Retail Industry

Retail industry is one of the most prominent industry throughout the globe which is evident from the fact that it contributes 10% of global economy. Walmart is the biggest physical retailer in the world however, Amazon, Alibaba and others also global leaders of retail industry and are changing the face of retail industry. The changing format of the retail industry have deemed need for adoption of the technological innovations to cope up with the competitive market and become a global leader.

Mobile banking is one of such technological advancement that is impacting the retail industry. The online retail industry such as Alibaba, Amazons are very much dependent over the mobile banking however, the physical retail stores such as Walmart, Home Depot, IKEA, Costco and others can continue their operations without adopting mobile banking. Hence, it becomes crucial to identify the role that mobile banking is capable of playing in retail industry. The paper in discussion is dedicated towards identification through review of the literary work that had been assessed on the subjects (retail industry and mobile banking).

Literature review are done to identify the status of knowledge that is available on a subject(s) or a scenario. The identification from the review will detail some findings that will be crucial for future works. The following section has offered an insight into the literary work that had been assessed on the subjects and presented a summary of the findings in the summary section to conclude on the paper.

A. Retail Industry

Retail refers to the process of selling of goods and services to the consumers of goods and services through different channels (online or physical) of distribution and in the process earn profit. The retail industry which is generally considered to be limited by the grocery has a very broader range which includes retailing of electronics, apparels, groceries, accessories and all other product or service categories that is consumed by the commoners in a bulk or small amount [13]. It even includes the furniture, sporting goods, hardware, pharmaceutical and multiple others.

Retail sector is one of the major contributor to a countries progress which is evident from the data published by the Parliament of UK. In the published report it has been stated that the output presented by the retail sector in 2017 was £92.8 billion and it employed over 2.8 million employees which is a huge number. It has also been identified that the internet sales of the retail industry in UK grew from mere 5% to 18% in 2018 within a 10-year time period [1].

Technologies in Retail Industry

The above stated fact can be taken into account to state that the online retailing is increasing and eventually it is causing increase in the online transaction. The figure stated above regarding the retail industry is not limited to UK but further extends to different countries and all of them states that retail industry is a major contributor to a nation’s economy and prosperity [15].

The review of the articles above could be summarized to state that the retail industry is one of the major contributor to a nation’s progress and with the extension of the industry and the technology online retailing is increasing which is paving the way of e-commerce into the industry.

B. Technologies in Retail industry

Technology has emerged as one of the integral part of every genre of industry and retail industry has also been affected by the technologies. The size and expansion of the industry determine the technology that is being adopted in the industry. In case of global retailing brands such as Walmart and others, mega software that are developed to undertake some broader operations such as ERP, Data Analytics and others are equipped [7]. However, the technologies such as PoS (Point of Sales), Barcode Scanners and printer and other technologies have made themselves part of even the minor stores. Furthermore, disruptive technologies such as the Automation, Drones and others are also making their ways in the retailing industry. Amazon is one of the prime example of the retailing industry that is using drones for its operations.

ERP (Enterprise Resources Planning), AIS (Accounting Information System), Networking and other are some technologies that are assisting large retail chains in maintaining a balanced business. The ERP collects data and manages a balanced operation along with multiple other capabilities. While AIS can be considered as an integral part of ERP but it has its existence at an individual level where it manages the accounts, finance, tenders, sales and other transactional needs of the organisation [9].  Networking are done to ensure that all the outlets of a retail chain are interconnected and a proper functioning of all the outlets are done. Drones are being used by the retail industry for making the delivery process more effective and efficient. Similarly, multiple other technologies are offering their services to ensure that the retail industry are offering maximum output.

Small technologies such as PoS and barcode scanners are specifically designed for small businesses and are proving to be of great efficiency. PoS is connected with the barcode scanners which scans the barcode printed on the product and the information is sent to the PoS system which then processes it and provides the output in form of an invoice [12]. Furthermore, the data is also stored in the database. Another one of the technology that is prominently being adopted as part of the retail industry is the e-commerce and anti-fraud tools [11].

The anti-fraud tools are dedicated towards maintaining a strong database of the processes, events, collection and other crucial operations of the retail industry to mitigate the threat of fraud. E-commerce is another one of the major technology that has emerged as one of the integral part of retail industry for attaining sustainability and competitive leadership. The technology offers ease of transaction along with security and additional perks to the customers.

Hence, it would be viable to state that technology is playing a major role in the retail industry. The technology is offering prominent benefits to the industry and hence, is being massively adopted.

