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Preparing for the Next Generation of Shoppers in the Store

Industry Point of View

INTRODUCTION

The vision of a seamless shopper experience in brick and mortar stores where both digital and physical combine for one view of in-ventory or buying history is far from reality for the majority of retail-ers. In addition, as retailers strive towards what they believe is the desired shopper experience, it is likely to change. Therefore, the real dilemma for retailers is how to prepare for the continuous change in shopping habits, affinities and even types of shoppers in the race for remaining relevant to the customer.

Store operations, IT, digital and marketing teams are fully aware that stores are not operating seamlessly across all customer touchpoints. This fact, however, cannot be put on retailers as a failure as integrating store systems and digital processes is extremely difficult. The number of processes and technological systems as well as the amount of cross-functional collaboration required to deliver the perfect customer experience cannot be underestimated.

This doesn’t mean brick & mortar retailers aren’t still striving for improvement, as they know optimizing the digital experience in stores can be their differentiator. Improving customer satisfaction, shopping experience and om-nichannel capabilities in stores are the top three business priorities for retailers in 20161. But is this list of priorities sufficient for meeting customer expectations or is a more robust roadmap for the future of stores an absolute necessity?

In today’s stores, digital channels directly influence almost a third of sales2 and this number is likely to continue to grow further. In-store and online shopping experiences are converging and a blended and seam-less “digital” shopping experience that combines the best of both worlds is one of leading reasons for the brick and mortar store’s digital transformation.

Developing and maintaining a true modern store is not an end state for retailers but a journey. By putting the evolving shoppers and their growing expectations first, retailers can embrace this journey by focusing on a personalized store experience and a pathway for future store improvements. This is perhaps the most challeng-ing as also the most financially rewarding aspect of the retail business that keeps retailers on the pathway for customer experience innovation.

Like any other channel, physical stores can fulfill the customer need for a deeper engagement culture by incorporating personalized as-sociate help, product information, recommendations, and shipping options to name a few. Such a store culture is based on personal-ized customer engagement, robust loyalty elements, on-time and flexible omnichannel order options and fulfillment, in-store digital services, and payments.

In this report, EKN Research outlines a four-pillar strategy that can help a retailer achieve an in-store next genera-tion shopper experience that comes closer to the desired end-state. By empowering the customer and store as-sociate with unified commerce (stores, digital/omnichannel) capabilities within a modern point-of-service (POS) environment, the needs of the current and future shopper and employee/associate are kept in mind at all times.

EKN 2

retailers are limited by Omnichannel software capabilities at POS

1 in 3Source: EKN 3rd Annual Future of Stores Benchmark, 2015

1 EKN 3rd Annual Future of Stores Benchmark, 20152 EKN Omnichannel Benchmarking Survey, 2014

Source: EKN Customer Engagement Study, 2015

retailers say they are limited by current software/solutions toolset to develop & execute personalization

1 in 2Almost

ADDRESS THE NOT SO SEAMLESS STORE JOURNEY

Currently, 1 in 2 retailers state one of the main roadblocks in managing stores is dealing with increasing levels of merchandise and assortments that have made their way into stores over the last two years3. This inventory proliferation trend leads to greater complexities such as keeping more new and old stores ready for aggressive seasonal and non-seasonal selling. Within these plans however, there are several competing needs in the store. For instance, infus-ing higher capital investments into improving associate or workforce pools & training, product information, promotions, inventory management, selling tools and other technologies, are among the store improvements being con-sidered by retailers.

These store improvement plans mean greater need for balancing of store and digital/omnichannel customer ser-vice, sales and operations through a unified store experience strategy. Such a strategy looks at current and future customer and employee or associate needs and expectations. Retailers who aim at providing seamless omnichan-nel and digital experience in the stores require anytime-anywhere checkout, product information, customer order and loyalty history and an effective record of inventory to help guide shoppers in their buying journey.

This is best achieved when retailers adopt both fixed (retailer PC-based) and non-fixed or portable (retailer and consumer mobile) customer experience touchpoints. These touchpoints are equally relevant from the moment a customer enters the store to when they find a product, pay for merchandise and exit the store. However, it is the customer-facing and operational flexibility of portable interaction points that guides and shapes dynamic customer-associate interaction, buying and selling behavior. Since digital channel buying behavior has penetrated the stores, dynamic store interaction between customers, channels and employees is quite relevant.

To address dynamic store interactions, stores need to equip and train associates on all systems but especially on unified store experience using a variety of customer and employee preferred form factors. Such form factors in-clude but are not limited to small ordering devices, self-service devices, mobile POS, and consumer mobile devices that run in-store mobile apps.

Today more than ever, inventory management, anytime anywhere checkout, assisted or guided selling, endless aisle, digital coupons, mobile payments, customer order and loyalty history are not limited to the store but goes across all geographic locations, channels, brands and franchises. The ultimate goal for any retailer is to minimize loss of revenue due to lack of not having a single view of inventory, order and customer data across channels for customers.

EKN 3

Source: EKN Future of Retail IT, 2015

3 EKN 3rd Annual Future of Stores Benchmark, 2015; EKN 2nd Annual Future of Stores Benchmark, 2014

Source: EKN Retail Labor Benchmark Study, 2015

retailers say the top challenge in technology department is

‘managing legacy’

6 in 10

retailers say adding assisted customer selling tools or guided selling tools to help service

customer to be a leading initiative for employee management improvement in 2015

40%

currently have integrated assisted selling tools into store or channel sales, customer service

and operational processes

50%

EKN 4

4, 5 EKN 2015 Retail Point-of-Sale Blueprint Study

IS A MODERN POS PLATFORM THE PANACEA TO THE IN-STORE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?

There is little doubt that retail stores require a more integrated and omnichannel/digital retail-ready modern POS to address dynamic store interaction between customers, merchandise, channels and associates. To this end, re-tailers need an associate/customer friendly platform that enables store, back office and omnichannel commerce transactions seamlessly.

Such a platform is not easily found out-of-the-box or implemented quickly, as more often than not retailers need custom system integrations. Moreover, the legacy nature of POS is still major drawback in creating a seamless hub of personalized customer experience, omnichannel transactions and store operations. The average age of a retail POS solution is 6.9 years4.

