The coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdowns across the world have not only highlighted but also increased our dependency on technology. This was underlined recently by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, who declared that Microsoft has seen two years' worth of digital transformation in just two months during this period.
This acceleration and dependency can likewise be seen in the retail and payments spheres. In the UK, as the pandemic took hold in March and the country went into lockdown, many of the country’s e- commerce businesses suddenly found themselves facing a previously unprecedented level of demand.
According to e-commerce provider Edge by Ascential, coronavirus is expected to have increased the UK’s ecommerce sector by £5.3 billion by the end of the year. Online sales in 2020 are now expected to grow 19 % year-on-year, up from pre-pandemic estimates of 11%, rising from a total of £66.3 billion in 2019 to £78.9 billion this year. Amazon is likely to be one of the winners during this period.
Likewise Deloitte has found that ecommerce growth in the US as at 1st May was up 68%, accounting for over 40% of total retail sales.
A direct impact of the pandemic is that it is causing retailers to accelerate their digital transformation efforts. It is estimated that two-thirds (60%) of UK retail companies are reviewing their business strategies, with almost half (42%) looking to invest in digital, according to research by Livearea, another e-commerce services provider.
The impact on retail will be long-lasting, with the key to survival being business agility. As no-one at this stage knows what the post-covid resultant consumer behaviour will be – how much of the switch to online shopping remains permanent or how much footfall will return to the high street -– businesses will need a strategy that can adapt instantly. Effectively this means adopting a digital approach, developing the technology and culture to put online first.
One shift that is likely to be permanent is the increased use of contactless, both from a hygiene perspective and ease-of-use habit.
It could also be said that the current situation offers an opportunity to those retailers who are able to grasp and exploit it. In addition to contactless, there are a number of technology-enabled enhancements which have been introduced or strengthened by Retailers in response to new consumer behaviour. Virtual queuing, footfall analytics to identify number of checkouts required, self-checkout and chatbots helping customers identify the least busy time to shop are some of the initiatives which are being explored by retailers.
The retail businesses that are able to adopt a digital strategy and develop technology-based solutions are likely to be the ones that survive the pandemic.
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"Savantor did an absolutely superb job for us on the Collections programme. The professionalism, hard work, courtesy and tenacity of their experts is a credit both to the individuals and to Savantor."
Peter O'Dea, Senior Manager - Collections Department - Permanent tsb bank - Ireland
"Savantor brought an effective blend of European acquirer market expertise and transaction processing solution design. Their experts quickly forged strong working relationships with our team. We enjoyed working with them to create our future acquirer strategy."
Mikko Hyttinen, SVP - Lending Services - OP-Pohjola Group - Finland
"Execution at its best. We're delighted that this project has been truly outstanding and received an award from 'The Banker'. Savantor provided crucial expertise that helped us keep all our promises in terms of delivery. The scheduling, planning and control regime throughout was excellent."
Chris Mason, Director - Commercial Cards EMEA - Citi - UK
"We were in urgent need of external independent expertise to supplement our internal resources. Senior consultants had to quickly integrate with a diverse team from across the bank and actively contribute. I am pleased to say that Savantor was able to deliver on our needs as well as being good people to do business with."
Lars Bostrom, Head of Cards - Nordea - Scandinavia
"OP-Pohjola Group has used Savantors help in numerous different specialist projects differing from risk assessment to management tool creation to transaction analysis. We have been very satisfied by the quality of the service provided by Savantor's experts."
Kai Lindstrom, Head of Acquiring - OP-Services Ltd - Finland
"This was a major business transformation that required us to build an excellent team made up of internal bank specialists, supported by external card business, technical and operations expertise. Savantor provided specialists from the local market and with international experience to fill a variety of important roles. The Savantor resourcing team are professional, reliable and good people to work with."
Ricardo Gomez, Director - Operations & Technology - WiZink Bank - Spain
"Savantor helped ACI build a payments onboarding workshop for new technical staff in ACI EMEA. Their extensive experience took our outline and built a great starting presentation of industry facts that we have now customised further into a half day session that is used for all new joiners. Our Americas and APAC regions have also taken the material and customised it for their regions. A great job by Savantor has meant new joiners to ACI hit the ground running."
Richard Sanders, Principal Solution Consultant - ACI - Worldwide EMEA
"Disciplined methodology and effective teamwork, guided by Savantor's migration expertise and operational knowledge, were the hallmarks that led to the resounding success of this project, enabling us to maintain and develop our business capability."
Robert Lambert, Head of Cards Strategy - Permanent tsb bank - Ireland
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