How a single view of customer and inventory data translates to happier customers

How do you keep up with customer expectations when consumer demands are rising – and often shifting?  

As inflation and cost-of-living increases put pressure on consumer spending, shoppers are becoming more discerning and deliberate, rapidly switching between brands in the search for what they want. 

That’s why customer retention has become an important strategy for retailers wanting to capture market share and maximise profits. Retaining customers costs less than acquiring new ones, and returning customers are more likely to spend than new customers.  

By taking the time to develop relationships with customers, provide excellent service, reward loyalty and stay connected, businesses can retain customers and drive sustainable growth.  

But at a time when only 25% of retailers can connect their online and in-store transaction data, many retailers struggle to deliver the unified experiences they need to meet customers where they are now.  

Unified commerce solves this by unifying online and store experiences with back-end systems so you can attract, scale and earn the most from loyal customers. It’s now retail’s top priority, with 88% of retailers investing in unified commerce or considering doing so to make their businesses stronger, smarter and ready for the future.   

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So how does a single source of truth translate to better customer satisfaction and retention?  

If your retail management system has been built up organically and relies on complex dependencies, you’ll know how difficult, slow and expensive it can be to integrate with modern technologies and create new customer experiences.  

A unified commerce platform can take that pain away. It bypasses the limitations of legacy and omnichannel systems by breaking down the walls between internal channel silos, using a centralised commerce platform that combines point of sale, inventory, ordering and fulfilment, loyalty, pricing and business intelligence.  

With one platform, you gain the single source of truth that gives you real-time visibility of your customer, inventory and fulfilment data across all your stores and channels.   

You can offer customers the easy purchase, convenient delivery and stress-free return options they want, while recognising and rewarding the shopping they do with you.   

Here’s how: 

Optimise inventory and availability 

Infinity lets you consolidate your inventory from all locations – warehouses, call centres and physical, mobile and online stores – and make it available for customers to buy anywhere, at any time. You can extend your range across more channels - marketplaces, in-store kiosks, shoppable screens, pop-up stores, concessions and mobile devices. And you’ll reduce costs, cut stock requirements and increase margins. 

Fulfil orders the way customers want 

When your data is unified, you can offer a range of fulfilment options no matter what channel an order comes in from. Click-and-collect, store-to-door delivery, drop shipping, returns anywhere and ‘endless aisle’ fulfilment are all possible. You get to choose what’s best for customers and most profitable for you. 

Reward customer loyalty 

It’s getting harder and more expensive to get a clear picture of customer activity and behaviours as more customers opt out of being tracked. However, loyalty programs offer a compelling reason for consumers to identify themselves in-store and online. With customer details captured and stored in single unified commerce hub, you can recognise customers consistently, wherever they shop with you. Using that data and Infinity’s loyalty capabilities, you’ll know which customers are most profitable and what their preferences are. Your store teams can view this information to offer personalised service and encourage conversion at point of sale. 

Localise pricing and promotions 

Pricing is shared across channels so customers can trust that they’ll see the same price whether they shop with you in-store or online. You can make better decisions about store product assortments, by matching breadth and depth to demand, trends and local demographics. And by customising products, prices and promotions nationally, regionally and even by individual sites, you’ll increase conversions and maximise profits. 

React smarter and faster to demand changes 

Using APIs on an open platform, you can expose data in real time, rather than replicate or move it. That lets you add specialised functionality across various systems and provides a fast and easy way to plug in and deploy new services, channels and devices. You’ll innovate quicker, keep up with customer demands and build your competitive advantage.  

This blog was originally published on 17 March 2020 and updated 28 February 2024

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See what a single source of truth can do for your customer retention!  

If you want to unify your data to offer a seamless blend of physical and digital customer experiences, contact us to get started. 

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For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:  

What is unified commerce and why is it so important to retail success?

As more sales channels and touchpoints emerge, the customer journey from awareness to purchase becomes more complex. Customers want to hop between channels in one seamless interaction. They want more options and less friction.  

That means retailers need a strategy that lets customers shop, buy and receive goods how, when and wherever they want. 

The only way to meet demands for a truly unified experience is to move to a unified commerce approach that delivers seamless customer journeys across all channels, touchpoints and locations. 

