International Journal of Applied Research & Studies ISSN Retail Anywhere. Authors Anupam Basu. Address for Correspondence:

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1 Retail Anywhere Research Article Authors Anupam Basu Address for Correspondence: HOD, Management (IT and Project) Brainware Group of Institutions Abstract Since e-commerce went main stream in 2000, most organizations have spent a significant amount of time and money developing and maintaining their e-commerce channel. However, while organizations concentrate on building out their online presence, IT investment in stores has taken a back seat. Very little innovation or transformation has occurred to help bring the in-store retail experience into the 21st century - which is ironic since most retailers still do a vast majority of their overall business through their brick and mortar locations. This is why many retail executives are starting to ask themselves: how can technology transform the in-store customer experience? Mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, have already penetrated physical stores through the mobile web, native applications and online retailer price comparison apps such as Red Laser and Amazon. This infiltration of mobile technology inside stores can either help or hinder a retailer s value proposition. Either way, investment in mobile technology has now become critical. Retailers must understand that just as mobile devices transformed the way people consume news, they are now shaping the way people shop. This paradigm shift in the way people shop is called customer centric retail. It is based on the notion that customer relationships should span the wide spectrum of the touch points between your company and your customer anytime, anywhere, and any channel. Because of the ubiquitous access to the consumer, mobile devices will be the vehicles responsible for realizing true customer centric retail. Today s consumers are more demanding than ever. Customers have more choices and purchasing channels than ever before and when they interact with a retailer they want you to know who they are and what they want. To be competitive in today's demanding retail environment, retailers need an integrated retail management system that delivers enhanced customer service across channels while driving growth and increased revenue. ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 1

2 Retail Anywhere understands these needs and delivers a cloud-based retail management system that brings together POS, ecommerce, CRM and marketing, merchandising and order management, financials, and warehouse management into a single centrally managed solution. Retail Anywhere's retail management solution is an end-to-end suite designed especially for multi-channel retailers and leverages it could be an ERP platform for cloud-based enterprise management. Linking every step of our enterprise gives us real-time visibility into our entire retail operation, accessible from anywhere at any time. Today s consumers are more demanding than ever. Customers have more choices and purchasing channels than ever before and when they interact with a retailer they want you to know who they are and what they want. To be competitive in today's demanding retail environment, retailers need an integrated retail management system that delivers enhanced customer service across channels while driving growth and increased revenue. Retail Anywhere understands these needs and delivers a cloud-based retail management system that brings together POS, ecommerce, CRM and marketing, merchandising and order management, financials, and warehouse management into a single centrally managed solution. Retail Anywhere Mobile Point of Sale (POS) This type of software incorporates the power and functionality of a traditional POS workstation into a mobile device that allows you to service customers anywhere at anytime. In addition to improved service, Retail Anywhere Mobile POS enables associates and store managers to spend more time on the sales floor, improving productivity and profitability. Carry out the complete sales process on the Internet Like Quotation & Order Management, Shopping Basket Management, Price Management and Collaborative Selling, Like Knowledge Management, Request Management, Live customer support, Customer Self service, Installed Base management, Complaints and Returns and Billing and Payment ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 2

3 Retail CRM & Marketing It is a process or methodology used to learn more about customers' needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. There are many technological components to CRM, but thinking about CRM in primarily technological terms is a mistake. The more useful way to think about CRM is as a process that will help bring together lots of pieces of information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends. CRM helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of customers and the value of those customers. Instant messaging, 24/7-customer service, shorter development cycles today, businesses and their customers move at a rapid clip. Buy decisions are made quickly and in fact entire businesses can succeed or fail in a matter of weeks. That means that the no one has the luxury of waiting months or even years to install a traditional, expensive, client/server CRM application. The competitive advantage today is on-demand CRM. ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 3

4 The Core area of CRM being: CRM interface. This is the overall user interface, including home, pages, tabs, menus, dashboards, etc., as well as all the factors that affect the usability of the system. This require to be modified Account management. The area of a CRM solution where all of the information about the companies (and the contacts or people at those companies) that the user enterprise has relationships with, is centrally maintained and managed. In addition, this area includes all calendar and activity management functionality. Campaign lead and opportunity management; these areas of a CRM solution are where all of the selling opportunities are centrally maintained and managed. Customer Service; this area of a CRM solution is where customer service questions, requests, problems, and issues are input, tracked, and escalated (if need be), so that customers are able to get what they need handled in the most efficient and effective manner. Document Management; this functionality typically includes a document library where users can store files that other people can access via the web. Workflow Automation; this functionality can keep a business running smoothly by automatically assigning tasks (or sending alerts) based on a business's pre-defined processes. Workflow rules put workflow alerts and workflow tasks into action whenever the designated criterion is met. Desktop Tools; this functionality provides integration with desktop office tools like Microsoft Excel, Word, and Outlook, as well as wireless support and off-line access. Reporting, Analytics, and dashboard; this functionality monitors an enterprise's performance utilizing a variety of pre-defined (yet customizable) reports covering each of the services' main data areas. CRM solutions also allow users to use data filters, so they report on only the information needed, and to subtotal or chart the data to help analyze trends and get a concise picture of what's happening. Administration and setup; this is the area of a CRM solution where an enterprise can import or export data and manage user roles (for information access) and security. Internationalization; internalization provides support for foreign language and real time currency conversion. Customization; this is the ability to customize the CRM solution to meet industry- and company-specific requirements. Integration; these are tools for integrating the CRM solution with other third party or legacy systems. ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 4

