Category: Blog

Finally! A Retail revival, but for whom?

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Two years ago I wrote about the struggles of the retail industry in my article “Retail is dead! Long live Retail”, it’s nice to see some of the predictions in this article come true! Time to reflect and see what’s next.

The US retail market, the bellwether of the industry, has finally started growing again. Retail sales are surging, up 6.4% YOY from last year this July. Store closures are down 22%.

The growth is being led by Retailers who are getting the consumer back, bringing e-commerce like service to their customers, with click and collect and curb-side pickups, concierge services, frictionless returns, store to home deliveries, and many other services. While physical retail is back, e-commerce continues to grow, interestingly a major part of this digital growth is being driven by retail giants like Walmart.

At the same time, we are seeing a number of brands and retailers heading down the slippery slope. Some of them household names. The market is clearly being divided into those who will make it and those who will not. These retailers have closed unprofitable stores, cut costs, reduced manpower, rejigged their pricing and merchandise, yet they are not able to make it out of the downward spiral. So what is the reason? Since we work with retailers across 22 countries and see some of our customers and friends in both categories, we can clearly see the difference in their approach. Some retailers see technology investments and related service costs as a necessary evil, they do not see them as strategic tools to help them win this wave of transformation both in the industry and the minds of consumers. These are the retailers who are endangered, though they can still turn around if they change their mindsets.

On the other had there are a number of retailers who are quietly embarking on large internal projects to change the way they work with consumers and the service levels they provide, transforming their technology and online presence, bringing Omni-channel and self-service initiatives to the table and using smart ways to price right and brand right and promote the right products to the right consumers. They have brought in change in their existing teams and brought on board a number of new retail experts, worked closely and deeply with technology and supply chain partners, malls and banks to bring about the transformation that’s required. They are making great progress and have a shot at winning the retail race.

The race is still open, and like in any race, there will be winners and losers. May the best retailers win!

This article has been written by:

mr-naresh-ahujaNaresh Ahuja, Chairman and CEO, ETP Group

Naresh as the Founder, Chairman and CEO of the ETP Group leads the company with a clear focus on bringing enduring value to customers through best practices mirrored in software applications. Spanning 30 years of focus on retail domain expertise and IT development, ETP today, has a strong customer base of market leaders in more than 22 countries across Asia Pacific, India and the Middle East, and is Asia’s leading Omni-channel Retail Software company.

 

When to start the festive season sales?

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And yet again the festive season is here. This is arguably the best time of the year for many, as it is also considered to be the holiday season in many regions. Ultimately, this is the time of festivities, color, new beginnings, gifts, and also the best time to shop. This is the right time for retail brands to capitalize and score big to add glitter to their festive season. One important query that retailers seek to resolve is to know the right time to start the festive sales

Officially speaking there is no specific start date for retailers to begin launching their festive season sales. In fact, every year, new standards are set by different retailers, making this shopping season a dynamic one and which continues to evolve further. Having said that, deciding the start of the festive season sale should be typically based on 2 factors:

  • The nature of the business: The best starting point would be to look at earlier trends of the business and understand what the competition is doing as this will give retail owners a benchmark. Then applying those learnings to their business will help them in taking the right steps towards launching the campaign. Also, it is very important to consider business objectives and align efforts accordingly because the business’ long term goal should be.
  • The market the business serves: It is important to understand and sense the market trends and the sentiments of the consumers. Various factors such as season, geography, ethnicity, and others, largely influence the target markets’ shopping behavior.

A good example of considering the above to factors for starting the sale is a scenario where a retail business deals with selling products that are generally perceived to be of high value and exclusive, with a limited stock. In that case it would be better to start closer to the festival as the bonuses come in and thus there may be demand for high range products then due to the increase in purchasing power.

Taking into account the nature of the business and its market will really help retailers make the right decisions towards launching their festive season sales.

What is in store for Singles’ Day 2018?

