Applied research of digital readiness of retails

Abstract

The paper contains a proposed methodology for determining the digital readiness of retail, which, unlike the known ones, allows managing the internal capabilities of digital transformation of enterprises in the FMCG retail segment. This technique has a number of advantages: data availability; ease of calculation; sufficiency and non-overloading of the attributes of the resulting feature; the possibility of using both in the process of primary self-diagnosis and at the control stage to determine the effectiveness of changes in the implementation of digital projects in retail. The proposed methodology involves the calculation of the integral index of digital readiness of retail enterprises, which is an indicator. It is based on morphological analysis and a formalized system of scoring share indices according to the selected components of internal capabilities for the digital transformation of an enterprise. The internal possibilities of digital transformation of retail are investigated in the context of management and support subsystems. The managerial subsystem of the digital readiness of the organization is formed by two groups of digitalization factors: the aspiration of themanagement staff and the presence of a digital strategy of the enterprise. The following factors are referred to the supporting subsystem: digital potential and digital culture of the enterprise. The parameters and attributes that characterize the internal capabilities of an enterprise in digital transformation in the context of the selected factors and subsystems are determined. A scale for interpreting the assessment of the level of internal digital capabilities for adapting an enterprise to the conditions of business digitalization is substantiated. The proposed methodology was tested on a representative quota sample of network FMCG segment objects, which included the largest retail operators in the region under study in terms of retail turnover. The results obtained made it possible to identify gaps in the management and support subsystems of the digital transformation of retail and offer a solution for managing the internal digital capabilities of the enterprises under study. It has been established that the main reason for the inhibition of digitalization processes is the weak will of managers and the lack of formation of digital thinking, lack of experience in developing and implementing a digital development strategy, limited financial resources, a weak level of digital skills of employees, as well as a lack of methods for assessing and managing digital transformation processes. The results obtained form the basis for discussions on industry-specific factors of business readiness for digital transformation. As well as the prerequisite for determining the directions of digital activity of network retailers, developing scenarios for digital business transformation.