To put the aging store infrastructure into perspective, since 2007-2008, the retail industry as a whole and custom-ers in general have come a long way in terms of acclimatizing with faster computing, mobile network bandwidth speeds, data security standards and smart device adoption. And while all these advancements came about in rapid succession, POS upgrades lost out to other organizational and technology priorities such as enterprise retail data, eCommerce and revenue/margin optimization.

As a result, POS and the store experience need to play catch up as evidenced in the fact that 6 in 10 retailers have plans to upgrade or replace their POS systems in 2 years5. Three-quarters of the retailers polled lament that their POS systems are not in line with future retail needs and growing customer dependence on eCommerce and mo-bile devices.

Top 5 Point-of-Sale Related Business Challenges

In fact, as commonly thought the top 5 drivers for upgrading to a unified store experience platform or POS are not merely related to the need for integrated eCommerce transactions, unified pricing, promotions, loyalty and common web/store basket or payments related features. Today, the POS upgrade plans of retailers are geared towards reducing operational costs and adding new features such as mobility, order visibility, and data security related capabilities such as PCIDSS 2.0, 3.0 & beyond, as well as EMV payments compliance.

Undoubtedly, the move towards a unified omnichannel store experience and a modern store is not just about a POS system replacement. For instance, retailers should consider a uniform upgrade of store IT infrastructure including but not limited to network bandwidth and capacity, Wi-Fi, Beacons, data standards, data security, and advanced digital payment related areas.

POS not alignedwith futureretail needs

40 36 35 34 31Need for faster

and easiercustomer service

Rising influenceof online

channel onretail sales

Growing customerdependence onmobile devices

Pressure toincrease sales/

volume

1 2 3 4 5

% % % % %

Source: EKN 2015 Retail Point-of-Sale Blueprint Study

EKN 5

Top Business Drivers for Upgrading Point-of-Sale

38%

41%

42%

43% Reducing operational costs

Reducing customer checkout time

Adding mobile POS

Improving Omnichannel order visibility 31%

31%

35%

37% Enhancing employee productivity/task management

Making systems PCI compliant

Preparing for EMV

Enabling eCommerce transactions at POS

Source: EKN Omnichannel Benchmarking Survey, 2014

Source: EKN 2015 Retail Point-of-Sale Blueprint Study

WHY MODERN POS FOR UNIFIED STORE EXPERIENCE?

In the previous section, we briefly discussed the fact that a leading factor in upgrading towards a unified store experience strategy and a modern POS platform is reduction in store operational costs. Our analysis shows that decreased operational costs can be seen via greater task efficiencies, check out time reduction and other time savings attributed to a more agile omnichannel order return and exchange process. Additionally, several modern POS platform capabilities can also positively impact revenue generation in the store.

For instance, EKN data shows that by implementing capabilities such as ability to conduct omnichannel com-merce, assisted selling, real-time access to inventory and orders tracking across all channels, retailers have been outperforming in three key store performance areas, namely:

These are some of the most succinct operational and revenue-related store metrics that can start to justify capital and technology-related store investments such as in the case of a unified store experience or POS platform.

increase in salesattachment rates for in-store

online order pick-ups

Average year-on-year increase in cost-related KPIs

9.2 %

improvement incheckout time forcomplex orders

9.1%

improvement incustomer conversion

in the store

8.9%

EKN 6

WHERE DO RETAILERS START?

There are several areas within the in-store experience where a scalable and extensible modern POS platforms or systems can help retailers. The areas include:

Operations Customer Relationship Management Omnichannel/Digital Payments

• Inventory Management

• Task Management

• Alert Management

• Labor Management

• Customer Database Management

• Loyalty Management

• Single View of Order

• Digital coupons

• eCommerce Transactions

• Mobile POS & App Enablement

• Social Media Integration

• Mobile Payments

• EMV-Ready Multiple Payment Methods

The areas described above are the key features when making a switch to a modern POS platform. Such a platform or system must incorporate the following store strategic elements:

Common brand messaging across all channels includ-ing stores and increasing in-store sales: A common brand messaging strategy across all channels is needed to run uni-form offers and promotions in the stores and digital channels simultaneously. As stated earlier while a third of store sales are impacted by other channels, stores in turn impact a much smaller proportion of digital channel sales. Even though 8 in 10 millennial consumers still shop in stores, in order to reduce the impact of digital showrooming in the stores, it is impor-tant that retailers adopt a common tool for communicating price changes, loyalty programs, competitive price compari-sons and integrated omnichannel promotions to customers.

while customers are browsing in the aisles is a clear winner for most retailers. When evaluating a POS upgrade, 6 in 10 re-tailers consider mobile or tablet POS feature to be important and 75% retailers consider increasing investment in mobile POS.

Clienteling and Endless Aisle scenarios on the associate mobile POS device: While 6 in 10 retailers indicate using assisted or assisted selling tools, the day to day adoption of such tools in fixed PC based environments is a problem among associates and customers as they are unable to make portable use out of such tools while shopping. This is especially true since clienteling and endless aisle (never out of stock by leveraging inventory of another channel) is a shopping activity that needs to be activated during or before point-of-purchase between the associate and customers. Adding mobile POS as one of the systems to display clienteling and assisted selling data

retailers consider mobile or tablet POS feature to be important

6 in 10

of store salesinfluenced by

online channels

of store salesinfluenced by

mobile channels

10%20 %

Shop

Source: EKN Omnichannel Benchmarking Survey, 2014

Source: EKN 2015 Retail Point-of-Sale Blueprint Study

EKN 7

Creating a personalized shopping experience: The opportunity for improving in-store customer experience personalization down to an individual customer-level in retail is quite high. 1 in 2 retailers are unable to uniquely identify in-store customers in terms of demographics and psychographics6. Moreover, 62% of retailers are only moderately or slightly satisfied with their ability to send personalized promotions to customers at a store location level. In such a scenario, the ability to personalize the customer experience on a name, wish-list or past purchasing experience basis is difficult. Within a unified POS upgrade strategy retailers can invest more towards upgrading their customer rewards or loyalty programs and introducing in-store mobile apps for personalization experience leading to better financial gains.