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Singles’ Day (11.11) 2018 which will be celebrated on 11 November, will mark the shopping event’s 10th anniversary. It would not be an exaggeration to state that 11.11 has grown much bigger than a commercial fair as is now one of the major annual milestones in China’s cultural calendar, thanks to Alibaba. This year, the company and its partners are gearing up to make this event a phenomenal shopping extravaganza, with sights set on trumping last year’s figures, there is definitely something exciting to look forward to for the shoppers.

 

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During last year’s event, 812 million parcels were delivered and this year the stakes have been raised higher as the prediction for the milestone in 2018 is more than 1 billion parcels. This could pose some serious challenges in terms of logistics and delivery. One of the ways the company is planning to counter those and preparing for the rush is by opening what is said to be the biggest robotic warehouse in China. This new warehouse positioned as an internet of things-powered, “robotic smart warehouse” will have close to 700 automated vehicles.

Another important move to tackle the delivery challenges while trying to cope up with changing demands and offering a better experience is ensuring quick delivery. Hence this year, for the first time, goods ordered during the Singles Day event will be delivered directly from the stores to the customers and in some-cases within minutes. Short-distance delivery services will also be available in more than 280 cities in the country.

This year the event will also be expanding beyond China through Lazada, the Southeast Asia online platform owned by Alibaba. This will prove to be a strategic and inspiring move in an effort to magnify the events footprint and globalize it. Moreover, this event will also witness diversification in a bigger way as it will not only be restricted to purchasing products, but also offer purchase of services.

With all this at play, one thing is sure that Alibaba would be looking to offer a brand new seamless shopping experience by heavily relying on technology such as omni-channel, AI, cloud and so on to provide an online and offline, cross-platform supply-chain solution and enabling them to cut inventory costs, while increasing operating efficiency, especially around 11.11, the busiest season of the year.

As Singles’ Day 2018 is poised to eclipse again this year, it is just a matter time when the figures start coming in and provide a clearer picture of how much more extravagant and successful this year’s event will be.

Why are physical stores important for retail business success?

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The retail industry has evolved over the past few decades and the customers have now become the prime focus. With the advent of omni-channel retailing, the entire ball-game for businesses has been about getting to the customer wherever they are and whenever they are available. This has driven the necessity of creating and offering shopping experiences that can have a positive and long-lasting impact on the customers so that they do not move away from the brand.

The essential advantage of having a brick and mortar retail store is to introduce the products to customer in the context of an allowing them to experience the products and related services and then build on that experience and relationship in person so that it stays with them. This will then foster loyalty and repeat business while also turning these loyal customers into brand ambassadors for the business. Having a retail store is an opportunity for retailers to allow customers experience tangibility of the products and the services as well as leverage the human touch factor by having store associates to engage with the customers directly for assistance and promoting sales. It is a matter of fact that people influence people and this is one major click that retailers can achieve to connect with their customers and build long standing relationships.

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One more aspect of retail stores is when the store is not just used to display products and increase sales, rather it is about leveraging the physical space to create moments and memories that go beyond just selling. For example, in the apparel retail business, having trial rooms have always been a big booster for the business as customers prefer to try out stuff before actually going ahead and buying. So also, other retail verticals like bookstores can provide space for reading and collaborating, or furniture stores can demonstrate some DIY techniques, and so on and so forth.

Thirdly, it would not be an understatement to say that retail stores are the best place for the customer to interact directly with the brand, be it touching or trying out tangible aspects of the brands like products or even coming face-to-face with the human aspect of the brand while engaging with store associates who with the right kind of training can definitely be brand custodians. It is at the brick-and-mortar store that experiential retail can be really demonstrated and experienced.

Thus in this new age of retail, brands that continue with the old line of thinking where the idea is to optimize the floor space purely for sales purposes will definitely see their business plummet. Changing the approach by working on re-purposing every square foot of the space to build that kind of a retail experience that will truly resonate with the customers.

How does ‘Endless Aisle’ enhance the retail customer experience!

