Connected Commerce – Shopi

Returns Got You Down? Meet Omnichannel Return Technologies

admin — Sun, 07 Feb 2021 22:03:07 +0000

Ecommerce saw significant growth in sales estimated at 39% in the last quarter of 2020. Experts claim it’s the highest growth seen in the last 13 years. The drastic change obviously causes a struggle for retailers who don’t have any online presence or a strong organizational structure to support an online operation. Lack of the above caused approx 1000 manufacturers to cancel orders worth 1.5 billion due to the pandemic, according to Bloomberg. This dramatic situation has been the inevitable result of not only insufficient stock levels but also the fact that the inventories were not managed across channels. At this point, most of the retailers have taken measures to adopt omnichannel technologies for their organizations. The ultimate goal is of course to have full and unified control over inventories so that the inventories can become accessible across all channels.

Omnichannel technologies can solve problems at different points of the shopping process. One example is that while customers are headed to online shopping, the return rates keep increasing as they are not able to try, feel and see the product as they do in a physical store. Standard return rates of physical stores ranging from 8% to 10% have risen to approximately 20% for e-commerce, according to CBRE. That means optimizing the return process now is actually as important as optimizing the shopping process. Returning purchases is a complex logistic process that can cause stock errors, delays, and extra logistic costs as well as customer complaints. The good news is that with technology that enables omnichannel return capabilities, the pressure on retailers can be lifted. Let us see how.

Omnichannel Returns Accommodate Customer and Store Needs

Customers have many options when it comes to buying, such as buy-online-pick up-in-store (BOPIS) or reserve-online-pick up in-store (ROPIS). In that respect, the omnichannel algorithm fulfills their expectations but they also need to have the flexibility of returning their products to experience a convenient end-to-end shopping process.

With a centralized omnichannel order hub, the returns can be tracked and managed as well as the entire inventory from a single point. Return processes should be part of a true order hub as the life of an order can continue after fulfillment. Such a system also should give retailers the power of monitoring their operation in real-time helping them minimize any errors. Return processes are usually divided into several manual phases which are followed and managed tediously by employees which usually creates a lot of effort on the operational staff.

However, an operation that has a comprehensive OMS or centralized order hub in place will automatize and conveniently minimize the effort needed to run the operation. The efficiency gained will result in many positive ways, such the staff concentrating on their customers or product information. Also, the impact of adopting an omnichannel approach will certainly be realized by customers as they will have the power of flexible delivery and return options. Now the retailer can sit back and enjoy both having the most optimal fulfillment algorithm fitting to business needs and an increase in customer satisfaction level.

With Shopi’s Omnichannel Order & Inventory Hub, you can have all these capabilities in one platform. It will provide you full control of your inventory. You will be able to display order status as well as return processes in real-time. Check out the benefits of having an Omnichannel Order Management System in detail from the related blog article (https://shopihq.store/how-omnichannel-strategy-accelerates-the-entire-operation-in-retail/) and contact us to meet your needs for a better operation.

The Era of Merged Omnichannel Store and E-commerce

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 07:26:51 +0000

The shift of consumer spend towards e-commerce has been the major retail headline in 2020, and one of the main implications of this shift is the enhanced role omnichannel has come to play for retailers. In the 2020 timeframe, online retail traffic grew 207% over 2019, Queue-it shows us. However, this data doesn’t mean there is one channel for retailers to focus on. Quite the contrary of this saying, with the new customer habit, retailers should find a way to use all their channels, both online and offline, effectively. By now all players in the retail industry must know that this can only be achieved through integrated technologies.

So are retailers ready for this early rise of e-commerce? It seems that they are still providing not-so-integrated offerings in-store, on the website, and on mobile. This lack of integration is leaving customers disappointed and causing retailers loss of revenue, however, retailers are now also realizing -faster than ever- the real advantages of going omnichannel and leveraging this technology to maximize their efficiency and provide the best service possible to their customers.

How Technology is Changing the Retail Experience?

For a retailer to be able to provide an omnichannel experience to the customer is essential nowadays for the purposes of increasing satisfaction and efficiency. They must rely on real-time data supported by automation that can analyze information to develop the customer profile, and to keep track of store delivery and returns, also, track in-store inventory, store performance, and order fulfillment. Monitoring and controlling the lifecycle of an order is also critical in order to bring the omnichannel experience into life.

