Vodafone Empresas has announced the report "The New Retail: A Digital Business with Physical Stores," prepared within the Strategic Circles initiative, where the new stage of digital transformation in retail is examined. The document concludes that retail is no longer differentiated solely by product, price, or channel, but by its ability to integrate physical store, e-commerce, logistics, data, and security into a single smooth, efficient, and resilient operation.
The analysis starts from a key change in consumer behavior, which no longer perceives boundaries between channels. Thus, one can discover an item on social media, check its availability on the web, go to try it in the physical store, complete the purchase online, and process the return through a different channel.
For the customer, all of this is part of a single relationship with the brand. However, for the retailer, this continuity requires an infrastructure capable of interconnecting stores, warehouses, digital platforms, and real-time customer service. This is compounded by pressure on margins, the complexity of supply chains, new traceability obligations, and greater exposure to cyber threats.
In this scenario, the report emphasizes that the connected store is the foundation of the 'phygital' experience, becoming an environment where customers, employees, devices, and systems interact without friction.
In this regard, the document warns that the lack of coverage indoors —for example, in a fitting room or in the aisles— can prevent mobile payment, product scanning, or access to a promotion, transforming a technical incident into a commercial friction.
Similarly, the quality of connectivity determines employees' ability to provide a more agile service, making it possible for a sales assistant to instantly check if an item is available in the store itself, in the warehouse, or at another point of sale, or if it can be sent directly to the customer's home.
To ensure this operability, the company focuses on solutions such as connecting stores with the headquarters, expanding multi-operator indoor 5G coverage, fixed and mobile voice services for the staff, corporate wifi, and 4G/5G backup systems, which allow keeping the cash register, stock control, and services like 'click & collect' running in the event of a possible failure of the main line.
Omnichannel operation and data exploitation
The study places the warehouse and logistics centers as key elements of the customer experience, emphasizing that stockouts, incomplete deliveries, or inconsistent information between channels are perceived by the consumer as direct brand errors, and not as internal incidents.
In this area, sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), and RFID tags allow for the transformation of physical operations into actionable information to anticipate restocking, locate references, and reduce failures. At the same time, industrial WiFi, private 5G networks, and edge computing provide robust connectivity, greater control, and low latency in environments with high device density.
The report also highlights that the true value of data lies in its activation, which requires a solid infrastructure based on data centers, managed hybrid cloud, and edge computing, facilitating the flow of information between all business nodes.
In this regard, Vodafone has more than 100 edge data centers distributed throughout the territory to process data close to where it is generated. This allows tools such as CTI management, advanced artificial intelligence agents, and channels like SMS and RCS to turn customer knowledge into personalized interactions —such as in-store availability alerts, drive-to-store campaigns, messages with product carousels, delivery tracking, or access to the cart—.
Furthermore, the document emphasizes that, although mandatory traceability and the Digital Product Passport arise from regulatory requirements, they can serve as a strategic lever to organize information and strengthen consumer trust.
Cybersecurity and operational resilience
Finally, the company emphasizes that as retail deepens its digitalization, its risk surface grows in parallel. Any technological incident can block sales, prevent collections, disrupt inventory, or leave customer service teams without information, with a direct impact on the business's reputation.
To reduce these risks, the report advocates for the implementation of integrated security throughout the architecture of the 'retailer'. This encompasses everything from SASE and ZTNA solutions to protect access to applications and cloud environments, to 24x7 SOC/MDR services aimed at threat detection and response, extending to stores, payment systems, devices, IoT, and external providers.
"The new retail is, above all, a digital business with physical stores. The store has ceased to be an isolated point of sale to become a node of experience, attention, data, service, and commercial activation," pointed out the strategic accounts director of Vodafone Empresas, José Antonio Martínez.