Access to secure and real-time customer data, online/mobile wish-lists and purchase history to provide product and service recom-mendations: Half of retailers say customer profile information look-up and assisted sales tasks on store mobile devices will have the maximum/significant impact on personalizing the customer experience7. Historically, due to data security and customer privacy reasons, corporate did not pro-vide store managers with access to any form of customer data except access to limited loyalty membership information. Currently, customers expect stores to have access to their basic profile, buying history, receipts, access to digital wish-lists, offers and loyalty data. When retailers provide digital access to such information as part of the buying process in the shopping aisles, it only enhances the opportunity to provide a more ho-listic shopping experience. Mobile access to customer information also creates customer satisfaction, cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

Common view of customer across channels: The importance of creating and sharing a common view of a cus-tomer’s activity and behavior across channels has amplified due to device and channel proliferation. Every retailer wants to serve customers the same way across all channels, giving stress on a seamless journey for customers irrespective of where the journey starts (Store/Online/Mobile App) and where it ends. For instance, besides using stores and online, 55% of shoppers say they will use retailer’s app while shopping in the stores. Additionally, 80 out of the top 100 retailers offer in-store mobile apps that are used within and outside the store for product look-up, digital coupons, order ahead, and other benefits8.

EKN has defined a four-pillar approach to creating a real modern POS strategy for the stores.

These pillars include:

Half of retailers say customer profile

information look-up and assisted

sales tasks on store mobile devices will

have the maximum/significant impact

on personalizing the customer experience

6 EKN Customer Context Power - A Success Imperative For Every Retailer, 20157 EKN 3rd Annual Future of Stores Benchmark, 20158 EKN Research Desk

A FOUR PILLAR STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE UNIFIED STORE EXPERIENCE

Unified Mobility

Omnichannel POS Platform

New Payment Methods

Big EMV Migration

EKN 8

Unified Mobility:

As stated in EKN’s 2015 POS Blueprint report, retailer-owned and operated mobile POS is at a tipping point in terms of adoption. The success of store-based consumer mobility depends on loyalty tools, near field commu-nications (NFC) based mobile payments and mobile wallet. Besides factoring in for retailer-owned and operated mobile POS, consumer mobile phone-based retailers’ apps are becoming pivotal to in-store mobility for check-in, pre-order, store navigation, creating wish-lists, among other functions.

Omnichannel POS Platform:

In today’s dynamic retail environment, retailers want their POS systems to enable their sales associates to manage all omnichannel transactions seamlessly including integrated transactions such as buy or reserve on-line pick-up in-store, ship online orders from store to customers and use mobile coupons, gift cards or payments in-store. The top 5 most impor-tant features in a POS system9, retailers selected operational activities such as inventory management, promotion management, omnichannel order management and returns management as features that are im-portant along with regular transactions.

New Payment Methods:

Future growth is expected with 1 in 2 retailers planning to increase spending on broadening payment options accepted at POS over the next 12 months10. Retailers’ own mobile app (using 3rd party debit payments), Apple Pay, PayPal, other Mobile NFC payments, emerged as the mobile payment methods retailers are most likely to adopt over the next 24 months11. In the coming months and years, retailers and the entire pay-ment ecosystem has to work very hard to convince customers that they have an adequate and fool-proof data security infrastructure so that mo-bile payment innovations can prosper in the wake of higher customer adoption.

9, 10, 11 EKN 2015 Retail Point-of-Sale Blueprint Study

retailers will replace existing POS with tablet or mobile or hybird of fixed/mobile

POS over the next 24 months

retailers will increase spending on in-store mobile solutions over the next

12 months

3 in 44 in 10

38 Improving Omni-channel order visibility

Enabling eCommercetransactions at POS

Adding ship from storecapabilities at POS

%

31%

20%

Features important for POS upgrade

surveyed retailers will deploy mobile NFC over the next 24 months

1 in 2

Source: EKN 2015 Retail Point-of-Sale Blueprint Study

Source: EKN 2015 Retail Point-of-Sale Blueprint Study

Source: EKN 2015 Retail Point-of-Sale Blueprint Study

EKN 9

CONCLUSION

As stated earlier in this report, creating a real modern store is a journey and not an end state. Not only do high costs and inconsistent operations negatively impact store performance, most store retailers find they are ill-equipped to handle dynamic, personalized and digital customer experience expectations of today and anticipated evolutionary customer needs of tomorrow. Retail store growth plans mean greater need for balancing of store and digital/omnichannel customer service, sales and operations through a unified store experience strategy. A unified omnichannel/digital store experience is possible to execute via a modern POS platform that improves on-line order visibility, loyalty redemption, mobile app integration, throughput rates, and new forms of payment and check-out time for complex omnichannel orders. The difficult choices for the retailer lies in selecting a compre-hensive and flexible system that addresses both the current and future digital, physical and omnichannel nature of transactions and next wave of customer relationships.

Big EMV Migration:

The need for a secure platform, integration and key POS hardware factors are important to consider in deploying an EMV compatible payment termi-nal strategy. The October deadline for the EMV liability shift has passed and EKN data shows that 8 in 10 US retailers are not compliant and will need more time to make the migration12. Whether data is held in the cloud, virtu-alized or held in a store server, tokenization of customer information, data security protocols and different levels of personal pin security in the secure authentication process is needed for fewer data breaches. EMV’s at POS adoption can aid in this endeavor.

In order to overcome infrastructure and data service challenges related to store data ownership, data polling and frequency of updates (inventory, pricing, promotions etc.), a small proportion of retailers, close to 2 in 10 surveyed have embraced hybrid cloud models. Within hybrid cloud, some of the business critical data feeding the POS application is still managed within the four walls or residing in the on-premise servers at HQ or in-store servers.

12 EKN 2015 Retail Point-of-Sale Blueprint Study13 EKN Retail Cloud Strategies Global Study, 2014

According to EKN’s analysis, when it comes to POS, omnichannel and other store solutions, 4 in 10 retailers13 in-dicate speed to market to address customer demand for a seamless and updated experience. Keeping this need in mind, when done right cloud deployment models can aid in faster time to deployment compared to most on-premise solutions.

