Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods has shocked many an analyst. One, due to the former’s penchant for growing its businesses organically, and two because of the seeming lack of synergy between the two. Some analysts have referred to the fact that they share common customer bases and perhaps the marriage between the digital and physical store formats. Whatever the rationale behind this move, what remains true is that digital giants are moving away from their earlier digital-only focus to one which involves the leveraging of the brick-and-mortar formats as well. One thing that has benefited digital firms’ winner-takes-all approach is the presence of networks that have also powered the likes of Google and Facebook. Their data warehousing capabilities have been so immense that they provide cutting-edge, accurate business insights. The digital experience of these giants mentioned as well as Twitter, Instagram and Yelp for example have seamless and comprehensive. The digital-physical intersection will be most crucially looked at over the coming years. This is due to the as-yet unexploited opportunities in new frontiers such as developed countries where even now digital penetration is minimal. The hardware connections will also rise as a result of this market expansion. This will also lead to more realistic data gleaned from physical interactions, further causing even more detailed business insights being captured. The talent recruitment too will need to keep pace, as domain and technology experts will be needed, and collaborate. The older ecosystem will need reengineering while existing stakeholders will have to be involved in collaborative experimentation.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/publications/2017/business-model-innovation-technology-digital-getting-physical-rise-hybrid-ecosystems.aspx?linkId=47326775\

Uploaded Date:03 March 2018