Retailers face three main challenges in 2014: implementing omni-channel strategies to provide a seamless customer experience across all channels, integrating disparate systems to enable this experience, and adapting to increased global competition. To address these, retailers need to invest in technology that integrates operations, sales, and marketing to personalize customer interactions based on their purchasing behaviors and adapt offerings quickly based on real-time sales data insights. Partnering with a company like Tectura that offers solutions like Microsoft Dynamics can help retailers meet these challenges by providing a single, integrated platform to manage all retail operations and enable the agility needed to succeed in today's environment.
1. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 1
What you need to know. What you need to do.
Retail Predictions for 2014
Key trends Retailers are being forced to reconcile within their retail operation.
2. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 1
If three words could describe the expectations of Australian
retail consumers for 2014, they’d be:
More, Improved and Faster.
ȏ More range, more options, more information
ȏ Improved online and in-store experiences, and
ȏ Faster – because whether we’re talking online or in-store,
your customers want it now
So what can retailers do to stay abreast of these increasingly
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This eBook takes a close look at the key
challenges facing Retailers in 2014; and
discusses what you can do position your
business for success.
KEY CHALLENGES
Omni-channel strategies
– the 21st century
requirement
Disparate systems
need to become tightly
integrated
The globalisation impact
3. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 2
Challenge 1
Omni-channel Strategies –
The 21st Century Requirement
A strong omni-channel marketing strategy aims to create a
seamless approach to the consumer experience through ensuring
all available shopping channels (including mobile phone, internet
devices, computers, bricks-and-mortar and traditional marketing
channels) are on message, accessible and intrinsically connected.
The upshot of this is that the consumer receives the same
brand experience, regardless of how they choose to connect
with that brand.
OMNI-CHANNEL
MARKETING DEFINED:
The multiple ways in
which consumers now
expect to connect with,
and access retail goods.
4. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 3
Current trends suggest omni-channel expectations will only
continue to grow, as consumers (particularly Gen Y and
beyond) embrace online shopping and multiple access
points, often simultaneously. As such, those same consumers
will expect ever faster access and search responses,
regardless of how and when they connect with your store.
Likewise, when they do physically enter your store, they’ll do
so with more prior knowledge than ever before. They may
be armed with product details (think price comparisons and
online product reviews) or will expect that information to be
immediately accessible via online applications during their
in-store experience. And it is worth noting there’s no hiding
from these developments – if retailers aren’t controlling
the information themselves, consumers will simply access
applications like Google Shopper, RedLaser, and TheFind to
price-check goods and make competitive comparisons, often
whilst standing in your store.
5. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 4
WHAT TO DO?
Adapt strategies to
personalise the
shopping experience
and genuinely embrace
social, local and mobile.
What this boils down to is a previously inconceivable array of
consumer power and choice. Your customers might choose
to shop at home, or in any manner of mobile location. And even
when physically in your store, the lure of your competitors will
always be imminent.
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strategies to personalise the shopping experience and
genuinely embrace social, local and mobile (SoLoMo)
applications by investing in the infrastructure underpinning
them. And it goes without saying that retailers parading
their omni-channel credentials without underlying systems
integration are likely to cause damage to their brands as
they slowly disappoint consumers’ increasingly sophisticated
expectations.
Retailers should understand how their customers “path to
purchase” has changed, and develop their omni-channel
strategies to leverage this.
6. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 5
Challenge 2
Disparate systems will need to integrate.
A consumer cannot have a seamless shopping experience
covering all possible sales channels if the retailer’s underlying
systems are disparate. In such a scenario, they might not be
able to buy a product online and return it to a store. Or redeem
points collected in store, online, or vice versa. They would
not be able to access accurate, real time product information
from your in-store sales representatives, leading to distrust or
impatience with your brand.
And, because they would be able to make competitive
price comparisons through the recent surge of third party
applications, retailers who fail to integrate will quickly lose out
to online competition whilst simultaneously failing to secure its
inherent advantages.
7. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 6
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competitive with the new players driving the retail sector; and
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through streamlining your order processing, stock controls and
distribution channels. An example of this would be an ERP
system that enabled retailers to seamlessly manage store,
web and mobile device transactions, through to warehousing,
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Overall visibility is the key in this scenario – and it’s critical in
enabling the retailer to be well informed and pro-active.
Interestingly, this move towards integration is extending to
retailers themselves. We’re likely to see a strong trend towards
‘bricks and mortar’ retailers developing their web strategies,
whilst at the same time, online stores will look to offering
a ‘bricks and mortar’ presence to enable better customer
servicing. In both cases, all outlets will need to become more
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a cohesive brand experience.
8. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 7
Equally, loyalty programs are currently in the process of
developing beyond simple card/ point type systems and
savvy retailers are focussing more on gathering personalised
details to continue the drive towards highly targeted offers and
promotions.
Again, whilst plenty of retailers will pay lip service to this drive;
only those with access to accurate data on customer buying
histories will have the ability to analyse those behaviours and
react quickly with authentic offers and promotions. Retailers
who’ve invested in technology and have close integration of
their loyalty/ marketing and ERP systems will be in a strong
position to target their best customers and encourage the
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customers, regardless of where they are in the world.
WHAT TO DO?
Invest in ERP technology
that seamlessly integrates
operations with sales
and marketing to
personalise the
customer experience.
9. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 8
Challenge 3
Globalisation
It goes without saying that there are more international retailers
entering Australia than ever before. And this increased global
competition only exacerbates the pressure of suppliers
becoming competitors. Equally, where suppliers may once
have opened a concession or wholesale operation; they are
now entering the Australian market as direct competitors, largely
as a result of the global search engine trend (i.e. customers
searching the web for brands rather than retail stores).
The drive towards globalisation does more than increase
competition. It also distorts the very concept of how we’ve
worked as an industry in Australia. Our concept of ‘seasonality’
begins to be less relevant – consumers can search and access
any product in any season. Product lifecycles start shrinking
as consumers become ever more impatient and empowered to
search out the next best thing themselves.
10. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 9
When reliance on traditional retail concepts start to shift, so too
must the solutions. Global change can provide an excellent
opportunity for retailers who were previously beholden to
seasonal constraints and product lifecycles to create their own,
more agile processes.
As such, there’s now a growing need for accurate SKU (Stock
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more critical to providing your customers with exactly what they
want, and in adapting your product lines quickly, in line with
changing behaviours.
And of course this analysis will only ever be as good as the
data underpinning it. If you had real time, accurate data; you’d
understand exactly what your business looks like at every given
moment. You’d have instant reporting highlighting issues as
they happen (be it wage percentages, margins, stock turns or
out of stocks) and access to this information via real time feeds
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changing markets and customer behaviours.
WHAT TO DO?
Embrace the
opportunities provided
by globalisation by
being nimble, using
real-time, accurate data
to understand exactly
what your business
looks like at any given
moment.
12. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 10
The solution for Retailers in 2014?
It’s all about having access to technology that you can build
your business upon.
More than ever before, solutions need to be:
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Retailers must keep up with customer expectations and
move with speed when the market requires it.
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The Microsoft Dynamics Platform is ideal for the retail market
because it offers one ‘version of the truth’ across the full retail
mix, from POS, mPOS (mobile POS), web, loyalty, procurement
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13. Retail Predictions for 2014 / Page 11
The good news is, the global consumer is accessible to
Australian Retailers too – providing you have the means to
attract them, and the infrastructure to support and adapt to
growing worldwide sales.
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“Likewise, when you work with a dedicated Microsoft Partner
like Tectura, you access local resources that have an in-depth
understanding of the Australian Retail Market, along with
Tectura’s global retail expertise of working with some of the
world’s leading and most progressive retailers. It’s a winning
combination when it comes to positioning Retailers to grow
and develop in the 21st century global market.”
Says Kerry Proctor; Tectura Business Development Manager
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Platform can help you, call 1300 TECTURA (1300 832 887) for
a complimentary consultation with one of our dedicated retail
consultants.