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Endless aisle is allowing customers to make use of technologies such as specially designed in-store kiosks or other intuitive systems to order items that are currently out-of-stock in that particular brick-and-mortar store. It is a concept that extends beyond the inventory that in tangible form is available in the store at a given point in time. Thus, endless aisle allows retailers to forge a strong link between customer demand and inventory. Retail companies that have been quick to embrace cross-channel strategies have already begun adopting the endless aisle technology to boost their sales further.

ETP Omni-channel Retail Solutions provide you with features such as Endless Aisle enabling you to deliver a unified brand-customer relationship across all channels.

How to manage omni-channel orders effectively

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Retail businesses across the globe are going all guns to enable themselves to constantly meet and exceed the hyper dynamic customer expectations while they are also dealing with the challenges and competition of the industry. Ultimately, it all boils to fulfilling the customers’ demands for products, services and experiences, as per their convenience, in a seamless manner. In simple words, giving the customer their desired products at the best perceived price, at the time and place they want it, without any glitches or hitches. This is the very essence of omni-channelizing the retail business. From the business point of view, for retailers, it is about achieving all of this while optimizing costs, reducing losses and risks and improving efficiency.

The best of part pf getting this right are that the benefits are multi-fold – increase in inventory turnover, reduction fulfillment costs, optimizing manpower cost, better productivity, enhance customer service, and the list goes on.

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But the main challenge for many businesses today is that they are still depending upon legacy systems which may not be at pace with these demands of the market and moreover do not support the operations when it comes to handling orders coming from different channels and fulfilling them using the best channel.  Here are three significant ways to handle omni-channel orders:

   1. Centralizing Order Management

A centralized order management system can enable control of all orders across the business as it could hold all the information from the order management process, including details of the order, sourcing, payments, and fulfillment. Moreover, a centralized solution will also factor in all the sales channels in the business operations. Therefore every fulfillment channel will have access to all the order information allowing the organization to appropriately allocate inventory based on factors such as stock levels, location and timing. So the entire order management process can be automated and controlled centrally, and even scaled if new channels are added.

   2. Enabling Better Inventory Visibility

One of the foremost challenges in implementing a successful omni-channel strategy is the lack of inventory visibility that emanates from disparate and siloed systems used to manage inventory. A centralized omni-channel order management system can enable a single view of the inventory and related information across all retail sales channels. This provides the visibility that is required to make strategic decisions that can help in improving cross-channel fulfillment, reducing mark-downs, tackling over-selling and under-selling, ensuring timely replenishment of stock. In turn, customers get real-time and true inventory information across the brand channels.

   3. Performing smart order allocation

Having the true picture of the inventory and stocks across channels and the related information along with the centralized control of the inventory will allow retail business owners to intelligently formulate business rules and algorithms to determine processes for inventory fulfillment. These business rules and logic can then be fed into the system that will automatically orchestrate and allocate orders across channels by routing it through the most suitable fulfillment center based on the criteria fed into the business logic.

Also Read: Why Is Luxury Retailing A Challenging Business

Why is luxury retailing a challenging business?

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Luxury products have always been one of the most admired and sought after products. So much so, that consumers of such products take pride in their possessions and are often considered to be of a higher class. They and their products are the ‘talk of the town’ most of the times in social gatherings and people like to be associated with such class conscious, brand loving and luxury seeking consumers. Luxury products therefore had few options and demanded a high cost of purchase deliberately tailored to a select set of consumers.

But now times have changed thanks to rapidly changing consumer mindsets and the very idea of “luxury” is evolving. The old-fashioned ideas that defined luxury as aspirational, high status, exclusive, wealthy, don’t really paint the exact picture of what customers perceive about luxury products. One of the drastic changes over the recent years is that the new age luxury isn’t for showoff.  Similarly other values that luxury brands exclusively attributed to, such as better quality and style, precise workmanship and great designs, are not exclusive any more to luxury.

Consumers’ tastes are evolving. There is an indisputable appeal for new products and services along with more choice of options yet having the flavor of uniqueness and exclusivity. This has given rise a various breeds of brands such as specialized ones and those that are highly customized to customer demands, thus increasing competition.

