The research aims to explore the effects of digitization on the retail industry and focuses on the skills required by the retail workforce. The paper seeks to explore the digital skills required for the retail workforce. The resulting research question is built on the two objectives of finding out the key digital skills required by the retail workforce in Thailand.
This research aims to explore digital skills among retail professionals with non-ICT job roles in Thailand.
LITERATURE REVIEW
- Drivers of Change
- Trends Shaping the Future of Retailing
- The Impact of Digital Transformation on Retail Workforce
- Competency: Skill, Knowledge, and Ability
- Digital Competency
- Digital Skills Framework for Retail
It is the changes in the way people interact, connect, collaborate, find knowledge and create content that are influencing every element of business behavior to reinvent and reimagine the modern world of work. Digitalization as mentioned in Bloomberg (2018), unlike "digitalization", the word "digitalization" is difficult to give one definitive meaning, it does not have a single clear definition (Bloomberg, 2018). Regarding the rapidly changing technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there is a significant impact of technology in the retail industry (Grewal, Roggeveen, & Nordfält, 2017; Reinartz, Wiegand, & Imschloss, 2019).
Retailers rely on initial formats either to adapt or die out as new volume is pulled from their stores, resulting in less profitable residual volume. One of the giant Chinese market players, Alibaba, has already shifted to the post-e-commerce era to embrace the “new retail model” or in other words “omnichannel”. According to the findings of the analysis (Abdullah, 2018), the role of ICT professionals such as IT and engineering has increased from 7 percent to 9 percent in the last four years.
ICT professionals in the retail sector, such as application developers or data analysts, require specialized ICT skills. The research explores three digital competency frameworks that focus on the competencies for the non-ICT job roles in the retail industry. These skills can be explained as essential for IT-related work in the digital age.
Current study interprets the digital skills as a multi-layered unit of 21st century skills integrated with digital skills (Laar, Alexander J. A. M. Van Deursen, Dijk, & Haan, 2019). Twelve skills emphasize the digital aspect in the 'use of ICT' as core skills and. Thus, the Information Technology Competence Model, Skills Framework for The Information Age and 21st Century Digital Skills provided both technical and general competencies related to the general workforce in the digital age.
Due to technological developments, along with changes, the constant adaptation of skills is absolutely necessary for productive participation in the labor market, therefore it is important for the success of the organization to expand the digital skills of workers based on these emerging trends (Ismail, 2017).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Design of the research
Qualitative scientific research aims to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon for the subjects of study (Bryman, 1988). In this research, a qualitative methodology is incorporated, as it helps the author to conduct in-depth interviews that explore the views of managers and senior managers on digital skills. It also shows awareness of the future knowledge of retail and the role of skills development employed in current organizational practices.
Interviewees
Data Collection Procedure
The interview session was scheduled ahead of time, informed consent was obtained from the participants, with the consent to be interviewed verbally described and audio recorded. It was also expressly mentioned that data and findings from the interview would be confidential. To receive a first-hand account of the manager's perspectives on the future of retail, the interviewees were asked questions about the trend of the retail industry, the implication of the future of retail and the projection of any changes regarding retail workforce skills or - ability.
They were also asked if there were any other skills not mentioned in the literature review that they would expect to see in the retail workforce. Finally, a question was asked about the challenges in the next five years that the retail industries and the retail workforce will face. 3. Do you think there is a change in expectations of the retail workforce in terms of skills or abilities?
7. Which of the stated skills do you think are most important for today's retail professionals? 9. What do you think are the challenges that retail professionals and the retail industries will face over the next five years. Although, there was already a question listed before the interview, an open discussion was encouraged during the interview session.
A semi-structured interview allowed new ideas to emerge in the interview based on what each interviewee said (Longhurst, 2010). During the interview, additional questions were raised only to obtain information in order to pursue the objective of the research.
DATA ANALYSIS
The implication of the future of retailing from retail professionals’ perspectives
- Realized changes led by technology and consumer behaviors The questions were asked to gain insight from a manager’s perspective on
- Company gears toward online and omnichannel strategy
- Enablers and challenges
The rise in technological development allows us to do things we never thought possible." (Participant 20). We can no longer focus our efforts entirely on offline or online sales when both are needed. ." (Participant 16). We can no longer just choose the channel we are comfortable with; we have to offer in every customer touch point to capture them." (Participant 1).
The ability to create a seamless experience for customers will enable the future of retail.” (Participant 11). Creating a flawless and seamless experiential shopping journey for consumers, regardless of channels, is a big part of our competitive strategy.” (Participant 22). The interview transcripts showcase insights from Thai retail professionals on the revolution of the retail sector and the future of retail, in line with global trends and literature reviews.
34; We invested a lot in training our staff to keep up with global megatrends and make sure they keep learning." (Participant 9). We need to plan a strategy that provides the resources that will support the future 34 ;The challenge is to build a business model that is highly adaptable and to have people who are highly adaptable, support the business to move forward and reduce the impact of disruption." (Participant 11).
34; The world with technology, traditions will constantly collapse, our challenges as a company or as employees must be to learn and think quickly and accurately." (Participant 2). Few people can explain strategic dynamics, most of us just talk about symptoms." (Participant 18).
Relevant digital competencies for retail professionals
- Functional competencies
- Generic management competencies
- Social competencies
- Cognitive competencies
- Personal characteristics competencies
Even though you still live in an offline world, you need to have at least basic digital literacy to be able to communicate successfully with other people.” 34;I expect my team members to be not only reliable, but also someone I can trust and who will be able to start and finish a project completely on their own." 34;Good interpersonal skills allow you to work more effectively as part of a team, hard knowledge is not enough , we expect employees to be able to cooperate and connect." (Participant 10).
The interviewees said that being confident in decision-making or synthesizing the knowledge across multiple disciplines requires certain industry experiences to do so. However, they look for the cognitive skills in the employee as the skills are crucial to drive business to success. Employees with the ability to assess problems and find solutions or options to solve them on their own, using reasoning or logic, will be valued in the company." (Participant 1).
34; Retailing is about dealing with people and serving what they want or need, which may not reflect the way we normally work. Skills such as creative thinking or problem-solving skills are useful in any role or at any job level in the company. They found adaptability and lifelong learning highly relevant for retail professionals, especially in today's time of change. If you are someone who is a good listener and can quickly apply this to the learning process, you are more likely to go fast and go far." (Participant 22).
However, many interviewees also mentioned several skills that they considered important for retail professionals and were not included in the digital competence framework. The majority of interviewees viewed a highly skilled retail employee as someone who is not only digitally savvy, but also has excellent interpersonal and communication skills, demonstrates a high level of creativity, has analytical and problem-solving skills, and demonstrates cultural sensitivity and the ability to work in different disciplines.
CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
Managerial Implication
The interviewees are technical skills, as with technical skills according to different job functions, and all the listed digital competencies are relevant, but adaptability, creativity, communicativeness, reasonableness (computer and critical thinking), self-management and project management. are the skills that are considered the most important skills. An individual's decision about the skill level they want to achieve and the specialization of the subject to some extent determines the career path throughout the working life.
Limitation and Future Research
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