I’m more loyal to retailers when I feel like I have a direct connection, and I’m not alone: 84% of consumers say that being treated like a person is important to winning their business. We all want a more personalized experience, but for retailers, this is a huge challenge because of the brittle mess of systems supporting each channel. On top of that, even the best personalization efforts feel inauthentic when they break across channels.
Using physical stores to support digital shopper traffic might seem counterintuitive, but monthly rental fees are a sunk cost and inventory is already sitting on shelves. A reported 75% of consumers intend to continue shopping via online platforms even after stores reopen, meanwhile retailers report reducing their investment of on-hand inventory by 30%. This juxtaposition makes real-time inventory visibility a priority.
In our previous blog, we explored how our latest update to MuleSoft Accelerator for Salesforce Commerce Cloud, a prebuilt integration solution consisting of integration assets and instructions, streamlines your order management and prepares you to take on new commerce delivery models. To keep up with innovations in Commerce, we’ve updated our Accelerator once more to synchronize customer information between Salesforce Commerce Cloud and ERP or Salesforce Service Cloud.
COVID-19 isn’t just revealing issues across society, health-care preparedness, and business continuity — it’s also revealing new omnichannel capabilities for retailers beyond “curbside pickup” or a flash message about pandemic hardship.
The line between technology and non-technology companies is being blurred as businesses are looking more and more to create winning customer experiences through digital capabilities like AI, machine learning, and automation. The faster leaders recognize that every company, including theirs, is becoming a tech company, the faster they can begin their business transformation.
Businesses across every industry have faced unparalleled disruption to their operations as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In the retail sector, we’ve seen shelves across the globe being repeatedly stripped bare, as supply chains that simply weren’t geared-up to deal with such sudden and dramatic changes in buying behavior have struggled to keep up.
This year’s National Retail Federation (NRF) Conference made it clear that retailers must continue to focus investment on delivering seamless, omnichannel experiences for customers while simultaneously improving operational efficiencies. Some major takeaways from this year’s NRF conference were that retailers need to implement technologies that reduce in-store friction, and must seek out ways to merge eCommerce technology with in-store experience. Here are four takeaways from the conference that can help retail stores.
When it comes to online dating, it’s all about how you present yourself. Your profile needs to speak to who you are and send the right signals to help the dating site match you with someone compatible. Having an appealing online profile applies to digital dating, but digital retail as well.
Retail brands need to make sure their digital presence is matching their customer’s wants and needs — in order to have a successful relationship with their customers.
When EDI first came into use, supply chains were simpler, with a limited number of suppliers. Now, thanks to globalization and specialized manufacturing, there might be hundreds of suppliers in a supply chain. And, as prices change, businesses move overseas, and market conditions evolve, these suppliers change as well.
