Women in the changing world of retail
March is Women’s History Month, a great time to reflect on and celebrate the accomplishments of generations of women. It also corresponds with last week’s Women in Tech and this week’s International Women’s Day, both encouraging dialog about the opportunities for women in the changing world of work and where we still need to go in terms of diversity and equality.
In my own world, where women, technology and retail intersect, all of these events are significant to me. And as I think about the future, I see a specific opportunity and need for more women in retail technology.
The growing importance of women in retail tech roles
The theme of International Women’s Day is “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030.”
The world we live in, the world we work in, and the way we work are certainly changing. And in the retail industry, the change is significant. With the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) BIG Show still fresh in my mind, this change echoed throughout the conference, from its keynotes and panel sessions to its Expo Hall and Innovation Lab.
That change is being brought about by technology advancements like IoT and predictive analytics that have opened the doors for retailers to transform everything—from the end-to-end customer shopping journey to their operations to their very business models themselves. It’s enabling personalization, convenience and speed like we’ve never seen before.
But as NRF President and CEO Matt Shay said in an NRF keynote, “For all the talk about technology, however, the future is not just the “what” of technology, but more importantly it’s the “who” of our workforce.”
I couldn’t agree more.
As retailers and brands increase their technology investments, their workforce will change too, bringing a larger percentage of IT jobs into the mix and a shift in what those roles might be. We are already seeing leaders in digital transformation like MARS Global changing the way their technology works so it can transform its Information Services department into a strategic center of innovation and business value.
As those IT departments play a critical role in driving digital innovation in the shopping experience, women’s contributions will also be key: females after all drive 70-80 percent of all consumer purchases. It makes sense that women designers and engineers will be an important component in designing what that experience looks like in the future.
Rising up in retail tech
The problem with this scenario is that the numbers currently don’t add up and won’t in the future unless we take steps to do more.
In the technology community, we recognize there’s still a large gap in young women pursuing STEM education and careers (globally, only 16 percent of female students graduate from STEM subjects, according to the World Economic Forum.) And in the retail industry, many senior women executives have echoed a common sentiment: they’re still often the only woman at the table.
With these factors combined, and as retail tech jobs grow, the reality is there will be a hard, uphill road in front of us to balance and fill those roles, and a potential big missed opportunity that would positively influence the success of the retail industry.
As the United Nations and UN Women encourage us all to step up for International Women’s Day and take action for gender equality, I’ve been thinking about how we can make an impact in our own community.
I see a lot of great initiatives currently working to address pieces of it.
I love programs like Girls Who Code and Microsoft’s DigiGirlz that are helping girls learn more about STEM careers and computer science. I’m also encouraged by brands like Kate Spade and Sephora who are driving their own Girls Who Code programs, and new initiatives like RISE Up, the NRF Foundation’s talent education and training initiative that will also help enable retail professionals to move around and advance in areas like data analytics.
Too, I’m inspired by all the rock-star women on Business Insider’s Most Powerful Female Engineers of 2017 list including Microsoft’s own Peggy Johnson & Lili Cheng; and by female entrepreneurs like Rian Buckley, co-founder and CEO of Fitcode, and Nadia Shouraboura, founder and CEO of Hointer, who are both using technology innovations as the fabric of their retail and consumer goods start-ups.
Perhaps we need to start here, sharing all these great learnings, and join forces across these communities to figure out how to take a collaborative and comprehensive approach to supporting and advancing women in retail tech careers.
It’s certainly something I would like to discuss further. Next year’s NRF could make a great forum to do so. What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!
LinkedIn: Tracy Issel
Note: For more perspective, inspiring stories and resources for supporting girls to pursue and stay in STEM fields, I also encourage you to read more from Mary Snapp, corporate vice president and head of Microsoft Philanthropies here, our CEO Satya Nadella’s touching tribute to his mother, and the latest updates to Microsoft’s #MakeWhatsNext initiative.
