The retail revolution is coming at us at a dizzying pace, transformed by digital technologies and access to the ongoing data explosion. While traditional retailers are definitely feeling the heat, those who embrace technology are reaping unexpected rewards.
The changing nature of today’s consumer has been a big driver for this change. Empowered by unprecedented access to information, contemporary consumers have at their disposal new technologies and tools that provide them pricing deals and product reviews. Add in the plethora of endless retail options due to the explosion of online retail.
Today’s consumers are also decidedly different from their counterparts from even a few years back. They display little to no brand loyalty, have extremely high expectations of product/service features, immediate availability, quick delivery, vast range and impeccable after sales support.
Consumers also expect a seamless experience – whether they are physically in the store, online on their smartphones or computers, or anywhere else they choose to shop from. Many retail brands are still struggling to come to terms with an omnichannel presence. The main challenge they face apart from operationalising omnichannel, is to create a consistent brand experience across all touch-points that is imperative in keeping the attention, and consequently, gaining wallet share of the customer.
The shift towards omnichannel has put a considerable focus on end-to-end supply chain management and mobilising customer fulfilment. Customers today could order online and pick up the product at a physical store, or try a product at a physical store and order for the same online. Add in the extra layer of empowering store sales executives with an app to help customer see more options, and the complexity of the picture begins to emerge.
To be successful in this context of real time retail, retailers need one unified platform that offers a compelling customer experience across all touch-points. Using a variety of technologies that operate in silos and do not talk to each other cannot work in the real-time retail context we operate in now.
Ability to Scale is Crucial
Equally important, the infrastructure needs to scale seamlessly as operations grow. Most customer-centric solutions require a combination of multiple technical architectures to work together seamlessly to address various current and growing needs. Scaling to demand isn’t a matter of buying more licenses alone. Apart from vision and planning, it requires careful consideration of choosing integration design and architecture that is suitable for the different systems and capabilities, which can have IT departments scratching their heads in frustration.
The answer is to invest in a platform-led digital transformation solution that can help retailers engage with connected ecosystem, drive intelligent transaction, integrate with open systems, and enable scale across markets & segments.
This need was one of the key drivers for the launch of Kartopia, Sonata’s new e-commerce platform that is designed to help businesses gear up for unprecedented business growth and wider customer reach. It draws heavily from our deep experience with the retail sector, spanning over 15 years.
Apart from its ability to scale with the business, Kartopia enables businesses to provide a superior customer experience, integrates with important security features like SSL certification and fraud protection services, and is compatible with all the existing ERP and payment gateways. It also comes with out of the box order fulfilment module, order cancelation, order status summary, and order dashboards with best-in-class returns and refund features.
More details on Kartopia are available here: Kartopia