Digital Transformation in Engineering: A Journey of Innovation in Retail

Digital transformation is the goal of each business in the retail industry today. It is the tool used by various businesses across the world to understand and modify their business models. A digital transformation is a strategic approach through which businesses access a wider market. It is a process by which the company integrates new technologies into its operations. Different departments within the company can rely on the technology for data analytics, especially with the growing customer base. As a result, digital transformation gives companies a better avenue through which they can engage their customers to understand and meet their needs effectively.

Digital transformation is relevant in the current business environments due to the changing customer needs. Organizations are experiencing a very competitive business environment in which new technologies are giving customers convenience. Customers’ expectations, therefore, already reflect the changing technical landscape. Online shopping, tracking orders online, and personalized advertisements that suit customers’ preferences are some of the elements affecting customer experience. In the retail sector, changing customer expectations in the wake of new technology influences a company’s competitive advantage. Markedly, companies that invest massive resources in digital transformations have an advantage compared to those still relying on traditional business models.

Walmart is a retailer with different branches and classifications of commodities. Digital transformation at Walmart clearly reflects the company's journey of transformation. It highlights some of the key areas from which the organization can begin its digital transformation process. It can help in explaining the complexity of the process of digital transformations. Digital transformation entails leadership, strategy, culture, and organization. A company may begin with transforming one element before adopting a comprehensive transformation process. This paper shall highlight the strategic imperative, the path to successful transformation, navigating challenges, celebrating progress, and reflecting on Walmart's journey of digital transformation. This paper shall also feature some of the lessons learned about the process of digital transformation in the retail sector.

The Strategic Imperative

Digital transformation is a balance between the leadership capabilities of the company and the ability to take advantage of the existing opportunities that come with digitization. The strategic importance of digital transformation for companies is evident in the Walmart retail sector. To begin with, there are significant opportunities that companies can access when they implement digital transformation. The online environment is wide and gives access to different markets both locally and globally. It provides extensive leeway for the company to mobilize resources to explore the opportunities that come with digitization. In Walmart, for instance, e-commerce is a major contributor to the company’s growth. It connects the company to the global community of clients.

Walmart chose digital transformation as a strategic framework for attaining its vision of transforming the retail sector through technology. Digital transformation was a suitable vehicle for it to reach that level and subject its leaders and stakeholders to a long-term learning process. Importantly, the company understood the impact of technology in aiding its commitment to become a key player. Today, the company is a leading supply chain manager due to its digital transformation, which enabled it to achieve cutting-edge technology like barcodes and other leveraged tools. The digitization process was the new culture in the business environment. As a leading retail organization, Walmart considered digital transformation to be a key milestone for them to attain a competitive edge.

Noteworthy, stiff competition was the major challenge that promoted digital transformation in Walmart. The company wanted to maintain a higher competitive advantage at a lower cost and increased efficiency. As a result, it pursued a strategy through which it could convey items to the customers and order the right quantities from the suppliers without the need for warehousing. It is common for companies to experience increased demand, which comes with an upsurge in the costs of operation. Avoiding the storage of the items helped Walmart take advantage of the advancement in barcode technology and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). These strategies aided the company in designing the path for success in the digital transformation agenda.

Crafting a Path to Success

The beginning of digital transformation at Walmart commenced with leveraging AI technology. This was the era of the invention of the barcode and the RFID technologies in the company’s supply chain. The aim was to overcome its rivals by introducing a universal barcode. The barcode allowed the organization to track its merchandise. They could track the point-of-sale data in real-time to inform them about the items required in their stores. They could also inform their manufacturers about their inventory status so they can supply or manufacture based on the changing needs of their customers. This digital transformation enabled analysis of the mined information, monitoring changing customer behavior, prediction of demand, and enabling the suppliers to deliver the correct quantities at the right time without necessarily using warehouses.

