- How can the retail sector derive optimal value from cloud computing?
Being a highly competitive industry, the retail sector has to leverage and process data to increase sales for business continuity, manage inventory and supply chain in addition to deliver an exclusive experience for the customer whose preferences are constantly evolving. Innovation, efficiency and precision are key factors that give the retailer a competitive edge over others.
Cloud computing supports to manage operations and effectively reach out to customers across touch points in retail management in a cost-effective manner. Cloud data platforms can provide real-time inventory view across all channels including supply chain visibility.
With cloud, retailers have to pay only on the usage of the solution, without investing in the entire system of hardware and software, additional manpower or other operations. Cloud also provides the flexibility to scale-up or down the operations, especially during uncertain market conditions.
Retailers are opting to go omnichannel to suit customer requirements and increase revenues and grow profitably.
- How is big data transforming the retail industry?
With digital technology at their fingertips, today’s consumers have 24X7 access to any product information and are making informed decisions. This online content or data is consumed by retailers as part of their data-first strategy to study and cater to consumers’ needs.
Big-data analytics is being leveraged by retailers for identifying the right customers for their products, predicting consumer trends and their changing preferences. Informed business decisions are being taken by retailers by consolidating data from relevant sources and putting them into their business strategy. By catering to customer demand and providing them with seamless experience, retailers can gain their loyalty too.
Bid data analytics can lead to increase in sales and boost product demand, besides improving operating margin significantly. High-value customers can be easily identified and catered to exclusively.
Undoubtedly, big data analytics is playing a key role in transforming the retail sector by unlocking the huge business potential by leveraging customer insights.
- What are the key drivers and trends in digital transformation in the retail industry?
Digital Transformation in retail includes changes in supply chain processes, overall operations, inventory management and customer engagement by leveraging new-age digital technologies. Retail technology and customer experience are already playing a big part in driving the re-shaping of the retail industry.
More customers of today are digitally savvy and are demanding omnichannel and seamless experience across all channels- online, physical stores, social media or phone. Retail mobile apps are playing a key role in omni-channel retailing for payments as well as improving customer engagement.
Personalisation marketing with in-store experiences is already gaining traction, driving customer retention and loyalty. AR/VR, smart shelves that are RFID enabled will further enhance customer experience.
IoT will be leveraged extensively to track and collect data for business efficiency.
- Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a paradigm shift in the retail industry. Elaborate.
Lockdowns and social-distancing safety measures due to Covid-19 pandemic are further taking online shopping to newer heights. This trend is believed to continue even in the post-covid era. Retailers are increasing their investments for digital transformation. The shift in the sector will be driven by the new normal with the support of retail technology.
Supply chain activities will be collaborated and automated bringing in more efficiency of the process. Dynamic pricing will be extensively used to attract and retain the new price-sensitive customer. Contactless payments will be opted by both customers and stores for health and safety reasons. Data analytics solutions such as AI/ML technologies and Data Science will be leveraged for demand forecasting, better inventory management, virtual fitting rooms and enhancing customer experience.
- Retail analytics is winning more customers for businesses. What are the business benefits with adoption of this technology?
Retail analytics can help to analyse business trends and performance in the retail sector by using analytical tools. One of the key benefits with the deployment of retail analytics is it provides actionable insights into customer behaviour, preferences and buying patterns. This will give clarity on what kind of products and nature of marketing campaigns are more likely to click with customers. This can lead to increasing the RoI for marketing activities too, as retailers can anticipate demand for any specific product and manage the inventory accordingly. Shops can gain a complete 360-degree view of customer requirements also with these analytical tools.Furthermore, the availability of data can help in optimizing customer experience.
Today, customers are preferring personalised experience while shopping.Personalised promotions help to attract the right target audience and generate higher sales.
Retailers can leverage tools to track customer journey and process the data. The generated data can be used to create the desired customer experience by leveraging AR and VR technologies leading to hyper-personalisation. Virtual AR fitting rooms, try-ons and other immersive shopping experiences are some of the other benefits of Retail analytics
- What are the challenges in kirana stores adopting Digital transformation in the retail industry and how can they be addressed?
The growth of digital transformation in Indian retail market is now driven by increase in internet penetration, smartphone and social media usage, and availability of services such as CoD, discounts and buy-back policies. Online retail is further growing with the onset of Covid-19 pandemic, lockdowns and social distancing.
Kirana store owners are hesitant to opt for digital payments, as they have less knowledge of online transactions and fear fraudulent transfers, many a time with low trust in the technology itself. They also are wary of the tax implications and the additional fee charged by the banks on digital transactions. However, this is slowly changing as the pandemic is forcingkirana retailers to adopt digital payment solutions for business continuity.
To increase digital technology adoption by kiranas, it is imperative for government, retail tech companies and other large players in the space to bring out initiatives that encourage its adoption, thereby empowering these small retail stores.