5 CRM Construct a business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) selling scenario Provide customers with personalized, interactive, and easy-to-use sales and self-service facilities over the Internet Reduce call center volumes and customer support Reduce transaction costs of service by supporting self-service access for customers Improve customer convenience and satisfaction Perform Product Catalog Management, Content Management, Campaign Management and Customer Segmentation. ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 5

6 Retailers need an effective retail CRM and marketing solution to satisfy shoppers and compete in today s competitive retail market. Retail Anywhere CRM for retail delivers a complete 360 view of every customer in every channel, providing the insight we need to deliver personalized service, build customer loyalty and increase revenue. Advantages of CRM: Provide better customer service Increase customer revenues Discover new customers Cross sell/up Sell products more effectively Help sales staff close deals faster Make call centers more efficient Simplify marketing and sales processes The types of data the CRM Projects collect directly or indirectly from external vendors: Responses to campaigns Shipping and fulfillment dates Sales and purchase data Account information Web registration data ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 6

7 Service and support records Demographic data Web sales data Customer Centric Retail: Mobile Creates a New Shopping Paradigm Forrester Research calls this new paradigm shift agile commerce1; Gartner calls it context aware mobile commerce. Both of these characterizations ignore the central part of the evolution the customer. As mobile devices continue to take their place as a central part of a consumer s everyday life, the question remains is your organization positioned for customer centric retail? Whether or not retailers are ready for customer centric retail, their customers are. As with many innovations, it is often the customer that leads the market. Signs point to rapidly changing consumer behavior. In fact, it could be argued that customer behavior relative to mobile devices, online shopping and the in-store experience has already reached a tipping point. Customers are increasingly using their mobile devices in-store, and soon it will become second nature. In-store reviews, price checks against competitors, postings on social networks, and customer self-checkout all will become a normal aspect of the retail experience. If the average retail customer no longer thinks about interacting with a retail brand in terms of discrete channels, then retailers must comply or risk losing customers to competitors that do. Customer centric retail is the simple belief that the customer should be at the center of the relationship with your organization. Through their mobile devices, customers will be able to interact with your brand across any channel, at any time and anywhere. ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 7

8 A few Statistics: 46% of consumers have used their phone to get product information while in a store. (Source: Briabe Media, 2011) 70% of iphone owners report using applications or their smartphone s web browser to help them while shopping in-store, and 41% are making purchases directly from their phones. (Source: Chadwick Martin Bailey and imoderate Research Technologies, 2011) 73% of shoppers with smart phones prefer to reference their mobile device while in-store rather than ask a sales associate for help. (Source: Accenture, reported) Gartner Identifies 10 Consumer Mobile Applications to Watch in 2012 Location-based services (LBSs): Location is one of the main enablers that deliver services to users based on their context and, Gartner expects the total user base of consumer LBSs to reach 1.4 billion users by Social networking: Mobile social networking is the fastest-growing consumer mobile app category of the 19 tracked by Gartner. Social network platforms are sucking in increasing amounts of network traffic. They are becoming portals, transit hubs and cloud storage for increasing amounts of messaging and traffic, videos, photos, games and commerce.. Mobile search: Visual search is usually related with product search to enable price comparisons or to check product information. To bring mobile search to the next level, the app would allow users to take actions based on the result, such as making a call or reservation, buying a ticket, placing an order, and so on. Mobile commerce: Today, mobile commerce is more of an extension of e-commerce but in a smaller form factor and with a more-streamlined experience. However, over the next 24 months, Gartner expects the emergence of uniquely mobile functions, such as the ability to "check in" to a store to alert a retailer that you are there, or the ability to add items to a shopping cart simply by taking a photo of an item or bar code in the physical store. Mobile payment: Although near field communication (NFC) payment will be included in highend phones from 2011, Gartner does not believe that it will become mainstream before In order to get consumers on board, payment solution providers need to address ease-of-use for users and ease-of-implementation for customers without compromising security. Context-aware service: Context-aware applications provide improved user experiences by using the information about a person's interests, intentions, history, environment, activities, schedule, priorities, connections and preferences to anticipate their needs and proactively serve up the most appropriate content, product or service. ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 8

