The State of Technology and the U.S. Ag Retailer

CropLife is publishing its CropLife 100 Report next month with the complete rankings and 2021 market review. But with all the rapid developments in digital technology and their implications for the retail business in the years ahead, we decided to conduct an electronic “gut check” survey last month to capture attitudes and opinions on a variety of technology topics, writes Paul Schrimpf at CropLife.

Survey respondents were management level employees working at branch locations of CropLife 100 retail businesses, and their responses painted an interesting picture of the state of technology and the retailer.

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How are retailers feeling about the opportunities and threats around the choices they have made — or soon with make — about their approach to technology? We decided to try to gain some insight through a quick survey of CropLife 100 retail managers with questions around digital engagement with growers, external threats from partners and competitors, and opportunities to evolve and grow with changes and challenges.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents indicated that grower-customers can access account information, and almost 60% provide product information and purchasing through an organic or third party electronic commerce system, providing opportunities for broader engagement with customers.

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Still, more than 60% of respondents “strongly agree” or “agree” that e-commerce continues to be a future threat to their business, and 44% agree that digital offerings from seed and crop protection companies are “very disruptive” to their own precision offerings. Compounding the negative attitude about retail and the customer experience is the sentiment that grower loyalty is flat to trending down, expressed by more than seven in 10 respondents.

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