DEPLOYMENT OF POS: IS CLOUD FOR RETAILERS?

38 Improving Omni-channel order visibility

Enabling eCommercetransactions at POS

Adding ship from storecapabilities at POS

%

31%

20%

Ease ofintegration

PCIcompliance

POSequipment

Security/encryption

2 in 10retailersembraced hybrid cloud models.

Source: EKN 2015 Retail Point-of-Sale Blueprint Study

Source: EKN Retail Cloud Strategies Global Study, 2014

Our research agenda is developed using inputs from the end user community and the end user community exten-sively reviews the research before it is published. This ensures that we inject a healthy dose of pragmatism into the research and recommendations. This includes input of what research topics to pursue, incorporating heavy practitioner input – via interviews etc., and ensuring that the blend of research takeaways are oriented towards a real-world, practical application of insights with community sign-off. For more information, visit www.eknre-search.com. Email us at EKNinfo@edgellmail.com

About EKN

About Microsoft

Microsoft’s Retail Industry Group provides software that helps retail organizations thrive in today’s competitive global marketplace by making better decisions at every stage of the value chain. Microsoft software helps retailers strengthen customer relationships, build high value business connections and improve operations — empower-ing retail employees in areas such as store systems, real-time analytics and supply chain management. Through a combination of Microsoft- and partner-based solutions, retail customers can turn data into insight, ideas into action and change into opportunity.

Disclaimer:

EKN does not make any warranties, express or implied, including, without limitation, those of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The information and opinions in research reports constitute judgments as at the date indicated and are subject to change without notice. The information provided is not intended as financial or investment advice and should not be relied upon as such. The information is not a substitute for independent professional advice before making any investment decisions.

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Ph: (973) 607 1300

Retail Insights 1

Retail Insights Harnessing the

Power of Data

Retail Insights 2

ith global revenue of $22 trillion in 2014,1 the retail industry

contributes a significant portion to the GDP of many countries,

employs tens of millions of people and touches nearly everyone.

Whether family-owned-and-operated shops, multinational chains, or

e-commerce sites, retail businesses must compete aggressively for

every consumer dollar—and not all retail organizations are

succeeding. Headlines tout grim news of long-established brick-

and-mortar stores closing: “Walgreens shutters 200 stores” (CNN

Money, 4/9/2015); “J.C. Penney…to shut stores, lay off scores” (USA

Today, 1/9/2015); “RadioShack files for bankruptcy, announces plan

to sell stores” (Los Angeles Times, 2/8/2015).

In order to gain insight at a particularly volatile time for the industry,

Microsoft recently conducted a survey with 100 retail executives to

gain insight into their business challenges and learn about how they

are currently using, or plan to use, analytics and the cloud to stay

relevant with today’s consumers.

73% of executives surveyed said that the retail marketplace is changing, and 40% said

that the change is rapid.

W

Executive Summary

Retail Insights 3

When asked about their organization’s current business

environment, 73% of those surveyed acknowledged that the retail

marketplace is changing. For 33%, the business environment change

is happening slowly; and 40% are seeing their businesses change

rapidly.

Retailers who continue to do business as they always have without

evolving their business practices may soon find themselves

outpaced and outmatched in a ruthlessly competitive marketplace.

New technologies promise better customer shopping experiences,

nimbler inventory management, and expanded access to diverse

data that provide retailers with critical real-time insights into their

business. To harness these innovations, management must take a

proactive approach in close collaboration with diverse teams within

their organization.

Microsoft created this white paper, which includes insights gleaned

from our survey of retail business executives, to provide guidance on

evolving retail data business practices and challenges. It discusses

two of the most prevalent business opportunities—personalization

and demand forecasting—and explains how current technology

innovations in the retail marketplace, combined with cloud- and

hybrid-cloud–based solutions, as well as advanced data analytics,

can help retailers meet today’s business needs and prepare to thrive

in tomorrow’s competitive environment.

Retail Insights 4

oday’s retail executives are facing mounting pressure to evolve

business models that make sense in a global marketplace

characterized by disruptive technological innovations and fierce

competition for consumer dollars.

What once worked to entice consumers, such as loyalty programs,

no longer guarantees a sale. Not only do they have endless choices

at their fingertips, they have a voice. They can post a review—and

one in five consumers do. This means there’s data out there that can

help you build, monitor and improve your brand. Microsoft Social

Engagement enables you to “listen” to what your customers are

saying, learn from it and take action.

Yet another challenge lies with our globally connected, 24/7 mobile

economy. How can today’s retail executives successfully compete in

this dynamic marketplace? By differentiating the shopping

experience through the meaningful use of technology,

personalizing promotions and experiences for customers, and

effectively predicting and prescribing what will sell, when, where,

and to whom.

Retailers who use their own vast array of sales, inventory, and

customer data to help shape their retail strategy are seeing gains in

their KPIs, including increases in:

Year-over-year sales per square foot

Store profitability

Overall revenue

In addition, they’re seeing decreases in the percent of inventory

markdowns and inventory churn that take a bite out of overall profit.

Macy’s, for example, increased profits through an omni-channel

strategy that improved efficiencies in inventory management and

increased sales when customers went to stores to pick up their

online orders. According to Stores, the National Retail Federation

magazine, “Macy’s fourth-quarter sales increased to $9.4 billion, up

1.8 percent from the prior year,” even though the sales didn’t come

from their highest-profit departments.

T

Retail Trends

Retail Insights 5

When asked what role big data or advanced analytics plays in their competitiveness,

64% of executives surveyed said that analytical capabilities give them a competitive

advantage.

According to a recent IDC report, by 2017, retail companies that take

advantage of their data can potentially realize an additional

$94 billion in revenue over companies that don’t. Key opportunity

areas include employee productivity ($41B), operational

improvement ($29B), product innovation ($15B), and customer-

facing experiences ($9B).2

Retailers who don’t keep up with innovations in commerce,

technology and business practices will find it increasingly difficult to

attract and retain customers. With industry competitors expanding

sales by devising new ways to market and bundle merchandise,

retailers can also find that suppliers are making exclusive deals with

competitors who are able to predict inventory needs with greater

efficiency and accuracy.