9 Object recognition (OR). High-end devices have an increased sensor and processing capability that enable sophisticated applications to recognize the user's surroundings, including specific objects of interest. Because OR provides an easy-to-use interface, more apps will come to the market with enhanced capabilities by Mobile instant messaging (MIM): Gartner expects MIM to attract consumers to new types of unified communication (UC) client, provided by over the top (OTT) service providers such as Skype. These service providers are threatening traditional communications service provider voice revenue. Mobile Smart phones have begun to drive the mainstream adoption of mobile through a series of technology enhancements enabling low-cost mobile extensions to existing e- mail service. Gartner expects mobile users worldwide to increase from 354 million in 2009 to 713 million in 2014, to account for 10.6 percent of the global mobile user base. addresses are personal and potentially extremely sticky, thus provide carriers, service providers and OTT players with an opportunity to lock in consumers. Mobile video: Mobile phones with larger screens and media tablets offer the ideal platform for video consumption and with careful marketing and consumer education, Gartner believes that carriers and content providers would be able to drive mobile video usage in the coming years. Cross channel retailing maturity model - Stages and characteristics Single Channel Multi Channel Cross Channel Integration Seamless Customer Dialogue Characteristics Strategy and Strategy & Brand Management Customer Approach/Customer Experience Design Organization / Operating Model Single Channel No channel strategy differentiation; primary channel focus being brick and mortar, internet and direct mail focus on brochure ware or advertising Brand programs are focused on store and traditional media Some thought given to online execution, but not actively pursued as Customer is managed primarily in the store; online is used mostly as a brochure Offer product research online, store locators information but no capability to purchase online Focus and Power is retail outlets Online is seen as a niche which isn't very important No real focus on emerging channels ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 9

10 commercial opportunity Multi Channel Channel strategies are differentiated but not closely integrated. New channels viewed as incremental opportunities but not strategic Brand is actively managed in each channel for channel specific needs; little focus on how the channels are integrated.maturity has been attained in the store and online, some experimentation with other channels- but not actively being pursued No real focus on the transition of the customer journey across channels Ecommerce department has growing importance; still seen as a separate entity from other distribution/merchant channels No real focus on development of emerging channels Cross - Channel Integration Enterprise level strategic planning is done to optimize each channel collaboratively through operating models, systems blueprints, and roadmaps Brand is managed holistically across all channels Marketing messages are tailored and relevant, focus is on creating a dialogue with the customer Building process and technology capabilities to meet customer needs and create a seamless experience for the customer regardless of channel entry point Focus on customer experience and managing the transition/lifetime of a customer journey which skips around through various channels Organization model reflects this strategy by being organized around customer, not channel or product Seamless Customer Dialogue Customer centric retailing. The 360 view and insight on customers drive backand front-end across all processes There is a single strategy for retail across established and emerging channels which is driven from the C level; this strategy takes into account emerging technology trends and tools Brand is systematically implemented across all channels, regardless of platform A relevant and personalized customer journey and cross channel dialogue enhances the customer experience The customer experience is completely integrated across channels, pc, store, OOH internet device and all other emerging technologies; this process is seamless and automated Organization is completely designed around the customer wants and needs ; all campaigns are focused at the micro segment or single customer dialogue level All programs are run seamlessly across the channels in an automated process New channels can be implemented with only minor effort ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 10

11 In cross channel shopping behavior the local trend mirrors the global situation The Accenture s research confirms the key role of cross channel behavior as a driver of purchasing in a global context. Globally, as much as 87 percent of customers who inform themselves about products and services online go on to buy in-store. Millions more still absorb most of their product information in-store and then buy online. And still today, many stick to catalogs as an information medium and then buy in-store. Accenture s most recent research from 2010 tells us that their customer market mirrors this trend with 69%of the Customers report engaging in some form of cross channel shopping. Furthermore the research shows that today the majority is cross channel by consequently switching channels when moving from orientation to purchase phase during their journey. Their recent findings say found that 20% of the cross channel shoppers seamlessly switch channels to their convenience during the purchase phase, e.g. switching channels for purchase, taking from stock on hand/pick-up/home delivery, return or after-sale needs. Anytime, Anywhere, Any Channel Customer centric retail will immediately offer tangible benefits for improving the in-store experience, which will alleviate many of the problems that have long plagued retail executives. Innovative retailers are learning how to leverage mobile devices to help guide their customers through the store, and are completing more sales as a result. Best Practices for Building A Mobile Customer Centric Strategy In order for technology to truly create a competitive advantage, the strategy must benefit both the retailer and its customer. While customer centric retail continues to take shape, there are several best practices that must be at the center of any rollout strategy. The following key points detail the technical and business factors to be considered when planning to implement a mobile strategy in-store. 5 keys to building a mobile customer centric strategy Know Thy Customer: Customer Centric, Not Channel Centric - Customer centric retail offers the opportunity to unify channels for one very simple reason: it puts the customer at the center of the retail universe. Building strategies for disparate channels only compounds the customer service issues consumers currently experience. A customer centric retail strategy helps integrate customer data, thus reducing the barriers between channels. ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 11