C. Mobile Banking

The review of the scholarly work in the section above have made it evident that technology is assisting retail industry heavily and one of the technology is e-commerce [3]. One of the integral part of e-commerce is mobile banking. Though e-commerce refers to the transactional process which is carried over on internet but mobile banking is dedicated to the banking operations that are done through mobile devices.

E-commerce is the umbrella under which mobile banking comes however, the latter has established itself as a more dominant force because of the additional benefits offered by it [5]. The most prominent benefits of the mobile banking technology over e-commerce include mobility, reachability, locating transactions, convenience, security and other benefits.

Mobility being the foremost benefits that is offered by mobile banking because as the process are done through mobile applications and using mobile devices [6]. The mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets and others are easily portable and can be carried around by the users who according to their convenience pay or receive capital. Furthermore, the mobility of the mobile banking offers an additional benefit of reachability to the retailers [8].

As the mobile banking is mobile in nature so the retailers can reach out to its customers at any moment of time. The mobility and reachability also offers convenience of transaction because the users are capable of doing the transaction based on their convenience [10]. Furthermore, mobility and reachability of the mobile banking enables them to track their transaction at a real time and even enables the tracking of location which cannot be readily offered by the e-commerce.

Hence, in summary it would be adequate to state that mobile banking is one of the prominent banking service which is capable of offering several benefits to the users. Furthermore. It is also evident that though the technology in discussion falls under the umbrella of e-commerce but has established itself as one of the most vital banking services.

D. Impact of and on Mobile banking

The review of the literature in the section above have made it evident that mobile banking is one of the most prominent banking technology that have proved itself capable even over its parent technology (e-commerce) [14]. Hence, it becomes crucial to assess the impact of the technology over different industries and several scholars have invested their effort in determining those impacts. According to Lusradi and Mitchell (2014), every industry needs to do some transactions and hence, mobile banking is playing a vital role in every industry.

Furthermore, in a study conducted by Industry analyst CACI, United Kingdom will house over 35 million mobile banking users that is 72% adult by the year 2023 [2]. It is a huge figure and cites the impact that mobile banking is imposing over the users. The study even claimed that by 2019 the mobile banking will overtake internet banking [2]. The main reason for the dominance that is being entertained by the mobile banking is the convenience that is offered by the technology. However, it was also determined that the convenience was so prominent that the security threat posed by the technology is being avoided by the users.

Hence, in summary of the review it would be justified to state that the impact of mobile banking is rising exponentially and the security threat posed by the application is also not able to challenge the growth.

E. Findings

The findings from the review were prominent and the determination revealed that retail industry is supported by great number of technological advancements and mobile banking is one of them. However, no particular article or journal dedicated to the mobile banking in the retail banking have been determined. The benefits offered by the mobile banking are the most prominent reason for the dominance that is being entertained by the mobile banking. The most prominent benefits include the mobility, reachability, locating transactions, convenience, security and other benefits. Additionally

, it has also been identified that the convenience offered by the mobile banking is so satisfying for the customers that they are willingly avoiding the security threats and are adopting mass adoption of the technology. So, it would be justified to state that technology offers a high level of convenience and is one of the most prominent reason for adoption. The review has even revealed that the mobile banking adoption will and is witnessing an exponential surge in adoption.

From the review of the scholarly works no proper article has been identified that is dedicated to the theme in discussion and can be considered as a gap in the literary work. However, the benefits offered by the technology in discussion along with the and its impact on different industries along with the perception of the customers towards the mobile banking could be taken into account to state that the dominance of the technology even perceives in the retail industry. The identification from the review of the literary work can be taken into account to establish a base for the future work to determine the role that mobile banking is capable of playing in the retail industry.

Conclusion

Hence, the review in discussion could be summarized to state that retail industry is one of the biggest industry for a nation. The reason for the above statement could be supported by the fact that the industry not only contributes economically but also offers a large number of employment opportunities. Furthermore, the expansion of the industry has attracted technology developers to develop technology specific for the industry. PoS, barcode scanner & printer are some of the examples. Other major technologies are also making their way into the industry and one of them is the mobile banking. Mobile banking is entertaining the dominance because of the convenience offered by it. Though it should be noted that convenience is not the only benefit offered by it but it is the most relevant and satisfactory for the customers.

Furthermore, the findings have also revealed that the technology is growing exponentially and will continue to grow in the near future. The technology is impacting different industries and has been assessed however, no particular identification has been made on the role of mobile banking in retail industry and hence can be considered as a gap in literature. Hence, in conclusion it can be stated that the work in discussion will attempt to mitigate the gap.

References

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