Retail today is advancing at a fast pace that can be said phenomenal. With the recent pandemic spread, the retail sector was one of the worst hit. But technology has helped to bridge the gap between the customer and the retailers. Migrations to cloud computing have helped retailers at this crucial juncture. It enabled them to deliver business capabilities faster and stay competitive.
Cloud adoption in retail or its subsectors happened uniformly during this period. Many legacy systems were converted into cloud systems, fuelling business growth. Workloads that used to take time were simplified with cloud computing and related cloud services. If you are not yet a part of this revolution, keep reading. This article is for you.
So, how can cloud computing increase the value of retailers? Here are five ways.
- Pricing and margin management
- Website and personalized recommendation
- Loyalty program management
- Realtime inventory optimization
- Omnichannel order fulfillment
Let’s explore more.
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Pricing and Margin Management
Pricing is critical for customers at the final selection. As it can affect the gross margin and sell-through rates, getting the competitive pricing right is crucial. Different online portals offer variable rates for the same products. Relevant technologies along with cloud computing help retailers to:
- Be aware of competitor’s pricing
- Analyze sales history
- Calculate optimal pricing
- Analyze margin and sales implications
- Convert sales data into predictive data
- Gain actionable insights
Website and Personalized Recommendations
Personalization goes a long way in gaining more customers for a retailer with cloud computing. Cloud-based data clean-up and analytics tools can help retailers in many ways.
- Data aggregation/curation – Helps in grouping information and filtering the data related to sales. It can help map the right customer to the products they will buy.
- 360* customer view – Machine learning can optimize data based on purchase performance and create A/B scenarios. It enables the seller to boost product sales.
- Personalized homepage – Based on the data of frequent customers, cloud computing tools can personalize homepages. Customers can directly find what they are looking for from here.
Realtime Inventory Optimization
Real-time inventory optimization is the foundation for omnichannel retail sales. Cloud platforms can analyze and list product details in one place. The inventory can be updated with related devices or online inventory management tools. Its workflow can be as given below.
- Store inventory listed online
- Real-time inventory visibility in-store
- Real-time POS and inventory update on the sale
- Alert for replenishment
- Product added and inventory list updated