12 Set Realistic Goals - When building a customer centric mobile strategy, start with objectives that contribute to long-term mobile application adoption, both in-store and outside of stores. Simultaneously Consider Technology and Business Processes- In order to execute a successful customer centric retail strategy using mobile devices, business process and technology must be in lockstep. It is critical that retailers create processes that complement and support the functionality delivered through mobile applications. Implement the Customer Centric Mobile Strategy in Phases - Phasing a mobile initiative will help retailers focus on what is important. Retailers should create phases that adhere to customer needs, revenue opportunities, and differentiation. First phase: Inspire customer adoption with features that create convenience. Second phase: Drive revenue through couponing, suggest sells, and promotions. Third phase: Differentiate the brand with cutting-edge functionality. Fourth phase: Optimize the experience based on testing and measurement Test & Measure - Set up analytics to determine whether key performance indicators are achieved. Since mobile customer centric retail is new, some areas of measurement to consider include: Revenue transacted through mobile devices Mobile smart phone application traffic Average cart/order value Number of mobile app downloads Product scans/searches via mobile devices Repeat visits/log-ins Mobile app satisfaction Opt-in rates for SMS, daily deals, coupons In the past decade, most retail executives were consumed with the task of developing and maintaining an online presence. In this decade, the focus will shift to the unification of channels centered on the consumer. Merchandise Management With a merchandise management solution from Retail Anywhere, we can efficiently analyze, order, price, and distribute merchandise across your retail channels. Having the right inventory at the right place at the right time while optimizing for promotion and pricing of products maximizes sales and reduces the need for future markdowns. ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 12

13 Marketing Analytics, Sales analytics, Service analytics With a comprehensive BI evaluation and navigation options, we can measure the influence of our customer relations on the success of your business, as well as the efficiency of individual actions. Cross-Channel Consumers Recently, Econsultancy released the results of a survey that revealed that 48% of U.S. and UK consumers consider the opportunity to shop across channels to be useful. Now, a study by Oracle has even more insight on consumers views on cross-channel commerce. The Oracle study surveyed over 2000 consumers in the U.S. and Canada; 54% responded that they regularly shop using two or more channels before making a purchase. It s also important to note that these consumers expect a consistent experience across all channels. There is still some hesitancy among consumers regarding mobile commerce, though it is a growing channel. While a quarter of consumers are concerned about the security of making mobile purchases, 45% of consumers age make purchases on a mobile device as often as a few times a week. Again, the key takeaway here is consistency in meeting customers expectations. They expect products to be made available through any channel, and they expect purchases to be secure and effective anytime, anywhere. According to a recent IDC Study digital information is doubling every two years that includes customer information, such as buying behavior. With so much data available, the goal is to harness and use it. Historically, price and convenience have been the most important drivers for online shopping. The future will be no different, however, as prices becoming increasingly transparent, market efficiencies will make process converge and become less differentiating. The real high performing retailers will combine the basics, but will recognize their customers in an increasingly personalized way, in order to deliver their customers the ultimate customer experience and drive loyalty. New channels will emerge as interactive technologies continue to evolve in areas such as mobile phones, TVs, walls and cars. High performing retailers will integrate those channels to deliver a relevant dialogue with their customers throughout their journey. The retail brand becomes always-on anywhere and anytime ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 13

14 Conclusion A well-designed e-commerce system can serve as the basis for a true cross-channel commerce solution. This system must already interface with product, inventory, order management, and financial information; customer relationship; and transactional systems. And it must typically adapt to different information availability and rules about which system is authoritative on which data. The system aggregates information in a meaningful way for a high volume of visitor traffic, and it can personalize the view to serve different audience needs. It is the most compelling place to aggregate customer-facing information. No longer just a Web solution, e-commerce is assuming its rightful position as the foundation for all customer-facing commerce applications across all touch points. References: For the purpose of this study the following references were used: 1) 2) 3) IBM CRM Overview Presentation 4) 5) Accenture Research Multi Channel Retail in the Netherland, ) 7) * About Author: M.Sc. (Statistics), SDS, PGDOR, PGDCMS At present HOD Management (IT & Projects - Brainware Group), and visiting faculty - Globsyn NC, Army Institute of Mgmt, ICFAI Business School, IISWBM etc. MTPL- Core Member, Delivery Head- Soft Wizards, and provides Software Consultancy services in the areas of Business Intelligence, Analytics & other areas also. ijars/ Vol. II/ Issue I/Jan, 2013/177 14