RETAILERS GOING HIGH TECH
By Adnews Staff
The results of the Ernst & Young Consulting Services Inc. 1998 Canadian Retail Information Technology Survey indicate that Canadian retailers, aside from solving their immediate Y2K problems, are investing in information technology. In the survey, average IT operating expenses were estimated at 1.2% of company sales, up 20% from last year. Capital spending has also increased to an average of 1.7% of company sales, almost twice the levels reported the year before. Store systems, such as point of sale devices and networks, are receiving these dollars. Sixty-nine percent of retailers in the survey currently have a website and another 25% plan to go live on the Web in the next 12 months. According to the survey 81% of those are using the Web to distribute marketing information to customers. Only 41% of respondents currently sell or plan to sell products via their home pages. Thirteen percent said they use the Web to conduct business transactions with their vendors. Improvements are also being seen in data warehouses. Fifty percent of retailers currently use a data warehouse, with another 41% planning to do so in the near future. Ernst & Young polled 32 executives from Canadian retailers for the Retail IT survey. The largest percentage (25) represented apparel and accessories merchants. The Retail IT survey was done in association with the Retail Council of Canada.