Can IT best practices and retail-specific technology applications help U.S. retailers weather the recession? 

Retailers spend just 2.9 percent of revenue on IT, according to recent survey data. Contrast that with the finance and banking category, which spends 7.7 percent of revenue on IT.

Across every industry, however, CEOs and business leaders have made it clear about what they want from IT now: Acquire and retain customers; manage customer relationships; and drive innovative new-market offerings, according to the combined State of the CIO and Forrester Research data (which surveyed 600 top business executives).

Retailers are spending their time and money mostly on five areas: merchandise assortment and space planning, allocation and optimization; regular price, promotion and markdown optimization; in-store systems such as point of sale (POS), kiosks and mobile technologies aimed at improving the customer experience; cross-channel merchandising that improves channel visibility and connectivity; and business intelligence (BI) that facilitates action.

Source:  NetworkWorld,  Can Technology Help Retailers Survive '09?

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