The onset of COVID-19 has affected the global retail market to a great extent. From the shrinking of physical retail stores to permanent closure and bankruptcies have touched another record. For those who survived the crisis, the past year has been difficult for them as many are in the process of a complete digital makeover.
Since the arrival of Amazon two decades ago, the scope of digital stores has only grown much stronger. In the past decade, the number of retail enterprises that have changed themselves into digital stores or operating in both physical and online spaces has increased exponentially. The onset of the pandemic has also affected the shopping behaviour. As per a survey conducted by McKinsey, over 75% of people in the US claims that they have adapted to the new shopping behaviour. The majority even believe that they plan to stick to this behaviour on a long-term basis. Also, almost 88% of them are millennials.
From a consumer point of view, most of the digital stores focus on providing better customer service and, the scope of discrepancy has been reduced to a bare minimum. Customers are happy as they have developed a habit of receiving their product at their doorstep since last year.
While the physical stores still might take some time to get back to normal, many people believe that they might not go back to a physical store if the same product is available online. Many retailers even claim that many people come to their shop to inquire about the product and purchase it later from digital stores as they have regular offers.
Amid all this, there is a need for the physical stores to focus on the bigger picture and adapt to the changing ways of the industry. There is a need to bridge the gap between the physical and the digital world.
Sonata Software is launching Connected Retail which focuses on providing end-to-end solutions for helping retailers to transform their business digitally. With over 25 years of experience in the retail industry and an exceptional track record of delivering smart solutions, Sonata Software is a trusted alliance partner of Microsoft for retail implementations across the value chain.
Four years ago, we had introduced the PlatformationTM approach to help companies in their digital transformation journey. We build open, scalable, intelligent and connected platforms that form the core of the modern digital business strategy.
Core of PlatformationTM approach:
Open: Easily accessible for users, ecosystem partners, and businesses to take part in.
Connected: You are always on, always connected.
Scalable: It gives the business the power to scale the platform by the number of users, segments, and geography.
Intelligent: To use the data generated in the platform to enable more efficient and meaningful transactions.
Already have a platform? Take the platform maturity assessment today with us and we will provide you insights on how to make your digital transformation journey more efficient.
We are using the same concept to provide a 360-degree view of your inventory, channel, consumers, supply chain etc. and connect them on a single platform to cut down redundancy and improve your efficiency. However, ensuring a great customer experience remains the core of our offering.
The global retail industry is currently focused on creating amazing customer experiences as the consumer's expectations have risen. It is important to reimagine the current practice and focus on transforming your business digitally.
Successful retailers go up to great lengths to keep their customers happy. A happy customer is always good for business and, so is customer loyalty. Sonata specialize in crafting unique customer journey and with the help of data, we also provide advance insights on metrics to understand a consumer. It is important to map every customer journey to understand their behaviour and using this information build unique journeys to ensure great customer experiences.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg!
We also offer solutions to streamline your workforce as per the insights we provide on consumer behaviour. This information helps to determine and define the role of your workforce.
Why is this data helpful?
- To improve brand visibility
- Integrated system for both internal and external data
- Use insights to understand customer behaviour
- Encourage workforce to understand and use insights for better customer experiences
Retailers must invest in technologies that can bypass minimize redundancy. This is a way forward towards attaining efficiency in the long run for every retail enterprise.
Watch out for this space for more updates on the retail industry. Worried about your digital transformation journey? Reach out to us today and, we will show you the way forward.
