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RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY TRACY ISSEL: MICROSOFT How a retailer delivers for its customers is becoming as important as what it delivers. Successful retailers are no longer just the ones who sell the latest must-have item – they’re the ones that can do this while creating a personal customer experience and offering a unified and continuous shopping journey across all channels. In the pages that follow, we find out how retail organisations can earn customers’ trust and loyalty by listening and being relevant at their point of need. We discover the role of machine learning and automated analytics and find out how Microsoft and its partners are enabling change. 103 FEATURE How to create amazing customer experiences Microsoft’s Pinar Salk tells us how technologies like analytics and machine learning are helping retailers to create the personalised and seamless shopping experience their customers expect BY REBECCA GIBSON one are the days where customers visit- discounts, and offer a unified and continuous ing US-based home improvement store shopping journey across all channels,” she says. GLowe’s had to flick through multiple However, most retailers are yet to deliver this swatches of paints and materials, or wander interactive and frictionless shopping experience, round the store looking at appliances. Now, largely because they have no way to connect the they simply populate their Pinterest boards customers in their stores to the customers using Retailers are using with images of their ideal kitchens, send it their online and mobile channels. Microsoft HoloLens to Lowe’s and the retailer uses analytics and “Ideally, customers should be able to search and mixed reality to machine learning technologies to find relevant for products online, create a wish list, come into improve the customer products in its inventory to produce relevant a physical store and be personally greeted by an experience and make kitchen concepts. When they get to the store, associate who will take them directly to those store planning easier customers use a Microsoft HoloLens headset products,” Salk comments. “However, most retail- to finalise a holographic representation of their ers have separate siloed systems for capturing newly designed kitchen in real scale by switch- operational, online and transactional data, and ing between different colours and finishes and they often have no way of collecting data from moving appliances. their physical stores. This means they can’t create a While Lowe’s is somewhat of a pioneer, this 360-degree overview of every individual and their is just the start of what’s likely to become the preferences, so they can’t provide a consistent ser- standard for retail customer experiences, pre- vice when customers switch between channels, or dicts Pinar Salk, Microsoft’s industry solutions identify potential sales and marketing opportuni- director for retail. ties that would drive sales and customer loyalty.” “Successful retailers are no longer the ones who To provide a friction-free and personalised shop- sell the best products; they’re the companies that ping experience, retailers must first find a way to can identify and engage their customers as indi- capture and analyse data from every online and viduals, provide them with relevant product rec- offline customer touchpoint. Next, they must ommendations and personalised promotional identify how to use technology to capitalise on 104 www.technologyrecord.com RETAIL these insights to meet customers’ needs and PROFILED: SPECSAVERS expectations at each stage of the shopping journey. Bluetooth beacons, smart cameras and sen- sors that connect with customer-facing mobile MPP Global helps optical apps provide an easy way for retailers to capture data about the customers visiting their physical retailer boost efficiency stores. US-based outlet store Nordstrom Rack, UK-based optical retailer Specsavers wanted to remove for example, has implemented Microsoft cloud- legacy infrastructure, create internal efficiencies, protect its based beacon technology from Footmarks successful revenue stream and future-proof its operations. so in-store customers can use a mobile app to To do so, it used MPP Global’s eSuite subscription and billing quickly locate products, scan barcodes to find platform to develop and implement a new subscription variations of the items at different outlets, and management model for its physical product catalogue. place online orders. Not only do the beacons Hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, MPP make the customer experience seamless, but Global’s eSuite subscription and billing platform enables they also allow Nordstrom Rack to capture data Specsavers to deploy recurring revenue models and about how customers behave in stores so it can provides capabilities for scalable next-generation repeat learn what products they like and deliver timely order management, payment scheduling, and customer personalised offers via the mobile app. acquisition and retention. The advanced reporting feature “Nordstrom Rack can use advanced analytics gives the retailer the business intelligence to operate and machine learning to combine this with data successful personalised subscription campaigns. from customers’ past purchases, their online 105 FEATURE Nordstrom Rack and searches and wish lists, social media posts and example, has worked with marketing consultancy Macy’s are just two other sources to provide individuals with rele- SapientRazorfish to implement a cloud solution retailers that are using vant product recommendations or customised so it can notify customers when their favourite Microsoft technologies discounts,” comments Salk. products are in stock or on sale via e-mail, direct to transform their stores This capability is already helping Nordstrom mail, SMS and mobile push notifications. Rack to identify new opportunities to boost “The platform uses Adobe Analytics, Microsoft customer loyalty and drive revenue. Salk cites an Azure and PowerBI to provide a 360-degree over- example of a woman who visited a Nordstrom view of a customer’s purchase history and com- Rack store and bought a watch. bines it with contextual data about factors such “Previously, Nordstrom Rack would only have as the climate and time of year,” Salk comments. seen the transaction data and assumed that the “This allows Sephora to understand how and woman specifically came to the store for the when to engage with different customers, so it’s watch and categorised her as an accessories much more effective at converting leads into sales buyer,” she says. “However, data from the new than simply emailing a generic offer to every- beacons showed that the woman spent 30 min- one. Microsoft is working with Adobe to bring its Experience Manager to more retailers like Sephora so they can use contextual information “Successful retailers are the companies to create and deliver personalised customer expe- riences from a single platform across all channels.” that can identify and engage their Salk predicts that as new technologies become customers as individuals” more powerful, intelligent and cost-effective to install, it will only become easier for retailers to deliver the experiences customers expect. utes browsing the designer shoes and just three “Virtual agents and chatbots are already being minutes in the watch section, suggesting that she used by retailers like US department store Macy’s was actually a shoe lover who couldn’t find what to quickly answer customer questions, smart she wanted. Armed with this insight, Nordstrom cameras and Microsoft HoloLens are powering Rack can now send her personalised recommen- interactive in-store experiences, and artificial intel- dations or promotional discounts for shoes she ligence (AI) technology has the potential to create may like – a sales opportunity that would have personal in-store stylist applications – it’s an excit- been completely missed before.” ing time for retailers,” she concludes. “Microsoft is Having access to both online and offline ana- committed to working with our partners to bring lytics also empowers retailers to develop tar- the most advanced analytics, machine learning, geted marketing campaigns that encourage AI and other technologies to our powerful cloud customers to spend by making them feel valued platform so we can help retailers worldwide to dig- as individuals. Cosmetics retailer Sephora, for itally transform their customer journeys.” 106 www.technologyrecord.com The best of enterprise technology on the Microsoft platform ISSUE 6: AUTUMN 2017 ISSUE 7: WINTER 2017 £9.00 £9.00 New business models How digital transformation is helping enterprise businesses and public sector organisations to improve performance Fostering new ideas We discover how enterprise organisations are reimagining their operations with digital transformation projects PLUS: PLUS: How analytics, machine learning and The scalable, cloud-based solutions that are AI are transforming retail enabling media companies to evolve The Microsoft technology that is How analytics and machine learning can help bridging the public sector skills gap retailers to create better experiences Peter Hazou discusses the most burning The opportunities Theand challengesnew technologies presented that areA equipping vision of what the telcoToni Townes-Whitleycompany explains how Microsoft Why manufacturers need to get to grips issues that will be covered at Sibos 2017 to manufacturers byinsurance IoT companies for the digitalof the agefuture might lookis preparing like students for an