How digital transformation can boost Nigerian, Finnish retail sector

A new research has unveiled the enormous impacts digital transformation can have on both Nigerian and Finnish retail sub-sector on one hand, and the global business circle on the other.

The revelation comes amidst increasing indecision in online shopping, a development throwing many mangers into confusion, due to their inability to meet their targets, said Sunday Adewale Olaleye, a Nigerian, in his doctoral thesis with the University of Oulu, Finland.

While noting that the penetration of a tablet device is advancing, its usage in Nigeria has increased to nine per cent, and Afrione Limited, a mobile technology assembly market that specialises in tablet production and other devices is growing in improving and democratising technology in Africa.

He added that in Finland, the influence of tablet device in various sectors such as education, hospitality, and others are appreciable. He said that, a renowned Yetitablet that was founded in 2015 is expanding across borders and the start-up has reached €1 million. Yetitablet is among the ten-promising start-up in Finland.

According to the doctoral study, having known the progress of tablet device in the two countries, the managerial implications create useful awareness for further actions regarding how the customer can be reached everywhere with better customer’s service, less investment, and customisation. This effort, he added, orchestrates online customer loyalty strategies in tablet commerce.

Olaleye said that the quick change in consumer behaviour indicates the rethinking of retailers’ short and long-term strategy for digital transformation as an ongoing project.

He said that mobile intervention is a key component of an organisation general digital transformation strategy, which requires technology professionals and business leaders to collaborate to work in lockstep.

According to the study, a comparative analysis was done between the two countries and it was discovered that the impact of security, technology, utilitarian and eminent factors related to customer loyalty to the online retailer, which is a growing trend in two cultures in tablet commerce research setting.

He revealed that tablet commerce context could be a dynamic entity that changes with the intensity of trust (low, medium, high) and the customer’s experience (positive or negative).

Olaleye said that, the results of the study provide a positive shopping experience that can be transformed into customer loyalty while the trust level of the customer shopping experience is very low in a developed context.

Also, the study discovered variation in gender tablet commerce based on the integrated model as well as the gender divergence, which was higher on one antecedent of loyalty than the others in the two countries.

Similarly, the study proposes enhanced and customised Decision Support System (DSS), to the managers to tackle the problem of customer indecision.

DSS, he said, comprised of a database, software and user interface, adding that, DSS are common as an aid to help the managers to take a logic decision, but this proposed DSS will help the online retailing customer to take both semi-structured and complex decisions while shopping online. The DSS target concern customer, nervous customer and high expectant customer and serves as an agent of decision follow-up system.

The study noted that the retail business sector, is growing on a global scale and stands as the cornerstone of all economies. “It is advancing from being a midfielder to gradually approaching the leadership level.” There is limited research on mobile devices in the retailing sectors, most especially on the use of a tablet device.

“Mobile devices are impacting business sectors and they represent one of the key growth areas for several business sectors, including retailing. Mobile devices impact every facet of daily life and they are billable devices which help people pay with ease and convenience. The increasing sophistication of mobile devices is attracting retailing business for customer engagement and profit maximisation. It is pertinent to know what retailers should do to serve the needs of their mobile customers,” the study submitted.

Essentially, he said customer retention is the priority of a retailer, along with building enduring consumer loyalty. The overall goal of the study is to examine the relevance of mobile commerce in the digital transformation of retailing.