Further, along with changing tastes, customer shopping patterns and buying behavior have undergone a tremendous transformation. Traditionally, luxury shoppers heavily relied on physical retail to fulfill their desire for luxury goods. But now, multiple channels have come into the game and customers willingly switch between channels to get what they want. Seamless demand fulfillment across channels necessitates the reduction of various issues such as decrease in quality or other losses that are caused during the course of the supply chain. While older shoppers are still playing a significant role in the luxury market spends, millennials and Gen Zs are predicted to account for the larger growth in the coming years. Moreover, their new spending habits which are faster, more frequent, brand-conscious and trend-driven while being highly influenced by digital platforms.

All these are the modern day challenges that luxury retail businesses, especially the ones still depending heavily on the heritage and traditional processes are facing and there is one way out. They need to transform their retail businesses to omni-channel and employ the right omni channel retail software to exceed their customer expectations and fulfill their business goals.

Also Read: Moving From E-Commerce To Omni-Channel – Top 3 Challenges

Retail is all about…

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1. The customer

It is the underlying truth and the ultimate reality for the modern day retail business. The customer has to be at the central focus of the business. Retail brands need to go beyond merely understanding their customers. They must yearn to learn more about their customer so much so that they know every customer well enough to be able to service them appropriately and effectively.

2. The detail

The entire retail business is made up of blocks of processes and operations which need to work together and in tandem for the business to run successfully. As such, attention to details is a must in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the entire business. Moreover, the importance of having details at the granular level can go a long way in enhancing the business, for example having customer details such as which products were searched, which locations were preferred, and so on can help retailers create tailored offerings to their customers.

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3. The 4+1 Ps

This basic principle still holds good. The four Ps i.e. product, price, place, and promotion – are some of the basic foundations of building a successful retail business, add to that another P which stands for the ‘people’ involved in the business – made up of the employees and even the customers. The success mantra for any retail business can be summed up as – ‘having the right products, at the right place and the right channels, at the right price, at the right time, with the right promotions, and driven by the right people and the right processes’. The right retail technology can definitely ensure that the various processes and operations run smoothly for the business to succeed well.

4. The customer experience

The importance of understanding and knowing the retail consumers cannot be stressed more. These are necessary factors to be able to create and offer shopping experiences that can have a positive and memorable impact on customers thus resulting into loyalty, repeat sales and even attracting newer customers to the business. The customer experience in this modern-are retail spans across the entire customer journey and therefore it is essential that retailers leverage each stage of this journey to cement their relationship with the customers.

Tips for Fashion Retailers to Succeed in this Age of Retail

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Last year and at the start of this year, the retail industry has seen many retail giants shuttering and some more lined-up to follow the same fate as the year progresses. Even well-known fashion retail brands such as J. Crew, Abercrombie & Fitch, GAP and a few others were among this list. While all this can seem to be gloomy and dampening for the brick-and-mortar retail businesses, as a matter of fact the situation is not as grave as it perceived.  Besides, as some fashion brands including Nordstrom and H & M have already opened new stores, there are others like Aldi who are set to expand with new stores in the market.

Due to the stimulus of digitization, on the one hand, the influence of online shopping and mobile will definitely continue to have an impact on the shopping habits of the consumers. But on the other hand, brick-and-mortar retail still has that one factor that online hasn’t been able to provide; and that is the ‘touch and feel’ experience. This is something that shoppers really fancy, especially when it comes to fashion and comfort. However, this solely is not enough for physical retailers to sustain and succeed. So below are a few tips as to what fashion retailers must do to succeed in this age of retail.

Fast is in

When it comes to fashion, trends are constantly changing. Every season, or every festival there seems to be new styles that come up. To add to this, people are also influenced by their favorite celebrities and look forward to ape their style. Thus, fashion retailers have to be quick in getting their assortments to match up with the new trends in demand, and ensure that this keeps happening as and when trends change. Fast fashion is all about being fast and keeping pace with the consumers who with a blink of an eye can shift loyalties or switch channels if they don’t find what they are looking for.