Although retail executives understand that data flowing through

their companies daily represents an asset they can use to solve

pressing business problems, making sense of how to use it can be a

challenge. Add to that emerging technologies such as beacons and

sensors, as well as exponentially increasing web traffic on social

media sites, the promise of real-time data analysis is a tantalizing

proposition.

Retail Insights 6

New data sources lead to better solutions to challenging business questions.

Areas of opportunity Forward-thinking retailers are focusing on four key areas of

opportunity:

Commerce “anywhere, anytime”

Personalized promotions and experiences

Situational awareness

Diverse Data + New Analytics + Expanded information

access

Retail Insights 7

Commerce “anywhere, anytime” means customers are making

their purchases online, in traditional brick-and-mortar stores, from

“pop-up” stores and other sources. These can range from stores

within a store, like Olivia Kim’s curated collection of changing “pop-

in” stores for Nordstrom, to co-branded shopping experiences like

Wired Magazine’s holiday pop-up store in New York City. Customers

might shop downtown with friends on Saturday; online at midnight

on Wednesday; or while working out, using a mobile device to

purchase an item they just saw on TV. Cable companies are even

placing “Shop Now” buttons within some television shows, enabling

viewers to make an immediate purchase.

Personalized promotions and experiences provide customers with

tailored purchasing opportunities based on an analysis of their real-

time and historical purchasing data. For example, when customers

sign in to JJ Food Service, a large food and beverage provider in the

U.K., they get predictive shopping lists for their restaurants or

businesses based on both current order information and historical

customer data, such as previous orders and calendar data.3

Marston’s, a 200-year-old UK pub, uses Microsoft Dynamics to get a

single view of a customer’s activity across digital signage, social,

websites and email. This enables them to deliver the kind of

neighborhood pub experience customers love. For example, they’ve

got a digital message board where customers can post that a friend

of the group is running late for his birthday party, then when he

walks through the door the system alerts a server who hands him his

favorite drink as his favorite song plays on the jukebox. With the rate

of British pub closures accelerating to 31 per week, Marston’s is

combining data analytics and CRM to reinvent the pub business.4

Other personalized shopping experiences include dynamic discounts

and options to purchase online and pick-up in-store or purchase in-

store and ship anywhere. Brick-and-mortar stores are also using

analytics to offer real-time “recommended for you” suggestions in-

store, duplicating the familiar online recommendation experience.

Sales associates are armed with customer and product information

at their fingertips, enabling them to interact with customers in much

the same way “live chat” and call center operators interact with

customers online. Some online-only retailers are opening retail

storefronts, curating exclusive collections of items from their

websites and enabling customers to “touch, feel, and try” the

products before they buy.

Retail Insights 8

Situational awareness provides retailers with real-time information

through the use of QR codes, RFID tags, NFC (e.g., Apple Pay, iPay,

“Tap to Pay”), beacons, and other sensors that gather other helpful

data, enabling them to deliver real-time coupons, product

information, and even games and promotions to customers. For

example, using the Wi-Fi signals on a customer’s smartphone, it’s

possible to track them through the store and send them

personalized coupons and product information as they shop. QR

codes and RFID tags enable customers to scan items or displays and

get more information or see similar items the retailer might have

available in the warehouse. Situational awareness also provides

retailers with information about the flow of customers through a

store, including where and in what order they browse. This

information can provide insights into how to better organize

merchandise to drive purchases—for example, by grouping items

that customers typically look for during the same store visit.

Diverse Data + New Analytics + Expanded information access =

More revenue by enabling executives to make decisions about

promotions, pricing, inventory, and bundling that are predictive and

prescriptive instead of reactive and disconnected.

Sales associates can access real-time information about products

and customers to help drive sales. TREK Bicycles, for example, uses

Microsoft Office 365, Azure on CRM OL + Yammer and SharePoint

to better manage customer service requests.5 With the ability to

store customer, inventory and sales data inexpensively, everyone

from executives to individual employees in retail locations can

review historical data, as well as use real-time sales figures and

inventory to make fast, well-informed decisions that can enable

them to do their jobs better and increase sales.

Retail Insights 9

loud-based technology is used by a wide range of retailers for an

enormous array of functions. From small businesses that utilize

cloud-based infrastructure services to multinational companies that

use cloud services to enable powerful omni-channel solutions, the

business applications are as broad as the retail field itself.

Research in IT trends by Microsoft and other organizations confirms

the importance of cloud-based solutions for businesses. According

to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, 80% of the Fortune 500 companies

are on the Microsoft Cloud6,7, and according to Business Insider, IDC

predicts businesses will spend $118 billion on cloud technologies in

2015.8

More than 70% of the retail executives recently surveyed identified

themselves as technically savvy and capable of discussing the use of

the cloud in their organizations. However, 44% of those surveyed are

using the cloud only for low-risk business needs. Another 13% have

adopted a “wait and see” approach to cloud solutions.

Retail executives in the Microsoft survey were asked about their companies’ cloud

strategy; 84% indicated their companies are already using cloud-based solutions to

address business needs.

C

The Cloud: Delivering

Competitive Advantage

Retail Insights 10

The retail industry is evolving fast as new technologies are

introduced, new competitors enter the marketplace, and consumer

demand for goods and services evolves.

Retail Insights 11

One way retailers are differentiating themselves in a crowded

marketplace is through the use of cloud-based solutions. Of those

surveyed, 84% report that cloud-based solutions provide better data

integration; 81% see cost savings; 72% say cloud-based solutions

lead to faster deployment of new business applications; and 53%

identify better security as another benefit of the cloud. Clearly, these

executives see a competitive advantage in adopting the cloud.

When retail executives were asked how the cloud is creating a competitive advantage for

their business environment, over 80% said better data integration and reduced cost.

Even with these benefits, 16% of retail businesses are still not taking

advantage of the benefits of the cloud and another 44% are using

the cloud for only low-risk solutions. What’s holding back those 60%

of executives from fully embracing the cloud?

Dispelling the myths Unfortunately, there are still many myths about cloud technology

that might make organizations hesitant about embracing the cloud

as part of their data solution. Survey respondents who aren’t

currently embracing the cloud identified security concerns, lack of

control, and expense as barriers to cloud adoption for their

organizations.