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Unified commerce is the term used for a retail software platform that provides a central hub for data from every system and channel across your organisation.  

It breaks down the walls between channel silos to deliver frictionless customer experiences, while reducing integration and operating costs, and increasing efficiency and accuracy. 

At a time when only 25% of retailers are able to connect their online and in-store transaction data it’s gaining momentum, with 20% of retailers heavily investing in it, 32% beginning to invest and 36% considering doing so. Retailers who use unified commerce have seen a solid 7% revenue boost over those who did not. And Australian retailers can tap into a $44 billion opportunity when they connect online and in-store sales channels via unified commerce.  

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So what exactly is unified commerce?

Unified commerce is a retail management system that unifies all your customer and inventory data on one open, centralised commerce platform that exposes one version of truth to all channels.  

That means all your data stays in sync – across point of sale, websites, apps, call centres, field staff, DCs and warehouses, kiosks, pop-up stores, concessions and marketplaces – and transactions can be viewed in near real time.  

With all these customer touch points connected, unified commerce lets you deliver a holistic and personalised customer experience more consistently. You can make purchasing online and in-stores more seamless and convenient through endless aisle, digital payments and ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ services. And you can treat each customer as the individual they are – one person with one account, interacting with one unified brand. 

A unified commerce platform also helps you and your technology partners innovate quickly, maximise margin and deploy new services – efficiently and profitably. 

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Here’s how unified commerce helps you retail better

Optimise inventory and availability 

When you have an accurate, real-time view of your inventory, you can quickly see where inventory is and therefore the fastest place to fulfil from. You can increase sales by using ranging and fulfilment capabilities that enable you to sell products across channels (and even sell products not normally stocked within any channels). You’ll improve inventory accuracy, reduce stock requirements, minimise fulfilment costs and get products to customers faster.  

Fulfil orders the way customers want 

With a ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ strategy and centralised unified commerce platform, you can give customers and staff real-time visibility of inventory, order and customer data across the business. That means you can offer a range of fulfilment options like click-and-collect, ship-from-store and split shipments – whatever suits your customers best.   

Attract, scale and retain loyal customers 

You can capture customer details for your loyalty program via any channel and then analyse purchase and browsing histories to develop the personalised experiences customers now expect, with rewards and offers that are timely and relevant. Store and call centre employees can also see this information to offer tailored services and encourage conversions at the point of sale. 

Localise pricing and promotions 

Pricing is shared across channels so customers can trust that they’ll see the same price whether they shop with you in-store or online. You can make better decisions about store product assortments, by matching breadth and depth to demand, trends and local demographics. And by customising products, prices and promotions nationally, regionally and even by individual sites, you’ll increase conversions and maximise profits.   

React smarter and faster to demand changes 

Using APIs on an open platform, you can expose data in real time, rather than replicate or move it. That lets you add specialised functionality across various systems and provides a fast and easy way to plug in and deploy new services, channels and devices. You’ll innovate quicker, increase speed to market and build your competitive advantage. 

This blog was originally published on 13 January 2020 and updated 2 February 2024

If you’re experiencing technology challenges that prevent you from unifying your sales, service and marketing channels, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop the ability to create unified retail experiences for competitive advantage.

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For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:  

What’s the difference between unified commerce and omnichannel?

In recent years, the terms ‘unified commerce’ and ‘omnichannel’ have reached buzzword status. Both are used to describe the delivery of seamless customer experiences across physical and digital channels.

But while they’re used interchangeably, there’s a significant difference between them.

Unified commerce is the next-generation architecture that finally delivers on what omnichannel promised.

 A unified commerce platform provides a central hub that breaks down the silos between channels to deliver truly seamless experiences, while also solving omnichannel’s biggest weakness – operational complexity.

 At a time when only 25% of retailers can connect their online and in-store transaction data it’s gaining momentum, with 20% of retailers heavily investing in it, 32% beginning to invest and 36% considering doing so. And retailers who used unified commerce in 2022 saw a solid 7% revenue boost over those who did not.

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Omnichannel offers options, but creates operational complexity

Omnichannel strategies talked about creating a seamless and consistent customer experience across all channels, but the execution has left a large gap in the user experience. 

