Three imperatives for smarter retail:
1- Deliver a smarter shopping experience
Help all customers feel as if you know them personally, and that you have their interests in mind. This level of intimacy will ultimately create long-lasting and rewarding relationships for you and your customers.
- The world’s largest office-supply retailer delivers personalized marketing messages to its online customers, creating a a one-to-one web experience that helps fill customers’ carts and keeps them coming back.
- An international pet supply retailer understands the paths-to-purchase process of its customers, allowing them to tailor the online engagement with a more personalized experience.
2- Build smarter merchandising and supply networks
Retailers need to offer merchandise with assortments tailored to meet distinct tastes and preferences in different places and contexts. Then you need efficient and tightly controlled supply networks that allow you to extract the maximum value from every unit of inventory investment, while enabling strict accountability and product traceability.
- A multinational fashion retailer extrapolates historical sales patterns to predict its customers’ future demand for each product―down to size and color.
- A large auto parts retailer employs a hybrid approach to store-level assortment planning by combining the best rules of its category managers with the forecasting accuracy of statistical modeling.
3- Drive smarter operations
Streamline back-office processes, take advantage of reduced-cost delivery models and establish enhanced visibility of organizational performance.
- A global luxury goods retailer implemented critical SAP ERP functionality to streamline the company’s IT footprint while reducing business risk.
- A large home improvement retailer improved team communication through record-to-report capability, faster processing of closing activities, and the escalation of issues related to customer satisfaction.