The omnichannel experience also involves the store associates offering better services such as enabling store customers to buy from all inventories, (including e-commerce) or to have them easily pick up their e-commerce orders from stores or to return online purchased items easily from the most convenient store. All these scenarios sound easy to implement, however they involve quite complex operational processes for retailers and can only be made possible with the help of omnichannel technologies.

Omnichannel Order Management Helps Retail Stay Relevant

New generation shoppers are considered a force with significant buying power. They are tech-savvy and always checking their smartphones to find the things they need and want to get. As much as this generation is considered very digital, they still preferred going to the store before the Covid pandemic and buying their products in person while also favoring interacting with the brand online. This has created an opportunity for store owners to leverage the omnichannel strategy.

To appeal to these generations and stay relevant, retailers have been looking to embrace innovative solutions. Nowadays physical stores are not preferred as they used to be and retailers will have to find other ways to leverage stores in order to maximize their potential capacity and turn them to profit centers.

Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, stores are not exactly the places people would like to go and spend ample time as the precautions have been stricken. These stores, however, could be positioned as mini distribution, delivery & return centers with the help of omnichannel technologies. This scenario will require a merged display of all inventories including warehouses, marketplaces, offline and online stores. When implemented properly, omnichannel order and inventory management systems will most efficiently optimize fulfillment and will help retailers maximize store capacity which has been dramatically reduced since the beginning of the pandemic.

If retailers can accomplish the implementation of an order and inventory management platform where the inventory is centralized and the order can be monitored and controlled throughout its lifecycle, it will lead to a point where the customer can order from anywhere without facing an out-of-stock warning and retailers can fulfill the order from every inventory they own. With the help of such a system, customers can easily process their online purchased items from a nearby store. The flexibility of delivery and return services such as BOPIS, BORIS, etc. is more critical than ever as touching and seeing the product still matters. What is required to survive for the retailer is the ability and agility to use the resources effectively. With Shopi’s Order & Inventory Hub, whether your online store is popular or not, you will always be on the safe side while managing your inventory and omnichannel order processes and controlling your operation 360 degrees in real-time. To learn more about how Shopi’s Order & Inventory Hub works, feel free to contact us any time!

5 Tips to Increase Store Efficiency

admin — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 04:20:40 +0000

It’s official, physical stores are here to stay! 2018 statistics confirm that 72% of consumers say that even though they browse online they prefer to make their purchase in physical stores (0). In an omni-channel age there are ways to ensure retailers can provide a pleasant retail experience as consumers look to glide efficiently from the online to offline retail world. While it might seem like a tall order for retailers to meet the expectations of the retail-educated and multiple-technology-using millennial demographic, cloud-technology can enable retailers to employ connected commerce infrastructure and satisfy their customers. Consider the following 5 tips for increasing store efficiency and keeping customers happy.

Revolutionize Payment Processes
The sight of a long queue before payment is literally causing consumers to drop their purchases items and leave the store. Slow payment journeys cost retailers £3.400.000.000 in the UK alone (1) and many more millions globally. Described as “critical” by Deloitte (2), customer care that includes a point of sale that comes to the customer is the easiest way to speed up the transaction process and meet customer expectations. For maximum efficiency, give consumers the opportunity to perform the purchase transaction independently.

Digitize Catalog
Cloud technology removes boundaries between the consumer and the purchase item. Digital cataloging means that consumers are no longer limited by the limited physical size of the store since they have unlimited access to the entire inventory via in-store screens. Thanks to the connecting aspect of the retail cloud, digital catalogs can display the entire stock (store, e-commerce, warehouse) and consumers can purchase items from any stock location available.

Enhance Sales Support
Educated and armed with in-store retail technologies, sales assistants are key to an efficient purchase. The equipped assistant of today provides both the human element expected by the consumer but also can have instant access to the entire inventory, product reviews and up and cross-sales suggestions via a handheld device. With the help of a connecting cloud, the sales assistant can access the customers purchase history and provide a more personalized set of recommendations. Equipping the sales staff with assisted sales technologies makes the shopping experience a more personal and certainly more efficient one.

Make Customer Relationship Management Stand Out
What could be more efficient than a store that already knows the shopping history and personal preferences when the customer enters the store. Building a relationship creates efficiency for both the retailer and the consumer. Relationships pay off as loyal customers are statistically worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase (5). Every time that a customer registers on a website, browses the retailer’s site, makes a purchase or interacts with touchpoints in-store they are contributing valuable information to that relationship. Rather than allowing this information to remain in separate information silos that provide limited use, a connected Customer Relationship Management system with appropriate clienteling tools that can receive, process, unify and instantly employ this information from all channels is a prime factor in building a retailer-customer relationship and an efficient shopping experience.

