Technology is transforming the retail industry, and the impact on retailers is game-changing. With an annual growth rate of 12 percent, the market is poised to expand even further in 2017, as retailers refresh and replace their legacy systems with nimble, modern and cost-effective solutions that can support secure mobile strategies and omnichannel initiatives.
Whether you’re just getting into retail or you’re a seasoned pro, Ingram Micro can help you grow your business with a variety of training, certification, tech support and market expertise. Above all, we’re committed to helping you shorten your sales cycle. With that in mind, here are a few retail market opportunities for the year ahead:
- Technology Refresh – Many retailers are looking to upgrade legacy systems and update their technology with some of the more nimble, cost-effective solutions out there today to keep pace with competitors.
- Expanded Line Cards – Let’s face it, retailers are looking for solution providers who can help them securely integrate a host of new technologies, including cloud and managed services, network and data security, digital signage and of course, data capture/POS systems. Anyone can sell products, but those who know how to build integrated, secure solutions will be the ones who grow their business in 2017.
- Key Solutions – Here’s what keeps your retail customers awake at night: Security, payments, infrastructure, in-store experiences, and data analytics. If you can solve those problems for your retail customers, you’ll add more business to your bottom line and create a lot of positive word-of-mouth about your ability to provide affordable peace of mind.
- Go Cloud – What do inventory, supply-chain, data analytics, disaster recovery and business management software have in common? They’re all moving to the cloud. Kick your cloud services business into gear if you want a piece of that growing pie.
- EMV Opportunity – The world is getting more connected every day, and retail stores are no exception. EMV may be the next big thing in payments, but as of a few months ago only 37 percent of US merchants had switched to EMV terminals, and those are mostly large chain stores. That leaves plenty of smaller and midsize retailers who have yet to adopt EMV, which is a wide open opportunity for savvy solution providers to take advantage of.
- Pro/AV Expertise – The digital signage market has expanded over the last few years, and the opportunity extends beyond merely sales and installation. Smart Pro/AV providers also handle content creation, ad sales and content management services to create recurring revenue opportunities that extend beyond the initial purchase.
Let’s Grow
Ingram Micro is more than just a distribution partner. We offer technology expertise, sales support, training, certifications and a whole lot more to help you grow your business.
For example, our new Vertical Advantage program is launching a new vertical-focused virtual learning environment to give your business a competitive edge, and we’re one of the only distributors who offers Pro/AV certifications to help you succeed in that market.
All this, plus our ongoing commitment to help partners shorten the sales cycle, makes Ingram Micro a wise choice for solution providers looking to succeed in the retail space.
To learn more, visit shortenthesalescycle.com or contact your Ingram Micro sales representative today.
Blog courtesy of Ingram Micro. Read more Ingram Micro blogs here.