RFID technology is a strategy component, which is a technology integration with a direct impact on the customers and staff alike. The technology requires the producers to integrate a chip that carries much of the information about each product. This helped the company to understand the product better, its availability, and the amount to restock to sustain the supply. The integration of RFID technology in Walmart improved the company's inventory management capabilities. The company attained better negotiating power with suppliers and its manufacturers. These gave the organization a more competitive edge in the highly competitive industry.  

Walmart plans to take advantage of its digital transformation and technology integration into its supply chain to retain its influence in the retail sector. It is among the top supply chain managers with efficient inventory management systems. The company has already made long strides in the digitization of its supply chain systems and purchasing, and it has created real-time monitoring of the orders and tracking of commodities. Its aim to achieve the greatest level of inventory management affordably is evident in its plans to leverage AI technology to enhance customer and supplier experience.

Navigating Roadblocks

Digital transformation obviously had significant challenges, which affected the adoption of new technologies by organizations. One of the key barriers is the cost of digitization. Digital transformation comes with costs, including costs of technological tools, equipment, worker training, and data security. Additional challenges include data security risks, learning and adopting new technologies, meeting the needs of clients, competition, and streamlining supply chain activities. Walmart experienced similar challenges in its digital transformation journey. However, strategic interventions aided its efforts to overcome the challenges.

Walmart managed the costs of digital transformation by reducing the need to store items in warehouses. The digital transformation process allowed the company to manage its investors so that suppliers could distribute only the items required at the right time without the need for storage. In addition, the technology helped the company streamline its supply chain by increasing its efficiency and reducing delays. The RFID enabled clear insights into various characteristics of the products, which also guided the company to understand the changing preferences and expectations of customers. The innovative culture of the organization is reminiscent of the resilience and the problem-solving ethos. 

Celebrating Progress

Walmart has an e-commerce platform that is efficient and easy to update. This makes it easy for the customers and other users of the platform to navigate and execute their activities seamlessly. This milestone makes the system easy and convenient for staff and customers. As a result, the company improved customer and staff experience with its digital transformation agenda. In addition, the organization achieved the goal of consistency in guaranteeing digital experience for its customers. The digital experience is a major factor that sustains the company's customer base. The best metric to monitor these successes is the increased speed of data processing and improved efficiency of the organization's e-commerce platform.

A key success in Walmart's digital transformation is the streamlining of data analytics. The implementation of RFID technology on products improved the monitoring of customer behavior, changing preferences, and the quantity of commodities required. The company accessed both product information and data on customer needs. These enabled the efficiency in placing an order with the correct amount of items at the right time and with consistent tracking from loading to delivery.

Reflecting on the Journey and Looking Forward 

The journey of digital transformation in Walmart has several lessons that are suitable for the current and emerging business players. Firstly, digital transformation requires a clear vision and resilience to work towards attaining it. Companies must set realistic goals and identify their target technological requirements. Identifying the requirements, capabilities, competitive edge, and resilience to overcome challenges is critical. Moreover, digital transformation is costly and can help companies to reduce their operating costs. Companies should consider beginning the process in a stepwise fashion to avoid the cost of transition from the traditional business models in the retail sector to the current digital models.

Walmart is not relenting on its commitment to a digital business culture. The organization continues to expand its e-commerce system to cater to the changing needs of its clients. The company is relying on the RFID and braider leveraging of AI technology to monitor customer preferences, market trends, and emerging opportunities in the retail industry. The long-term goal of the organization in this respect is to achieve efficient inventory management capabilities beyond its current measure.

Conclusion

Digital transformation is the future of the retail sector. Customer expectations, increasing competition, and increasing customer data for processing are key drivers of the digital transformation agenda. Digital transformation gives companies a greater competitive advantage by opening avenues for innovation and better opportunities and exposing the company to the global environment. Companies in the retail industry should consider digital transformation as a major influential force for business landscape and performance. The achievements of Walmart owing to the digital transformation program are real and evident in the company’s business environment, especially e-commerce. Improvements are evident in customer experiences, efficiency levels, better data analytics and processing approaches, and a promising exportation of digital transformation through research.