Perfect Communication
64% of people think that customer experience is more important than price in their choice of a brand (4). This places the responsibility on the retailer to provide an organized front in both their on and offline store. Cataloging that reflects accurate stock levels and location, fulfillment of orders according to customer expectation and purchase methods that work primarily in the interests of the customer require communication in both the shop floor and back-room, but are ultimately the key ingredients of an efficient customer experience. This of course is required to take place frictionlessly in both the on and offline world. Efficient stores utilize a cloud-based data management system that can provide smooth communications and an environment that meets consumer expectation on a consistent basis.

With the technologies available to meet the evolving expectations of consumers available, why should retailers miss out?

Reference:

(1) http://retailnext.net/blog/brick-and-mortar-vs-online-retail/

(2) https://www.qudini.com/queues-service-retail-stores-cost-uk-economy-3-4-billion/

(3) https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/se/Documents/technology/Omni-channel-2015.pdf

(4) http://blog.neosperience.com/10-useful-customer-experience-statistics-for-your-2015-strategy

(5) https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/38-powerful-customer-experience-stats-2015-christine-james

Cloud Managed Retail Data: Why happy customers are your greatest sources of learning

admin — Mon, 07 May 2018 09:43:03 +0000

“How can I help you?” Ah yes, the yesteryear introduction made by shop assistants in retail outlets for generations.
However, in today’s world the thought of cold-approaching customers in this way should cause hairs to stand on end.
This time has gone. The customer of 2018 requires, quite rightly, a bespoke experience.

An approach by retailers that has already taken into account not only their purchasing and browsing history but
that meets their related needs in the weeks and months following their last venture into the company’s waters.
Thanks to Connected Commerce approach and omni-channel capabilities enabled by itself, customers no longer have
to enter a strange environment with salespersons skilled at guesswork.

The customer of 2018 is now met, either online or offline, by a marketplace that is laid out according to their
needs and preferences. These needs are considered, weighed and quality products that meet them placed conveniently
for their consideration. This is not the realms of fantasy, reports tell us that 54% of consumers would
consider ending their relationship with a retailer if they are not given tailor-made, relevant content and offers
(1). This is a very real expectation of the current consumer. Companies that can provide this by employing cloud supported,
connected-commerce solutions, are drawing away from the their traditional, quaint, contemporaries.

Connected Commerce lets you gather data and organize this into various relevant information in smooth interfaces
and enables a continuity between different sales channels ensuring enriched customer experience and high levels
of customer satisfaction.

Much as the independence of limbs and a nervous system allow functionality for the human body yet require a single
command centre to manage them, a brain is required to manage and translate the terabyte of information that
regularly turnover in the average retail company into meaningful output.

What is the brain?

Shopicloud provides the solution for this by integrating all of the retail systems into one simple package. It is a
cloud-based unified commerce platform that meets consumer expectation by receiving and managing incoming and
constantly changing retail data and shaping this data to provide a custom shopper experience. It further provides
a single point of contact for retail management and key decision makers to access information regarding sales,
orders, favorite products and retail trends.

Shopicloud can receive data from sources such as eCom, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Product information
management (PIM), Customer relationship management (CRM), Media Server and Point of Sale (POS) through it’s unique
integration capabilities. Products such as Shopisign and Shopiconnect communicate with the cloud and display
beautifully illustrated real-time information regarding products, stocks and services, in-store insights and
analytics that relate to the both retailers’ and customers’ real needs and expectations.

What do customers think?

The impact of customer satisfaction by their experience cannot be underestimated. It has been reported that up to
89% of consumers began doing business with a competitor following an unsatisfactory customer experience (2).
Shopicloud enables retailers meet their customers’
expectations. Further it avoids a less than optimal experience for the customer since interfaces such as
Shopisign communicate directly with the Shopicloud rather
than with an online website. Pristine images and video streamed from this cloud location display in high
resolution. Meaning that the customer experience is not impaired by external factors such as internet speed,
compression of images or other limitations.