Even though 80% of non-cloud adopters identify security concerns as a major barrier,

cloud security fears are often baseless.

One persistent myth deserves mention: that of data being less

secure in the cloud.

Retail Insights 12

A recent article on cio.com discussed the realities of cloud security

with experts in the field and found security fears are often baseless.

Tim McKellips, manager of technical services for SoftChoice stated in

the article that he believes cloud providers like Microsoft are “taking

Herculean efforts to secure their environments in a way the average

client could never do.”9

Although the news of data breaches in retail businesses is an almost

daily occurrence, the Verizon 2015 Data Breach Investigations

Report10 identifies the top causes of those breaches:

Point of Sale (POS) Intrusions. For example, payment card

skimmers, intrusion through secondary systems (Target’s

recent data breach is a prime example of this) or, in the case

of smaller businesses, sometimes even repetitive guessing of

passwords until the right one is discovered.

Miscellaneous errors. For example, sending documents or

email to the wrong person.

Insider misuse. For example, stolen equipment or employees

with a grudge.

Non-compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data

Security Standard (PCI-DSS). Non-compliance to PCI-DSS

regulations are a problem. Retailers who are slow to comply

with upgrading POS terminals to the new chip-and-pin

technology (mandatory from October 2015 in the U.S.) will

remain vulnerable.

Hybrid cloud: A first step For retailers who are hesitant or simply not ready to move to a full

cloud solution, a hybrid cloud solution provides a best first step in

migrating and extending current systems. The hybrid cloud offers

the benefits of both the control and flexibility of on-premises

solutions and the elasticity and redundancy of the cloud. Data that

has low sensitivity is stored in the cloud to take advantage of

improved integration and the lower cost structure. Data that’s

considered too sensitive for the cloud is stored on-premises and

managed by the retailer’s IT department.

The hybrid cloud also creates a wealth of cloud computing and

advanced analytics opportunities. Using the cloud offers some cost

savings and control of sensitive data, but analytics must be done on-

premises and can’t take advantage of the power of cloud-based

services.

The hybrid cloud strategy is a logical entry point for retailers

interested in evaluating emerging technologies. Although it can be

the fastest path to a more powerful, full-cloud foundation, a hybrid

cloud solution is only a transitional strategy and won’t be sufficient

in the long term for retailers who want to stay ahead of their

Retail Insights 13

competitors. Furthermore, it might not afford the same level of

security possible in an all-cloud of their competitors.

n the past, data flowed into corporate servers in a structured format

from limited sources. Today a flood of data pours in from many

sources and can be structured, semi-structured, or unstructured. In

addition to handling these different types of data, retailers must

manage data that can reside in multiple places, including on-

premises, in the cloud, and on mobile devices. They must also be

able to access both historical data and real-time data. The efficient

capture and processing of data is the first step in transforming

information into business insight.

It’s not enough to just capture the data; it’s also important to

understand what business questions the data will be used to answer.

Machine learning (learning and making predictive analyses from

data) provides the engine behind advanced analytics, which can help

companies answer business questions and assist in combining and

visualizing data for further analysis.

The majority of retailers surveyed said that they’re currently investing in analytics

capabilities or will be in the next year.

I

Big Data Retail

Retail Insights 14

Useful at all levels After data models have been built, tested and deployed,

transformative retail business insights can be made available to

anyone in the organization.

Sales associates can use customized apps on mobile devices

in stores to assist customers with product information and

personalized recommendations.

Logistics managers can arrange the movement of stock from

warehouse to stores to customers, and can predict inventory

needs through visualization apps.

Finance officers can generate reports and projections on

sales and salaries. The marketing team can create

customized marketing campaigns by using a combination of

real-time apps and reports to model campaigns and predict

resulting sales.

And managers all the way up the chain can glean insights

about sales, employees and inventory—anywhere and

anytime.

The power of data: retail scenarios Given the enormous amount of data available, the almost endless

variety of retail goods for sale, and the myriad business problems

retail executives are trying to solve, there are many potential

scenarios for illustrating an effective data + analytics solution.

Retail Insights 15

Demand and sales forecasting plus customer insights and personalization were the

biggest concerns of the retailers surveyed.

Two scenarios, personalized promotions and experiences and

demand forecasting, show the power and versatility of using

advanced analytics in retail businesses particularly when combined

with existing CRM solutions.

Scenario 1:

Personalized engagement A multitude of online studies explore the shopping habits of

different generations, with much of the current research effort

focusing on “millennial shopping trends.” Across the research, one

trend emerges repeatedly from those surveyed: Consumers want

more personalized offers and experiences when shopping either in-

store or online.11

What’s surprising is that only 12% of retail executives in the

Microsoft survey said their companies are extremely effective at

using analytics to personalize promotions for specific customers.

With less than half of the executives surveyed using analytics effectively for

personalization scenarios, there’s huge potential being missed.

This gap in effectiveness represents an opportunity to improve the

use of analytics in response to customer desire for more

personalized shopping experiences. It also provides an opportunity

for showcasing the benefits of advanced analytics to solve a current

business challenge.

Retail Insights 16

Customer shopping behavior is often a moving target. In 2012,

retailers were challenged by customers using brick-and-mortar

stores to “showroom”—or try out items in the store and then

compare prices with online offers—often with the undesirable (at

least from the brick and mortar store’s point of view) outcome of

buying the item online—sometimes while standing right in front of

the item in the store.

In 2015, “webrooming”—the opposite of “showrooming”—is

becoming more prevalent, and several recent studies have shown

that consumers are now doing research online before eventually

going to a brick and mortar store to make their purchase. According

to an article in the Washington Post, based on a survey by Nielsen,

“…while 51 percent of respondents said they browse products in

stores before ultimately buying them on the web, an even larger

number said they do the opposite.”12

Shrewd retail executives see opportunity in their customers’

browsing behaviors through omni-channel integration for their

business. An omni-channel approach takes advantage of consumers’

tendency to browse—whether online, in-store, on mobile devices, or

through social media—to provide the “best” possible shopping

experience for them.