Data driven design

An important aspect of constantly staying up in the game to match the demands of the consumers as well as ‘be in’ with the trend is to know and understand both these factors. Data analytics play a key role in enabling retail brand owners to get a firm grasp of these attributes and then infuse the findings into the design process so that the end products fit the bill when it comes to customer satisfaction. Similarly, the store and planogram designs can be influenced by the insights extracted from the analytics in order to improve the overall experience and boost sales.

Amplifying the store

For fashion stores to succeed, it is necessary to have the right product, at the right place, at the right time. This means the location of the stores plays an important role in boosting sales. However it is extremely necessary to also consider factors such as rents and overheads of having stores at prime locations. In order to strike the right chord between the two and reduce risks of overheads, retail owners must use their stores as fulfillment centers for online orders, offer showrooming, offer value added services, and so on. Employing the right omni-channel retail software to integrate online and mobile channels with the stores will allow fashion retail brands to enhance their overall presence and also amplify their stores’ sales and enhance customer experiences.

Targeted brand marketing

Gone are the days where heavily relying on celebrity endorsements on television or print media advertisements would drive customers to flock at the stores. While such traditional means are still necessary, fashion retail marketers must channelize the marketing of the brand through more personal and targeted mediums. Using social media or mobile channels to communicate brand messages or using geo-location based marketing to attract shoppers, running tailored promotions or building relationships at the individual level within the stores, are some of the many approaches fashion retail brands must leverage to make the right impact.

From past to present to future, retail is going to be about ‘location’

Posted on by Omprasad Devadiga

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Traditionally, the retail industry has been focused on selling products that have been produced and in order to be able to sell those products, it was necessary for retail marketers to follow the principles of the AIDA model. In other words, they had to draw attention of consumers towards new products in the market and spike their interest in those products by various methods. Their very next move was to cultivate that interest into a desire for the product and then drive consumers towards taking an action, in most cases, purchasing the product and thus completing the sale for the business.

Times have changed and the traditional model of retail has undergone a massive disruption where the focus has moved from selling to understanding and then fulfilling the needs of the customer. The retail industry of today has the customer in the driver’s seat, and for retailers it is all about getting to know the customers’ desire better and create products and services that are able to satisfy those needs. Having said that, the basic principles of marketing in retail – attention, interest, desire and action, still hold good but the context of application of these principles may have changed since the modern day customers are mostly aware and attuned to what they want and generally from where they are going to purchase their products or receive the service(s) they seek.

While the retail industry has treaded this journey from a traditional being to what we call as omni-channel retail in the modern day world, there is one factor that principally, still has a formidable impact on the success of any retail business. And that is ‘location’. Let’s deep dive into this conundrum.

Again going back to the past, while the retail market was product/service oriented, the essentiality of getting these to be noticed by customers compelled retailers to look for the best location to station their offerings, generally a busy place where prospective customers usually frequented. And this importance on the physical location is still a foothold for most retail brands who are running their brick-and-mortar stores. Because, in spite of the rise of e-commerce and mobile commerce, most consumers still prefer to shop at stores and many stats have proven this fact.

Now that’s just one aspect in the context of the location where in the physical location plays an essential part in the success of the retail business. Today, retail is about omni-channel and about unified commerce, and the customer is at the epicenter of the business. The rat race to win the customer is on and the location factor plays an important role to win this race. However, here is where the other aspect in the context of the location comes handy. Taking some cues from the past, getting the products/services to where the customers are is still the right thing to do. But with the advent of the internet and mobile devices and social media, the customer has now become the location as he/she is all over. So today, it is not only about the physical presence, but also the virtual or online presence of the retail brands and moreover, the presence in the right places and channels that’s what is extremely critical. Getting the right product at the right time at the right price is necessary but also at the right place is more than half the battle won. The remaining bit is getting the right message/communication across at the right time and through the right channels or mediums to the customer will enable retailers to have maximum impact and stand out from the rest, to seal the deal with their end customers.

Also Read: Omni-Channel Success: Bridging Gap Between Customer Expectations And Omni-Channel Retail Execution