Shopicloud provides an opportunity to access previously untapped data and crucial information regarding what
consumers like or dislike in your physical store and then lets you respond appropriately. Happier customers,
greater profits. Using the analytics tools that Shopicloud provides, you identify the holes to fill in your
processes and expedite the onboarding of the solution. Loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much
as their first purchase – learn what drives this loyalty by understanding the customer journey from their
first browse to their purchase. (2)

As Bill Gates included in his customer relations policies that

“your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning…”

These words served well the business that once amassed $93.580.000.000 billion in a single year. His words
timeless. Once. The time has changed. learly, with good data management unhappy customers are no longer the best
source of learning. All customers are the best source of learning. And by using connected commerce methods to
mould their shopping experience into one that is truly relevant, they need not be unhappy. There is no need for
customers to reach unhappiness regarding choice or experience. Cloud-based solutions such as Shopicloud
can adjust seamlessly and in real-time around them to provide the bespoke shopping experience they expect.

Reference:

(1) https://digiday.com/marketing/13-alarming-stats-about-retail-in-digital/

(2) https://www.nchannel.com/blog/retail-data-ecommerce-statistics/

How Connected Commerce Solutions Conquer a Divided Retail World

admin — Mon, 07 May 2018 07:23:44 +0000

“The end is nigh” …”The writing is on the wall”…Major companies facing “chapter 11” scenarios…How many idioms have you encountered regarding the fate of brick and mortar retail stores?

It seemed inevitable that the last two years would see the decline of physical stores snowball with Armageddon like consequences for the high street. Interestingly this particular prophecy has not yet been fulfilled. Consider: In the USA, the country that practically single handedly funded the online warehousing retailing behemoth amazon.com, 2017 statistics show that 94% of total retail sales are still generated in brick & mortar stores (1).

Could it be that the line drawn in the sand between the old and the new, brick and mortar store commerce and online retail, is not quite as clearly defined as they say? Even if one day the promised move from traipsing the high street to the complete home shopping experience does come to fruition, the latest figures tell us that, at least for now, we are not as close as we are led to believe. We are at best in a transition that has yet to indicate signs of completion. So, what will you choose? A 100% brick and mortar solution and miss the online retail revolution? Or a purely e-commerce based approach and live with the anxiety that you may have entered this world too soon or that your customers value the tangibility of your product more than you predicted.

Hail “connected commerce” retailing as the saviour of retail owners in this particular limbo.

Connected Commerce is the ultimate way to conduct omnichannel marketing which gives the customer a single experience by providing a seamless transition between the physical store and the online equivalent. Two thirds of in-store shoppers will check prices on their phone before making a purchase (2). They are literally looking for an online experience in a physical location? How can you better facilitate the shopper who wants to be in both worlds at once? By unifying your data and providing your customer a wholesome experience at all and many touch points.

For retailers searching to unify their commerce units and bringing digital transformation in a physical store, Shopi provides all the simple, connected, seamless, fast and digital experience for an undecided world. From a retailer’s point of view, it’s all the data from ERP, media server, PIM, E-commerce and what not elegantly orchestrated and organized into talented user interfaces. From a shopper’s point of view it is all the benefits of an online store and an offline store merged together…

Shopisign, Shopi’s endless aisle solution, create unique opportunities for stores of various sizes or chain stores. Consider a store with limited floor space but a large product selection. Even stores with a budget footprint can instantly create endless digital aisles. Thus the potential product scope can be substantially increased. Customers can literally choose to peruse the online location in the brick and mortar store. They can shop in an online store whilst enjoying the ease of an electronic basket and checkout experience. This simple idea belies further benefits. The browsing data provided by Shopi tools provide invaluable insight into customer behaviour in each store. More stores…more data, further Shopi tools provide data per store.

Perhaps you are thinking that “omnichannel” or even “connected commerce” is a current buzzword, a temporary fix, and that a purely online solution is the only worthy investment for the future. Think again.

The online startup Amazon.com that we discussed earlier, who posted profits of $60.5 billion for the fourth quarter of 2017 (3)…has opened 13 brick and mortar stores in the last 28 months (3), with a further four planned. These are figures that are hard to argue with. Brick and mortar shopping is not dying, it’s beautifully and digitally transforming.

Reference:

(1) Retail’s Main Event: Brick & Mortar vs. Online, Ray Hartjen – http://retailnext.net/blog/brick-and-mortar-vs-online-retail/

(2) The future of e-commerce: bricks and mortar – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/30/future-of-e-commerce-bricks-and-mortar

(3) Amazon shares jump after earnings, Eugene Kim – https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/01/amazon-earnings-q4-2017.html