The retail industry takes up almost 10 per cent of the total economic output of India’s GDP. With the pandemic looming over the world economy, the retail industry has been affected dramatically. Now is the time for retailers to improve performance on all fronts through ‘Digital Transformation’ radically. This feature sheds light on some of the key points that retail brands should look into before foraying into digital transformation and how it would impact business.
So what is digital transformation?
Digital Transformation is a way of allowing modernity into the traditional operations of any business through technology. As digital tools and technologies emerge, businesses can find ways to drive revenue and create innovative business models to have a considerable impact on the services and the workflow. A transformation is highly emphasised in addressing day-to-day operational constraints in delivering the values to the customer without compromising on data security and integration.
In the retail industry, digital transformation can navigate through all aspects of business, from sourcing to inventory management, employee management, customer experience management and more. With technologies such as Big Data Analytics and location-based services, the face of customer retention and satisfaction can change. Suppose you are a retailer on the way to adopt or undergo digital transformation for your business. In that case, you need to identify challenges in the industry and overcome them using technological advancements.
Changing customer experience
Customers have ever-changing demands and they live in an experience economy. Customers value how they experience brands through online and offline stores and other channels as well. Most businesses believe their way of customer service will differentiate them from the competition in the market. The industry cannot afford to make bad customer service anymore.
With the entry of digital transformation, the foundations of customer experience change for the better. The customer journey with optimised touchpoints and personalisation will improve the chances and opportunity for sales and retention, thereby enabling steady customer retention and loyalty.
Finessing supply chain
Retailers, both local and international, have gone through supply chain challenges. Before the advent of digital transformation, retailers had to face conventional linear supply chains and loss of touchpoint information in the back-end.
With digital transformation, retailers can employ a myriad of technologies such as digital supply networks, shared logistics capabilities, continuous automated monitoring and digitally enabled logistics services.
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Omnichannel adaptation
Customers tend to compare products through various channels such as mobiles, physical stores and online shopping for better prices. Such customers are called omnichannel shoppers. Therefore, traditional modes of in-person sales will fall short if you want your retail business to thrive.
With digital transformation, you can create a strong digital presence and retain a large margin of your customers for your brand. The omnichannel presence can be established through a one-stop shop that enables fluid customer service from all touchpoints and expands it to marketplaces with a unified customer engagement system.
Revamp of analytics
More than 53 per cent of modern retail companies are dissatisfied with their analytical abilities. The retail industry is becoming more and more competitive, with businesses vying for technology to optimise business processes to satisfy and exceed customer expectations. With poor analytics, businesses can fail to measure the right ones and lose to communicate with the customers’ needs.
With digital transformation technologies such as Big Data, AI and Advanced Analytics, data analytics is implemented through all stages of the retail process, keeping track of all products, forecasting sales and predicting future demand and performance. Using Analytics, retailers can also handle customers based on their past purchases via targeted marketing campaigns and identifying their shopping behaviour. Better analytics means better decision-making.
Transforming legacy business models
Legacy systems might have laid the foundations of your retail business two decades ago, but now these are lagging and are a form of a burden rather than an asset to survive through the present times. The digital presence of any business fortifies its connection with the customer, and the same goes for a legacy business model, which is in dire need of change.
The change comes in the form of digital transformation, where the legacy system can be transformed into a SaaS business model that can disrupt the foundations using digital enablers and pave the way for a customer-centric strategy. The confluence of technologies has enabled retailers to capitalise on various opportunities through digitally disruptive business models and reinvent themselves, and refresh the face of enhancing shopper satisfaction through effective use of digital enablers seamlessly. There is no more ‘one-size-fits-all’ business model. It can be created and hybridised to match and keep up with your business’s demands and daily operational load. By focusing on redefining the business models, the retail industry can change the forefront of customer experience, next-gen retail data, improving the overall shift towards lower costs, efficient supply chains with retail enterprise solutions.
To summarise, the uncertainties brought on by the pandemic have cleared the haze around digital transformation and forced several retailers to go through the transformation with a myriad of technologies in place. While digital transformation enters into the retail industry, therein increases the need for cloud-based retail solutions. The SaaS retail solution contains a multitude of features and modules that work consistently with the retail organisation. The three important pillars to consider while integrating a cloud-based retail solution are as follows:
– Customer Experience (CX)
– Automated Workflow
– Multidirectional Supply Chain
In the same vein, Novac’s KAZITO®, an end-to-end, unified cloud-based retail solution with top-of-the-line functionalities and modules, gives visibility and streamlined operations from inventory to customer end across various retail aspects with ease. KAZITO® can efficiently manage the lifecycle of your retail organisation with a detailed intuitive report with its flexible infrastructure and more, enabling you to transition to the digital world seamlessly.
