Low Code vs. Legacy Systems: Why Retailers Are Making the Switch

Success in retail requires technology that can quickly adapt to changing customer behaviors, competition, and opportunities. Yet, many retailers still use outdated legacy systems that waste resources, slow down progress, and don't meet modern consumer demands.

The good news is that moving forward doesn't mean throwing away your existing investments or undergoing expensive system replacements. Low code development offers a practical solution for retail’s unique needs. 

Short on Time? Here’s a Brief Overview

• Technical debt, also caLegacy systems consume huge portions of retail IT budgets through maintenance and support costs, all while making it harder to innovate.

• Low code platforms dramatically speed up development. Retailers can launch new applications fast—perfect for seasonal opportunities.

• You can connect low code platforms to your existing systems instead of replacing them. This makes the transition easy for your staff and invisible to your customers.

Why Legacy Coding Is Holding Retailers Back

Outdated systems limit company growth and create significant challenges for both executives and employees. A McKinsey survey found that businesses spend an additional 10-20% of project costs just fixing technical problems. Even more concerning, 60% of CIOs say their technical debt problems are only getting worse. 

For retailers, legacy systems introduce several problems:

• Customer data is scattered across different systems, preventing a complete view of your customer base. Without this information, you’ll struggle to personalize experiences and make informed decisions.

• Reactions to market dynamics are slow because changes take too long to implement. This makes it difficult to adjust quickly to evolving market definitions and emerging customer segments.

• It’s tricky to create new customer support programs. Features like personalized experiences and loyalty programs—things modern consumers expect—take a lot of time to develop on older systems. You risk losing customers to your more agile competitors.

• Maintenance costs keep rising as the pool of experts who understand legacy technologies continues to shrink each year. Finding and retaining specialists for outdated systems gets expensive, often requiring external consultants or training programs.

• Security risks are high due to vulnerability exposure and lack of support for outdated software components.

• It’s hard to connect with online and mobile platforms because legacy systems weren’t designed with modern API integrations and cloud connectivity in mind. Customers get a fragmented experience where online orders, in-store purchases, and mobile app interactions exist in separate silos rather than the seamless omnichannel experience they demand.

Retailers clearly need to move on from their aging systems. Many have succeeded by switching to simpler, more versatile development methods like low code.

What Is Low Code, and How Does It Help Retailers?

Low code makes creating apps easier through visual, drag-and-drop tools instead of complex programming. As the name suggests, little to no coding is involved. 

Here’s what low code platforms provide and how they can help retailers:

• Visual design tools that make app creation simple for non-technical staff who understand your retail workflows.

• Ready-made connections that work efficiently with existing systems, from cash registers to customer databases.

• AI connections that add powerful large language model (LLM) tools from providers like OpenAI—without complex setup.

• Automatic testing and launching that reduce mistakes and speed up new features, perfect for time-sensitive retail campaigns.

• Multi-device development that creates web and mobile interfaces together, making it easier to reach customers everywhere.

• Cloud options that grow automatically to handle your busy times, like the holiday season.

With low code, retailers can create fully working applications in a fraction of the time it takes to build them using traditional programming. Low code also makes it easy for different departments to develop apps that align with their priorities—e.g., marketing teams can build apps for customers while operations teams create inventory tools. 

This approach to product development means you can quickly respond to feedback or implement new customer programs, such as personalized loyalty apps or targeted promotional campaigns.

Cost savings: How low code helps retailers spend less on IT

Building apps with low code costs much less than traditional programming, primarily because low code speeds up development time. Real-world examples show that apps are built up to four times faster using low code.

Additionally, retailers typically use dozens of apps for sales, inventory, promotions, vertical markets, deal management, etc. Low code platforms made for retail connect these systems without massive rebuilding. Each app built with low code saves money while delivering better results to individual market segments.

Low Code vs. Traditional Development: A Comparison

How Retailers Can Switch From Legacy Systems to Low Code

Moving to low code doesn’t mean replacing everything at once. Follow these steps to make the switch:

1. Begin by examining processes, not technology. Look for the biggest problems in customer experience (e.g., disconnected loyalty programs) or operations (e.g., slow inventory counting). Write down current workflows, find bottlenecks (such as slow promotion updates or store communications), and define what success looks like to you before seeking solutions.
   
   
2. Use connectors to link old systems. Instead of replacing core systems, modern low code platforms use APIs—digital bridges that let systems talk to each other. Open up key functions (like inventory checks or customer data) through standard APIs so new apps can smoothly use existing resources.
   
   
3. Start small with one focused app. Pick something noticeable enough to show value but small enough to finish quickly. For example, Dutch retailer Blokker started with promotion management—a specific process with clear benefits. It moved from using clunky Excel files to a well-oiled automated process. Thanks to CLEVR's low code solution, Blokker was able to spin up this system quickly.
   
   
4. Create a guidance team for quality control. Make rules for development standards, data security, and design guidelines. Give platform control to an individual business unit while encouraging all departments to innovate. With a team focused on the transition, you’ll help prevent disruption while maximizing value across departments.
   
   
5. Grow step by step with modular pieces. Build on your first success by improving related processes. For instance, after creating an inventory app, you could add supplier tools and then connect to forecasting systems. Intratuin, a 60-branch garden center retailer, used this step-by-step approach with support from CLEVR—starting with basic product management, then adding vendor features over time. Now, Intratuin’s internal data-management department and individual branch managers effortlessly work together on one workflow.
   
   

Final Thoughts

Retailers face massive challenges with legacy systems—systems that are hard to change, expensive to maintain, and difficult to develop. Low code solutions reduce these technical problems. You can implement changes gradually to keep your business proposition strong and expand your portfolio of products, all without disrupting essential operations.

For a better market understanding of how low code can improve your retail operations, take a look at CLEVR's retail industry solutions or learn more about how digital transformation is revolutionizing retail.

Research Methodology

This analysis focuses on retail by combining information from industry publications, surveys, and research. It considers real examples of global retailers using low code between 2020 and 2025 and compares these to traditional development measurements for accurate time and cost comparisons.

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