More than ever, retailers face growing pressure to innovate and adapt to the changing habits of customers – no area is exempt from the impact of the digital revolution. Technology and data bring opportunities to grow sales through ever improving customer experiences. As technology moves at pace, retailers are struggling to identify where to start, and what investments will have the biggest impact on their business.

Today sees the release of the 2018 KX Retail Innovation Index (KX RII), surveying a representative panel of UK consumers to understand the key drivers of innovation and customer loyalty, enabling retailers to understand the key technological developments that matter to shoppers. The report’s findings provide vital statistics on the key technology solutions that retailers should be investing in, as well as ranking 50 top UK retailers based on their performance in the KX RII.

Highlights from the report include:

1. Innovation is key to survival and success; brands that score highly on the KX Retail Innovation Index, are growing at twice the rate of those that are not seen as innovators
2. Unsurprisingly, digital giants Amazon, Apple and Ocado top the leader board, but Argos and John Lewis are close behind delivering stand-out performance for multi-channel
3. Interestingly, Ikea performs well in the Innovation Index, driven by their passion and focus on innovating around product and price, which is critical to the home category
4. Competitive pricing was ranked highly across the board, with 76% of UK consumers using technology to help them find value when shopping
5. Ease and personalisation are key to delivering customer experience through innovation, but shoppers still value human contact, with 64% of consumers agreeing it’s important that technology does not remove human interaction

Of the thousands surveyed, the majority of respondents were influenced by ease and convenience when choosing a retail brand, closely followed by the want for a personalised experience.  “It’s not rocket science” said Thomas Hill, SVP Retail Services at KX.

“The basics in retail have remained the same, but how you deliver them is changing.  Brands need to keep up with the latest technology in order to deliver these better than the competition.  The easiest brand to shop with will be the most successful.”

This is reflected in the key drivers:

1. Range and choice to suit individual needs
2. Good availability of products consumers want to buy
3. Finding products easily and efficiently

Helping retailers understand the areas most important to their shoppers has previously been a challenge.  “Data and technology is clearly critical to retailers, but until now it’s been difficult to know where to focus investment to achieve the biggest gains.” said Damon Bryan, SVP of Retail Analytics at KX. “KX can answer this, and help retailers focus on the key innovations that drive their category growth.  What is clear is that retailers that innovate to be the easiest to shop with are winning.”

Download the full report from KX here: https://kx.com/solutions/retail/retail-innovation-index/download-report/

Join KX for the KX Retail Innovation Index Launch:
On: 21 February 2018
In: Hoxton Grill, London, EC2A 3HU
Please RSVP to secure your place
For speakers, agenda and further details visit: https://kx.com/kx-retail-innovation-index-launch/

For further information please contact: retail@kx.com

About KX
KX is a division of FD, a global technology provider with 20 years of experience working with some of the world’s largest finance, technology, retail, pharma, manufacturing and energy institutions. KX technology, incorporating the kdb+ time-series database, is a leader in high-performance, in-memory computing, streaming analytics and operational intelligence. KX delivers the best possible performance and flexibility for high-volume, data-intensive analytics and applications across multiple industries. The Group operates from 14 offices across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, including its headquarters in Newry, and employs more than 2,000 people worldwide.

For more information about KX please visit www.kx.com. For general inquiries, write to info@kx.com.