive to acquire these skills so that they may acquire their desired job roles
and be able to work effectively fulfilling all their responsibilities.
4. An online research questionnaire to be sent to an industry professional
The interview questionnaire that would be sent to a professional of the retail industry has
been enclosed below. The data gained from the professional would help in understanding the
ways in which digital disruption has affected the retail industry along with the increasing
significance of data and information today.
Question 1: How has the digital disruption impacted the retail industry?
Question 2: What do you perceive to be the most important advantage of digital disruption
and how is information and data relevant to it?
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Question 3: Do you believe that this has opened up new job opportunities in the retail sector
today?
Question 4: What are the different skills and knowledge required for succeeding in today’s
retail sector keeping the digital disruption in mind?
5. A discussion guide for use in a face to face interview with an industry professional
The above mentioned questions would be asked to the professional from the retail industry in
order to understand the ways in which data and information is crucial in the sector and the
role that digital disruption has played. The researcher would ensure that the questions remain
relevant to the issue and that the professional does not have to spend a huge amount of time
in answering the questions. He would be given a brief idea of the research before
commencement of the interview and it would be ensured that no form of coercion is applied
during the interview process.
6. Test the questionnaire and present if and how the research technique worked
effectively along with future corrections if required
Question 1: Hello, Sir. I am currently researching on the impact of data and
information on the retail sector and would therefore request you to participate in a
small interview.
Professional: Yes, Sure. Please go ahead.
Question 2: How has the digital disruption impacted the retail industry?
Professional: Digital disruption has had a huge impact on the retail industry as it helps in
improving experiences while reducing friction. In a market that is led by changing customer
preferences, we always look out for ways so that customers may be able to find their products
easily. Quick and seamless payment and checkout options are one of the several advantages
of it. It has reduced flaws within our systems while making it more efficient.
Question 3: What do you perceive to be the most important advantage of digital
disruption and how is information and data relevant to it?
Professional: Information and data has proved to be crucial in the retail sector as it has
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enhanced our ways of working. The most important advantage related to digital disruption is
that it has facilitated market research and has made it easier for retailers to understand and
cater to customer preferences. Technological tools have facilitated these practices and have
made the sector more efficient.
Question 4: Do you believe that this has opened up new job opportunities in the retail
sector today?
Professional: Yes digital disruption and the increasing influence of information and data has
opened up new genres of employment in data science, machine learning, IT and artificial
intelligence among several others.
Question 5: What are the different skills and knowledge required for succeeding in
today’s retail sector keeping the digital disruption in mind?
Professional: It has become important for candidates to have a succinct knowledge of
different software and technologies in order to prosper in the professional sphere today.
Table 1: Interview
(Source: Created by the learner)
The questionnaire has been effectual in acquiring relevant data from the professional and this
implies the fact that the research technique has been successful. The information attained
from the professional helped in understanding the impact that digital disruption has on the
retail sector and the ways in which it affects career opportunities and job prospects here. In
future, efforts would be directed towards expanding the scope of the interview whereby more
questions would be added in order to make it more substantial and significant.
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Conclusion
This study concludes that digital disruption is the change or transformation in technological
prospect of a business establishment. It also deduced that it might influence the organisations
in retail industry positively or negatively depending on the capability of the organisations to
implement the same. In addition, it further inferred different skills required by employees in
different designations in the industry to ensure effectual utilisation of disruption process.
Apart from this, questionnaire and discussion guide are formed to gather more information
regarding the way digital disruption impact the career of the professionals within the industry
and the way with which they might overcome.
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Reference List
Deloitte.com 2020 Www2.deloitte.com. Available at:
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/in/Documents/consumer-business/in-
consumer-Digital%20Disruption%20in%20Retail_Retail%20Leadership%20Summit
%202020%20Report.pdf (Accessed: 18 September 2020).
deMorais, A.S.A., Hoeckesfeld, L., Sarquis, A.B. and Mussi, C.C., 2019. Omnichannel as
strategy of innovation in youth fashion retail industry in Brazil. REMark, 18(2), p.268.
Huang, M.H. and Rust, R.T., 2018. Artificial intelligence in service. Journal of Service
Research, 21(2), pp.155-172.
Munandar, A.I. and Albab, B., 2020, June. Disruption of the workforce in the digital era: A
smart store case study. In Managing Learning Organization in Industry 4.0: Proceedings of
the International Seminar and Conference on Learning Organization (ISCLO 2019),
Bandung, Indonesia, October 9-10, 2019 (p. 116). Abingdon: Routledge.
Skog, D.A., Wimelius, H. and Sandberg, J., 2018. Digital disruption. Business & Information
Systems Engineering, 60(5), pp.431-437.
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Appendix
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