Pier 1 Imports is one example of a company embracing an omni-

channel strategy. In an analyst call in September 2014, CEO Alex

Smith said, “Our omni-channel strategy is being embraced by our

customers. We're giving them multiple ways to shop, and they love

it.... Like other omni-channel retailers, our stores are becoming sales

and customer experience centers.”13

Technology innovations such as QR codes, NFC tags, RFID tags,

beacons (e.g., Bluetooth Smart) can also help deliver “customized”

retail experiences by offering real-time promotions in the store as

customers browse product shelves. For example, when customers

use a store’s mobile device app, approaching a display can trigger a

coupon for items on display to be sent directly to the device.

Customers can also obtain product information, find out about the

availability of other colors, styles, sizes, and so on.

To present these customized promotions, retailers must be able to

analyze sales data in real time so they can quickly offer coupons that

can motivate customers to buy something they weren’t planning on.

It also requires that they have up-to-the-minute information about

stock availability and location to ensure that customers can purchase

and receive items in a timely way. Failing to deliver can drive

customers to other retail sources and lead to lost sales of that item

and potentially other items as well.

Yet another approach is to offer customers “personalized” shopping

experiences based on their desires, previous shopping habits and/or

propensity to spend in a given category or price range. This could be

an app experience or part of a loyalty scheme in which the power of

Retail Insights 17

advanced analytics has been combined with CRM to create an

intelligent customer engagement program. Given that the average

loyalty customer spends 20% more than traditional shoppers, such a

program could also be more profitable for retail organizations.

Analyzing both real-time data (for example, what’s currently in a

customer’s online shopping cart) and historical data (such as that

customer’s past purchase patterns) also provides a way to

personalize the customer experience. JJ Food Services, the U.K.-

based food delivery service mentioned earlier, used machine

learning to develop a predictive shopping list for its online orders

that recommends other items based not only on what’s in the

customer’s shopping cart, but also on their previous purchasing

patterns. If a customer orders greens once a week, flour every

couple of weeks, and cooking oil once a month, the predictive

shopping list recommends purchases based on that data as well. The

JJ Food Services solution improved their cross-selling capabilities,

enhanced their new customers’ experience, and sped up ordering for

their existing customer base.14

Some promotions can include dynamic pricing targeted for regular

customers whose purchases are tracked by the retailer. For example,

Safeway created the “Just for U” program for their customers a few

years ago. Registered customers log in to their personalized “Just

for U” account either online or via a mobile device app to view and

add personalized offers and create their weekly shopping list. The

app also enables customers to organize their shopping list by aisle

for the store where they’re planning to shop.

By using the “Just for U” app, customers provide Safeway with

copious data about their buying habits. Safeway can then use this

data to better tailor promotions just for the customer. This creates a

positive feedback loop that benefits customers, who receive more

personalized offers for grocery coupons; given that the average

grocery store stocks 50 to 60 thousand items and the average

consumer’s purchases are limited to around 300, this is a

tremendous convenience for the consumer. It also benefits Safeway

by potentially drawing customers into the store when they might

not have otherwise been planning to shop.15

Technology innovations also deliver real-time information that can

be processed immediately or logged and analyzed later for patterns.

For example, the Chili’s restaurant chain uses Ziosk tablets powered

by Microsoft Azure—which offers cloud-based, real-time

information and ordering capabilities—to provide diners with menu

information and the option to pay their bill directly through the

device. As part of the bill payment process, diners are also asked to

fill out a survey about their dining experience.

With over 70% of their customers opting to fill out the survey when

they pay, Chili’s has almost immediate access to information about

individual restaurants—the quality of the food, the cleanliness of the

restaurant, the attentiveness of the server, and so on. With the ability

Retail Insights 18

to analyze this data rapidly, Chili’s can quickly discover and solve

problems to improve the dining experience.16

What these types of innovations mean in real terms is terabytes of

additional data streaming into businesses in real time, often 24/7,

365 days a year. Mining the data for insights requires close

collaboration between IT and business decision-makers to be sure

the right nuggets of information are being found.

Success in implementing data analytics solutions for personalized

promotions and experiences can be measured through retail KPIs,

such as sales per square foot, retail price, net sales, margin

percentage, and maintained markup. Retailers can get rapid

feedback about the effectiveness and overall value of their

personalized promotions. If one thing is clear, the process of

engaging customers can't be one-size-fits-all. It needs to be

adaptive across all touch points and within the context of the

customer. Retailers can use data analytics to personalize customer

experiences and create end-to-end, outcome-focused journeys that

engage the consumer at the right time and place, AND on their

terms.

Scenario 2:

Demand forecasting Numerous market forces put stress on retail executives when it

comes to inventory management. With the supply chain embracing

“just-in-time” manufacturing, demand sometimes outstrips supply

and can lead to longer waiting times until merchandise is delivered.

Because of their sheer dollar purchasing power, big retailers can

often jump to the head of the line, making it harder for smaller

retailers to compete effectively.

Another inventory management nightmare can occur when external

events, such as weather patterns, disasters, or especially the viral

nature of social media, affect demand. And retailers who sell

products nationally, or even globally, can all relate stories of items

that sold big in Kalamazoo and not at all in Kamchatka, leaving

groaning warehouses and deep markdowns taking a big bite out of

profits.

The goal of demand forecasting is to ensure that the right items are

stocked in the right quantities at the right time in the right location

to avoid overstocks and stock-outs. Accurately predicting demand

makes it possible for retailers to optimize inventory and use the

supply chain effectively. They can track the success of using analytics

for demand forecasting through KPIs such as average inventory,

ending inventory, inventory turnover, stock turnover in days, and

total turnover.

With more consumers expecting a fully integrated shopping

experience—from e-commerce to bricks and mortar and across

Retail Insights 19

devices—developing omni-channel strategies has become a

business imperative for retailers. To deliver a better omni-channel

customer experience, it’s important that brick and mortar stores are

stocked with enough inventory to successfully use them as mini-

distribution centers. Conversely, when customers are in the store

and decide to have an item shipped directly to them, it’s important

to ensure that it’s possible to deliver the items in a timely way.

Omni-channel strategies require real-time demand forecasting and

analysis to realize enhanced revenue.

