Six Elements Keep Retailers Ahead of the Game
NEW YORK — The goal of any retailer looking to stand out from its competitors is to be known as a disruptor. To win the retail game takes changing how it is played, and technology is at the heart of the playbook.
At the foundation of becoming a game changer in retail are six core elements that allow a company to disrupt the market, according to Kayla Broussard, U.S. chief technology officer — consumer and travel market at Kyndryl. They are:
- Culture Focus: Fostering a culture that shapes your brand identity and reputation, and helps attract and retain talent.
- Customer-Centric Design: Understanding and prioritizing your customers' needs, preferences and pain points.
- The Promise: Defining what customers can expect from you — distinctive advantages and experiences you promise.
- Omnichannel Presence: Providing a seamless shopping experience across all physical and digital touchpoints.
- Innovation & Technology: Embracing advanced technologies to innovate various aspects of retail with automation and data-drive decisions.
- Agility & Adaptability: Quickly adapting to changing market dynamics and consumer trends with an emphasis on continuous improvements.
"Just when you think you think you nailed it in retail, you are dead," she said during the education session "Staying One Step Ahead" at the National Retail Federation's (NRF) 2025 Retail's Big Show in January. "There is always something to improve upon or innovate to reshape the retail landscape."
Broussard cited Wawa Inc. as an example of a retailer leading the charge and staying one step ahead of the game. The Pennsylvania-based convenience retailer operates more than 1,050 stores across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Washington, D.C., with 47,000 associates. The chain serves more than 1 billion customers a year, and sells 182 million cups of coffee and 80 million hoagies annually.
Speaking to the six core elements highlighted by Broussard, Declan Forde, manager, technical support at Wawa, said every successful company has a differentiating factor. For Wawa, that factor is the company's culture.
"Wawa doesn't play lip service to the core values that define the company," he said.
Culture will play a key role as Wawa navigates its way through an aggressive growth plan, with technology playing an important supporting role. "This is an exciting time to work for Wawa," Forde said. "It took us 60 years to get to 1,000 stores and we want to double that by the next decade."
However, there are core processes in place today that will not get the c-store operator to that goal. That is something Wawa is looking into now, he noted. For example, Wawa is looking into streamlining some operations for area managers. According to Forde, the retailer's area leadership are used to picking up the phone when something breaks in a store — a model that will not scale with 2,000 stores. Instead, the retailer needs to digitalize the process.
And while it is focused on technology, the retailer has not list sight of its customers.
"The nuance for Wawa is that we have grown up as a company with a focus on the customer experience," he explained. "We are very focused on keeping that customer engagement and finding that balance between a great customer experience and technology."
Wawa recently made "America's Best Customer Service 2025" list, presented by Newsweek.
The 2025 Retail's Big Show took place Jan. 12-14 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. Drawing approximately 40,000 attendees, the event featured more than 1,000 exhibitors and 100-plus education sessions.
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