A Q&A with Digital Wave Technology’s CEO Lori Schafer. Find the original article published on Drug Store News (pages 30-32) here.
Drug Store News (DSN): Digital transformation is reshaping retail. How has Digital Wave Technology adapted its solutions to meet the evolving needs of retailers?
Lori Schafer (LS): Digital Wave Technology has leveraged its extensive expertise in retail, consumer brands, and retail technology to adapt to the evolving needs of retailers. The company's core strength lies in product data intelligence, addressing the complexities of ensuring the right product, content, placements, pricing, promotions, and inventory across all customer touchpoints. Digital Wave has built a platform that integrates master data across retail applications, from Product Information Management to merchandising, marketing and fulfillment solutions. This platform incorporates the latest cloud architecture including an analytical, highly scalable database and secure AI and generative AI capabilities native within the platform, enabling rapid development and adaptability of all retail applications. By providing a consistent and reliable data foundation, Digital Wave ensures one version of the truth and accuracy across channels, delivering actionable insights and equips retailers to enhance operations, improve customer experiences, and prepares retailers for an ever-changing future.
DSN: In your experience, what are the key challenges female leaders face in the retail technology sector, and how can these be overcome?
LS: I want to flip this question on its head and instead ask: how can female leaders use their position in the retail technology sector as a competitive advantage? The industry has made great strides in advancing women into executive roles. Women often bring nurturing and empathetic qualities, excel at reading people, and strive to understand subjects deeply before speaking. These traits enhance credibility and authenticity. Understanding the domain and how technology adds business value is crucial in retail technology. Additionally, women's strengths in customer satisfaction and mentoring further bolster their effectiveness.
DSN: Could you share a recent success story where Digital Wave Technology significantly improved the retail operations of a client?
LS: Digital Wave Technology recently helped a multi-billion-dollar retailer by deploying PIM with Generative AI and AI Price Optimization. This resulted in a 50% increase in drop-shipped SKUs in 120 days and reallocated 25% of product enrichment and web operations staff through automation. Manual product content creation was reduced by 90%, speeding up the process to under one day per product. Inventory visibility improved, reducing items with inventory but not available online by 80%, boosting sales and customer satisfaction. Conversions increased by 25%, cart abandonment decreased by 25%, revenue grew by 1.39%, gross margin by 4.54%, gross margin percentage increased by 1 point, and EBITDA rose 1.3%, resulting in a profit improvement of over 40% across the company.
DSN: With the rise of e-commerce, how do you see the future of brick-and-mortar retail evolving, and what role does technology play in this evolution?
LS: The future of brick-and-mortar retail will integrate smoothly with Ecommerce, supporting the customer journey across all channels. While digital shopping surged during the Covid crisis, physical stores remain essential, especially for entertainment, fashion, and quick purchases like groceries. Stores serve as destinations for experiencing products firsthand while some categories suit digital purchases, with stores acting as showrooms for inspiration. Technology plays a vital role in merging these experiences, ensuring retailers have a strong and complementary digital and physical presence tailored to the customer journey.
DSN: What advice would you give to women looking to pursue a career in technology within the retail industry?
LS: For women pursuing a career in retail technology, here’s my advice:
Practical Experience: Gain hands-on experience through internships or project-based work while in school.
Industry-Specific Knowledge: Understand retail operations, including data management, supply chain, inventory control, and customer experience. Retail technology success relies on experts who know both the business and the technology.
Technology Proficiency: Learn about retail-specific technologies, including AI, GenAI, blockchain, and business process tools.
Data Focus: Concentrate on actionable insights to drive business agility and growth.
Networking: Attend industry conferences, tech meetups, and networking events to connect with professionals and stay updated on trends.
Continuous Learning: Stay informed about technological advancements through online courses, webinars, and workshops.
Productivity Tools: Use project management and collaboration platforms to enhance efficiency.
Openness to Innovation: Embrace new technologies and innovations that can advance the retail industry, like aligning product and customer data for a better experience.
A career in retail technology is dynamic and rewarding for those who thrive in fast-paced environments, enjoy continuous learning, and are passionate about transforming the shopping experience.
DSN: As the CEO of Digital Wave Technology, what do you consider your proudest achievement in advancing retail technology solutions?
LS: As the CEO of Digital Wave Technology, my proudest achievement is leading the launch of our innovative Digital Wave One™ platform. Traditional retail solutions often operate in silos, lacking integration and requiring redundant data storage. Additionally, analytical technology has been limited to specific use cases, resulting in inefficiencies and reliance on spreadsheets. Our AI-native, rapid development platform integrates data across various enterprise solutions—MDM, PIM, merchandising, marketing, pricing, content management, and fulfillment. This ensures clean data and a single version of the truth, streamlining workflows and enhancing efficiency across the entire enterprise.
DSN: Looking ahead, what innovations or trends do you foresee shaping the future of retail technology, and how is Digital Wave Technology preparing for them?
LS: The future of retail technology is being shaped by omnichannel retailing, AI, AR/VR, IoT, and blockchain. Digital Wave Technology is preparing for these by leveraging big data for customer insights and predictive analytics, optimizing digital and store performance, and enhancing operational efficiency. Digital Wave’s ONE platform is built for omnichannel retailing, fully integrating AI and GenAI technologies to adapt to evolving algorithms and large language models. This ensures retailers can offer personalized shopping experiences, improve inventory management, and enhance customer engagement, staying ahead in the dynamic retail landscape.