Real-time analysis of data sources from event schedules to weather, combined with

historical data such as store sales and order history, makes it possible to increase

revenue by proactively moving inventory.

Enabling customers to purchase online and return in-store also

generates increased revenue as customers come into the store to

make a return and end up browsing for (and buying) new items.

Fortune magazine reports that Nordstrom realized benefits from

this strategy when it enabled customers to return items purchased

at nordstromrack.com and HauteLook at its Rack stores.17

Demand forecasting provides another retail opportunity for

moving inventory—product bundling. Bundling can take the form

of grouping like items together for specific times of year—for

example, back to school, Cinco de Mayo, or 4th of July—and

offering items at a discount. Or it can mean putting products

together as a package, such as a television and a Blu-Ray player,

and selling them as a unit instead of individually. It’s important in

Retail Insights 20

these scenarios that all items are in stock; if not, the entire bundle

might not sell.

With real-time data available for analysis, it’s also possible to

predict upticks in inventory demand—for example, driven by

weather predictions or a celebrity tweeting love of a certain

product.

Combining this information with historical data, such as which

stores sell more products on hot days or what geographic location

has more affluent trend-following customers, makes it possible to

proactively move inventory around and ensure the right quantities

are available in the right places at the right time to maximize the

number of units sold.

Conversely, using the same data sources and predictive analytics

makes it possible to forecast a reduction in demand for inventory,

giving retailers the opportunity to create promotions and cross-

sell to increase sales even when the trend is toward a slow-down.

Analysis can identify slow-moving inventory and help retailers

create promotions targeted at specific customers based on their

purchasing patterns, and sales associates can get real-time

updates on which products to up-sell or cross-sell from day to

day.

Retail Insights 21

Making sense of how to process, predict and visualize the data

that streams into a retail business 24/7, 365 days a year helps

differentiate companies in a crowded marketplace. With the ever-

increasing pace of technological innovation and customers who

want more personalized shopping experiences across devices,

both online and in-store, retail business executives need the right

data platform analytics solution to help them:

Provide a rich, personalized, seamless shopping experience

across multiple channels

Tailor customer experiences and recommendations

Forecast demand to manage inventory more effectively across

multiple retail channels

Improve efficiency throughout their organization

Maximize profitability of the goods they sell

With a complete advanced analytics solution that securely spans

on-premises computers and servers, cloud-based storage and

tools, mobile device applications and customer engagement, retail

businesses can solve the business problems of today as they

anticipate and prepare for the innovations of tomorrow.

Microsoft cloud-based solutions Creating a cloud-based advanced analytics solution using

Microsoft products such as Cortana Analytics offers many benefits

for retail businesses of any size, including:

Scalability. Quickly scale up or down on demand, and pay

only for what you use, gaining processing power to fuel

advanced data analytics capabilities.

Cost. With a payment model of paying only for the services

you use, Cortana Analytics is an economical way for even the

smallest retailer to benefit from cloud solutions.

Familiarity. The tools provided for building a cloud-based

data processing and analytics solution with Cortana Analytics

are the same ones that millions of businesses trust today. And

Microsoft solutions integrate with a broad range of devices to

help make Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) a reality.

Security. Microsoft delivers cloud services with enhanced

security, management, and threat-mitigation practices to

many of the world’s leading enterprises and government

agencies. Every day, Microsoft delivers services that achieve

Conclusion

Retail Insights 22

higher levels of security, privacy, and compliance than most

users can achieve on their own.

Cloud-based solutions offer many benefits, but there may be

reasons that a retail business might not be ready to move to a full

cloud solution. For these retailers, Microsoft offers the hybrid

cloud, which enables businesses to move part of their data and

computing needs to the cloud while maintaining on-premises

data as well. The hybrid cloud provides the benefits of cloud

computing: scalability, elasticity, cost benefits, familiar tools and

apps, and enhanced security.

With the wealth of data available to mine for business insights, it’s

also important for retailers to have tools available to make it easy

for the right users to get access to the right data at the right time.

Microsoft provides business intelligence (BI) solutions for

predicting and visualizing information, making the power of

advanced analytics available throughout an organization.

Microsoft BI solutions also integrate with existing tools and apps

to make it easier for companies to deploy new apps and services

based on insights gleaned through advanced analytics.

Retail business executives who take the opportunity now to evolve

their business practices by bringing the power of the cloud and

advanced analytics to their companies will find themselves

uniquely situated for a competitive advantage in an ever-

tightening retail marketplace.

Retail Insights 23

Notes 1 eMarketer Retail Sales Worldwide Will Top $22 Trillion This Year.

2 IDC and Microsoft Corporation, The Data Dividend.

3 Microsoft.com, Machine learning helps food service supplier predict what customers want before they

order.

4 Microsoft.com, Marston's Delivers Personalized Service in Real-Time with Dynamics

5 Microsoft.com, Integrated CRM Solution Helps TREK Support Local Sales Reps 6 Eugene Kim, Business Insider, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Shows Why Azure Is A Serious Threat To

Amazon And Google.

7 Microsoft.com, Microsoft by the Numbers, the Enterprise Cloud.

8 Julie Bort, Business Insider, 14 Tech Trends That Will Make Someone Billions Of Dollars Next Year.

9 David Spark, cio.com, 20 of the Greatest Myths of Cloud Security.

10 Verizon, 2015 Data Investigations Breach Report.

11 Fiona Soltes, Stores Magazine, Downright Personal.

12 Sarah Halzak, The Washington Post, One way online shopping is actually helping brick-and-mortar

retailers.

13 Larry Dignan, zdnet.com, Pier 1 Imports aims to transform via e-commerce, IT.

14 Microsoft.com, Food Delivery Service Uses Machine Learning to Revolutionize Customer Service.

15 Olga Kharf, Bloomberg Business, Supermarkets offer personalized pricing.

16 Microsoft.com, Tabletop tablets provide a better experience for diners and valuable data for restaurants.

17 Phil Wahba, Fortune, February 20, 2015, Nordstrom’s Multi-billion Dollar Plan for e-Commerce

Domination.

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date

of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the

part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This white paper is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this document.

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give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

© 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Microsoft and Azure are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Retail Insights 24

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.