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Achieving excellence in customer experience takes dedication, consistency and constant evolution. Informatica investigates how all this can be delivered
Are you ready for the great retail reset? Covid-19 sent the industry’s digital transformation into overdrive with companies having to find new ways to meet consumer expectations — and they did.
Now another set of market forces is in play. Retailers are grappling with supply chain disruption, skills shortages and surging inflation. Meanwhile, the need to drive sales and strengthen loyalty only intensifies.
So, it’s no time to take your foot off the gas. The industry urgently needs to keep transforming, with solutions that improve customer experience (CX) and deliver actionable insights that help improve the bottom line.
That means moving beyond the coping strategies needed to get through Covid and investing in solutions that make customer satisfaction objectives easier to achieve.
Time to double down
Labeling a technology as ‘digital’ isn’t enough. Data management is key to reaching CX objectives and any retail solution must address the data challenges around customer engagement, digital commerce, real-time supply chain logistics and data protection.
“67% of retailers view ecommerce platforms as their top areas for technology investment”
To modernise both their infrastructure and applications, retailers need cloud-based data management, including data integration, data privacy and data governance capabilities powered by AI.
Advanced analytics should be part of the package, putting data to work and uncovering new insights that help retailers deliver more profitable customer experiences.
And online operations are a huge prority across the industry. According to Deloitte, 67% of retailers view ecommerce platforms as their top areas for technology investment.
Achieving a unified customer view
Seamless and secure exchange of data between retail applications like point of sale, payment processing and inventory must be in place, linking systems across on-premises and multi-cloud environments.
The goal is to use the vast store of data at the retailer’s disposal, no matter where it lives, and apply it in ways that build stronger customer relationships.
Regardless of touchpoint, CX now determines retail brand loyalty. Negative experiences have a direct and lasting impact on the likelihood of a return visit — online or in person.
Putting data to work
By unifying data sources, retailers can create a holistic view of the customer encompassing their previous interactions, purchases and interests. Knowing customers better creates a basis for driving loyalty.
Better data management supports an omnichannel approach where customers gain a seamless shopping experience across all touchpoints. That means consistent, unified CX, whether it’s shopping on a retailer’s website, in store or via a chatbot.
Post-pandemic, the issue of out-of-stock items has become an all-too-common complaint.
Customers are also demanding more proof that retailers are living up to their sustainability claims. Cloud-based data management helps give retailers transparency and visibility into products and practices across the global supply chain.
Finally, as more and more retail activity moves online, customers have become increasingly sensitive to data privacy and security.
By implementing enterprise-wide data governance, retailers can improve the trustworthiness and quality of their data to ensure regulatory compliance.
To find out more, download our white paper How to Reimagine Retail Commerce with Cloud Data Management and check out informatica.com/retail.
