The advances in digital commerce and omnichannel interactions have forced retailers to further invest in digital transformation to meet the evolving needs and expectations of their customers. However, creating a fully connected and personalized retail experience is only possible with the support of IT teams – teams who are investing almost 70% of overall operating costs on integration-related IT labor costs.
Here are some steps companies can take to utilize smart retail at every stage of the value chain:
#1 Plan with Data Insights
The retail landscape is getting reshaped by massive amounts of societal and technological change. With buying cycles getting shorter, planning is vital, and so companies view it as a fundamental part of achieving business agility. Retailers cannot afford to lose any of their thin profit margins, and that’s the reason why data, as well as accurate forecasting, touches every aspect of a retail ecosystem.
In order to plan effectively, companies must establish a single view of customers. Plus they need to leverage all the data from customers to facilitate faster connections and transactions. Companies can use data and analytics to inform their planning cycles using a self-service integration. This provides retailers with the ability to consolidate all the data and deliver insights for improved decision-making and value generation. That allows retailers to deliver delightful experiences to customers and ultimately drive revenue.
#2 Invest in the Right Inventory
Complexity is a part of a retail ecosystem. And the companies’ buying process is continuously expanding across multiple global vendors and is getting punctuated by competition. In order to make informed buying decisions, companies need a single view of their inventory in addition to consumer preferences.
By integrating disparate retail data sources, retail units can make good business decisions and focus on investing in the right inventory. With a self-service approach to data integration, different kinds of data and applications are linked and composed to create a single, real-time view of sales, purchase order statuses, and inventory levels. And in doing so, companies exchange information and provide visibility into both front-end and back-end systems, thus increasing productivity and simplifying the buying process.
# 3 Manage and Transport Goods Effectively
Supply chains are constantly changing with shifting customer mindsets and behaviors. In response, IT teams often rely on tedious and time-intensive custom solutions to bridge the gap. The resulting backlog is so huge that IT grapples with delivering solutions to the business on time.
As supply chain management transforms and becomes more complex, dynamic, and international -self-service integration solutions help companies move more efficiently. It provides both the flexibility to work with disparate trading partners and easily roll out updates while maintaining control over core ERP systems.
#4 Sell with Delightful Experiences
The selling part of the value chain is being impacted by digital transformation, and the scope of digital transformation efforts is not just limited to industries like retail but also loyalty, marketing, and service. As customers are becoming more digitally-enabled, the demand for delightful, personalized experiences has increased by leaps and bounds.
With the emerging shift in buying expectations, companies can no longer utilize product transactions to create improved customer relationships. In fact, companies must pivot to offer an experience that entices customers to engage with better their brands.
A self-service integration approach enables businesses to seamlessly connect new as well as old systems to deliver delightful experiences and allow themselves to meet customers where they are. By using self-service-powered capabilities, companies can empower non-technical business users to create data connections and deliver consistency across channels at the speed that customers expect.
Learn how self-service integration can transform businesses to create better CXs and drive revenue by downloading our ebook.