Retail

Majority of Retailers view digital as an enabler for better customer service or greater efficiencies and have adopted technology to improve in these parameters. At Sonata, we believe not many retailers have truly awoken to the possibilities presented by Digital.

At Sonata, we look at digital as an opportunity to shape a long-term sustainable business model which that includes the entire retail eco-system as a network of suppliers, franchisees, employees all supporting the central actor (retailer) maximizing customer’s lifetime value.

This is not a transactional approach but a collaborative mindset where the retailer invests in building the capabilities for the entire network to be agile and responsive to consumer needs, attracting and retaining shoppers being the shared objective of the entire network.

The main advantage of such a collaborative mindset for Digital is being able to define the right Strategy and hence the technology for enabling these collaborations that will positively impact cost, service level, enable informed decisions.

Core to the business model of retailers and performance in the future will be driven by how quickly digital gets embedded to increase cohesion, agility and responsiveness within this network. The top three enablers to kick start the digital agenda should be:

1. At the very basic, increase engagement with customers at all channels, stores or online, builds long lasting relationships and enables retailers can explore avenues to build services, explore opportunities to segment and personalize
2. Creation of a “Connected" digital ecosystem empowering employees, customers and partners which helps you drive Intelligent Transactions, Innovate with Open Systems and scale across Markets & Segments
3. Today, we see that competition is increasingly not between individual retailers but the wider constellation of alliances that the retailer builds within their network. The ability to foster a culture of collaboration is a critical enabler for any disruptive transformation in the retail sector

Digital is as much about people and mindsets as it is about technology. In our next section we will dive deeper to explore and build on the digital agenda.

We at Sonata constantly look to help organizations go beyond the “digital transformation” buzzword to derive business outcomes from their digital investments via our unique and trademarked “Platformation” methodology.

Talk to us today to understand how “Platformation” can help identify and correlate the retail market variables and your own business specific factors into key levers that can drive the journey to ensure an open, scalable, connected and intelligent ecosystem which is sustainable with short- and long- term realization of value.

Click here to know more

Empowerment, empowerment, empowerment of the consumer by making the most of key technologies will result in shaping retail business. How? Give the consumers what they want by innovating with technology and providing maximum consumer benefits. Incorporating transformative business technologies in the online and offline store, will help in giving you that innovative slant in business success.

What will this innovative ‘new normal’ entail?

1. An expanded consumer equation – smooth interactions between the retailer for his products with the consumer
2. Their engagement experiences – in-store help received, personalization recommendations for retailers’ products, reasonable pricing, etc.

Greater control of the purchasing journey will help business leaders give them exactly what they want. Therefore, with diversified experiences, the gap between the valued consumer and the liberal retailer/consumer goods industry will be narrowed. There will be greater flexibility in picking products from anywhere at any time either in-store or online resulting in a much improved consumer-retailer equation.

For eg., Oasis, a fashion retailer, fuses its e-Commerce site, mobile app and brick-and-mortar store into simple shopping experience. How? Their sales associates are equipped with iPads which give you current product information, (iPads) serve as a cash register and if a product goes out of stock, the sales associate can place an online order which can be directly shipped to your home.

Next, using visual cues, or through effective messaging - through dynamic (videos) or static (pictures with or without text), better engagement with products, greater footfall and brand loyalty will transpire.

For eg., Amazon stresses the importance of email campaigns and other marketing tools to create meaningful consumer experiences. Similarly, Starbucks provides information regarding who produced the coffee bean for all its varieties helping the consumer make an informed choice.

Since a strong shift is perceived in consumer spending from products to services, the Retail industry will witness leaps in looking for THE business model or Company that provides maximum value addition and contributes effortlessly through effective use of technology. As a result, the consumer will get what he wants.

This will:

• Help build a broader understanding of and with increased connectivity, empower consumers
• Unleash the power of transformational business models in the physical and digital spheres
• Increase impact on sustainable deliveries by harnessing valuable data

It is foreseen that, organizations will need to persevere in their attempts to innovate and must be willing to be a channel for disruption, culminating in the rise of a new breed of consumers who will shape up retail business.

Innovation unleashed and innovation consumed, retailed fresh and creatively recognized. Isn’t this what you want? Read on for more clarity.