WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Grocery is the last frontier for digital disruption, everyone knows (huge market but late adopter of digital, especially eCommerce see http://sco.lt/8ai7W5 http://sco.lt/6q1Ijx http://sco.lt/8Y94vh ).

But no one knows when exactly they'll get disrupted. Many are betting on eCommerce but from the looks of this report, we may see a lot of changes in our weekly trip to the supermarket, from shelf monitoring to augmented reality.

Then again, grocers are pre-historic in their use of technology because of low margins and a very repetitive shopping experience. We mostly always buy the same products and are looking at our store "experience" to be fast with low prices, not so much fun and experiential (see Amazon GO http://sco.lt/8MTY8X where there is no cash register to slow you down still needs to be cheap http://sco.lt/80HuqX).

So my bets are on the startups that enable faster grocery shopping at a low cost- all others I expect will have a hard time (sorry AR and VR startups...)!

Bloomberg video interview that provides motivations for the explosion on VR in the coming years:

1- applications are numerous, with opportunities in different space, not only in gaming but in medical, movie, etc.

2- big players are lined up : Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc.

That being said, there have been multiple false starts for VR and #D (remember 3D TVs and google glasses?), so I remaining cautiously optimistic with both VR and AR. They may not be ready for consumer market but may expand into certain key niche applications and industries.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT

In that context, it is essential for digital transformation strategies to consider VR and AR in their roadmaps. There must be clear business needs to drive adoption of this relatively immature technology which requires a number of user constraint (least of which is wearing a headset which makes you look like a dork and prevents you from living in the moment). But there are multiple types of industries where professionals can find benefits in viewing things in 3D in a lifelike fashion: those should be prioritized.