Retail Needs Top Talent

In an era of such massive disruption for retail, the future success of the industry actually depends more on talent than technology. Our ability to attract and retain young leaders who are comfortable with digital thinking and constant change is critical.

But if you believe the alarmist headlines, these kinds of tech-savvy individuals are supposedly categorically opposed to retail. We’re told that they are busy building apps and bots and designing drones for pizza deliveries and have no time for retail. But guess what? Increasingly, these jobs ARE a part of the modern retail industry, offering incredible opportunities to do new and innovative things that impact Americans everywhere.

As we discussed with students at the Smeal College of Business at Penn State University last month, this accelerating pace of change is actually creating thousands of exciting prospects in the retail industry.

Retail employment has grown by half a million jobs in the last four years and is expected to increase by another 1 million through 2022.

More importantly, many of these jobs are in advanced fields like digital and analytics, and offer promising career paths, engaging challenges and new opportunities to shape our industry.

In other words, drones, apps and bots and a robust retail industry go hand in hand. We just need the talent to figure out what that future looks like, and most importantly, make it relevant for consumers.

We can trace the growth of these dynamic new retail jobs to larger industry trends over the last five to 10 years. What was once cutting-edge is now the norm.

Digital sales have grown 275 percent over the last decade, and retailers have adopted an array of advanced tools. Industry pioneers are innovating with cloud-based software, using predictive analytics to manage customer needs and experimenting with immediate mobile purchases and interactive ads.

Technology and shifting customer expectations have driven this transformation. As the most consumer-centric business in the world, retail has always focused on building experiences and connecting with people in their daily lives. Those lives now include digital, advanced computing and mobile — so it’s natural that retail, and retail’s business leaders, would embrace these new elements.  

Far from shuttering bricks-and-mortar stores, technological transformation is enhancing the role of traditional retail. Though growing quickly, digital accounts for just 7.5 percent of total retail sales. Online, mobile and in-store channels are converging —  not competing —  to provide a single, complementary experience that better serves customers.

These sweeping changes are creating an entirely new class of retail jobs. Opportunities and career paths have opened for those who can embrace disruption, especially young, digital-native business leaders. As Mindy Grossman, CEO of HSNi and incoming chairwoman of NRF, highlighted at Retail’s Academic Symposium, we are seeing the rise of new executive-level positions such as SVP of strategy and analytics, vice president of multichannel marketing and chief digital officer. These roles did not exist five years ago, but they are now some of the most in-demand jobs in retail.

So, what skills and mindset do young leaders need to land these digital-age retail titles? And to stay competitive, what types of candidates should retailers look for? Three qualities are key:

Curiosity about customers. Despite breakneck change, retail’s biggest strength is the same as ever: instant feedback from millions of customer interactions every day. We have better tools to analyze and leverage this feedback now, but a fundamental curiosity — about what customers want, dislike and respond to — is still the key to success in retail. Without this essentially human trait, the most advanced algorithms and data stockpiles cannot build an enjoyable customer experience, or a high-performing retail business.

Top-tier analytical abilities. Executives in retail have access to an unprecedented amount of data. Sometimes, too much. Big data can paralyze decision-makers without the necessary technical skillsets to distill actionable insights. As a result, retail’s future leaders may come from fields not traditionally associated with the industry: In the last year alone, retailers have posted over 15,000 openings for software developers and more than 10,000 for business and management analysts.

Comfort with change. Today’s world moves at the pace of constant disruption. That means a stream of opportunities for those who are prepared, and a competitive headwind for those who lag behind. Tomorrow’s retail executives will need to embrace change, even though it may seem overwhelming. That means always looking forward, regardless of where your business is in its technological journey.

Attracting this talent is the foundation of retail’s future. As Kip Tindell, chairman and co-founder of The Container Store and chairman of the NRF, said at Retail’s BIG Show, “Without great talent, retail simply can’t provide the level of service that our customers expect. It can’t innovate, or develop new technologies and new products. It’s ALL about the talent.”

There is still work to do, and some outdated misconceptions remain.

We need to better articulate the competitive, sophisticated nature of careers in today’s retail world. But the opportunities, innovation and excitement are already here.

What do you think? What skills will be highly valued by retailers five years from now, or 10? What enduring lessons should young leaders always keep in mind? How can those further into their career retool for the digital era? How can retail businesses attract the leaders they need?