Retailers Push Tech Vendors to Make Interoperability a Priority

Technology informs nearly every element of today's shopping experience, but most retailers find themselves unable to innovate at the same pace as today's digital consumers. Recognizing that this imbalance threatens both merchants and technology vendors, a group of 20 leading retailers has issued The Digital Directives: A Commerce Technology Manifesto. The release coincides with the launch of the Digital Directives website at www.digitaldirectives.org.

Collaboratively developed during a workshop held prior to last month's RIS News Cross Channel Executive Summit, the Digital Directives call on technology vendors to make technical interoperability, flexibility and usability their top priorities in order to deliver a harmonized brand experience across all shopping interactions, including websites, social networks, mobile devices, tablets, kiosks or brick-and-mortar stores.

"Internal teams must be allowed to focus on business enablement, user experience and systems integration," says Yul Vanek, vice president of IT at Deckers Outdoor and one of the 20 session participants, which included representatives from segments including footwear, apparel, sporting goods and other specialty retailers. "We don't want to be in the software development business."

The Directives are an acknowledgement that retailers' success "is predicated on technology, but also on their technology providers," says Rob Garf, vice president of product and solutions marketing for Demandware, which facilitated the session. "As a technology provider, we've acknowledged that the industry as a whole needs to do a better job solving business problems, delivering business products and standing by what's actually sold."

The seven interrelated Digital Directives are:
1. Deliver ongoing success beyond the software sale.
2. Solve business problems; don't sell products.
3. Ensure technology is interoperable and extensible.
4. Enable faster innovation to consumers.
5. Extend commerce capabilities into any application, channel, or device.
6. Unify brand experiences for digital consumers.
7. Enable merchants to do their job with minimal reliance on IT.

In addition to the newly launched website, Demandware will host a series of panel discussions in various cities, allowing retailers and brands to further discuss and debate the Digital Directives' impact and implications. The first event will take place October 25 in New York City, moderated by Castanea Partners operating partner Jeffrey Rayport, followed by an October 27 event in San Francisco moderated by Cathy Hotka, principal with Cathy Hotka & Associates.