The Current Level of Digitization in the Hungarian Apparel and Food Retail Sectors: Critical Solutions Offered by Market Leaders

The global retail industry is undergoing a continuous digital transformation, which has a significant impact on the Hungarian market since it is dominated by large multinational businesses. Although there have been several studies on digitalization as a factor of retail integration and analyses of digitalization projects, a sector-wide framework for mapping key digital solutions has not yet been implemented in the field of Hungarian research. This study attempts to provide insights into the challenges and opportunities of digitalization in the Hungarian retail sector, as well as identify best practices. The research also seeks to investigate the digitalization solutions implemented in the Hungarian food and apparel retail sectors by conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews with six industry experts. The findings of our research outline that the implementation of key digital solutions that contribute to consumer experience and education is the most important step in the digital transformation process. Businesses must embrace online channels and adopt an omnichannel model. In terms of consumer education and marketing, loyalty programmes can generate additional revenue through personalized discounts. Using digitalization tools such as automated inventory and supply chain management or data-driven decision-making, the costs of back-end operations can be reduced. By automating manual processes, retailers can streamline their workflows too, resulting in efficient operations and enhanced consumer experience.