Why? Retailers have to quickly spin up new channels as consumers demand them. An omnichannel approach does connect numerous channels, but they all operate in functional silos. That means customers can’t hop between channels in one seamless interaction and most attempts to deliver unified experiences fall well short. 

Omnichannel makes things much harder for retailers in five ways: 

• Integrating data silos: Often loosely connected with manual processes and custom integrations, omnichannel solutions are fragile, inefficient and costly to maintain. The silos generate a cascade of inconsistent, inaccurate data shared across the business, making it virtually impossible to deliver a seamless customer experience. 

• Inventory that isn’t real time: Many omnichannel systems only access rudimentary sales and inventory positions. This prevents retailers from offering the ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ options that are best for customers and most profitable for them. 

• Adding modern technologies and capabilities: Connecting legacy systems with modern technologies requires custom integrations, making the creation of new brand experiences complex, expensive, time consuming and risky. 

• Obtaining a single view of the customer: Silos negatively impact customers because they have to deal with inconsistencies and gaps, such as partial sales histories, different answers to questions or having to start new conversations in each channel. 

• Loss of innovation: Day-to-day inefficiencies mean that internal teams are tied up in remediation and troubleshooting and have less time to spend on creating the innovative, personalised experiences customers desire. 

Here’s an example of how omnichannel creates operational complexity:

An omnichannel architecture could allow a retailer to look up inventory across all its stores but they would struggle to make all items available online. This is because many retailers have items that are difficult to ship, such as fragile items, dangerous goods or large and bulky or heavy products. With no ability to create customised views of inventory to make them available for click and collect but exclude them from home delivery or inter-store transfers, they can only offer these items in stores.

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Unified commerce puts the customer experience first 

Customers today expect to transact when, where and however they want. They don’t care how you achieve it and will reward you if you have it - or shop elsewhere if you don’t. 

The only way to meet these demands for a truly unified experience is to move beyond omnichannel to unified commerce. 

Unified commerce is an architectural approach that delivers seamless customer journeys across all channels, touchpoints and locations. 

It breaks down the walls between internal channel silos by using a centralised commerce platform that combines point of sale, inventory, ordering and fulfilment, loyalty, pricing and business intelligence. 

With a unified view of the customer, and all channels and engagement points connected in real-time, you can deliver a personalised and consistent customer experience.  

Your customers get a ‘one brand’ experience: one person with one account, interacting with one unified brand. No hitches, and no inconsistencies. 

You can make purchasing online and in-stores more seamless and convenient through endless aisle, digital payments and ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ services. 

And you can quickly respond to changing customer expectations and new technologies by using microservices and APIs to expose data and connect third-party services. 

A unified commerce platform enriches your customer experience and positively impacts your entire business in so many ways:

• Simplify your technology

• Accelerate speed to market

• Optimise inventory and availability

• Boost in-store productivity and sales

• Personalise your customer experience

• Create relevant and agile experiences. 

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This blog was originally published in January 2020 and updated 17 October 2023.

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Want help to reduce operational complexity?

We can help you define your goals, develop a business case and create your roadmap to simplified operations and unified customer experiences. Get in touch.

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For insights into how a unified commerce approach gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our ebook:

Seven things to look for in a retail technology partner

With many customer journeys now beginning online, and a growing appreciation of the critical role of in-store teams in the customer experience, the key issue for retailers today is how to extend their online experience into stores to create unified retail.

That means seamlessly integrating all backend systems to deliver the distinctive omnichannel experiences consumers now demand. Can your retail system keep up?

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If you’re developing the roadmap or requirements for your next point of sale or retail platform, start here.

No matter the scale of what you want to accomplish – extending POS functionality, creating a single view of inventory, or starting your unified commerce journey to connect POS, inventory, fulfilment, order and customer data – you need a partner with the right people, processes and technology.

A partner who understands the 24x7 demands of retail and can provide you with the systems to innovate quickly, optimise inventory, maximise margin and deploy frictionless customer experiences - efficiently and profitably.

Here are the important indicators of a good technology partner, plus questions to ask:

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1

Maturity and market responsiveness

Look for a partner who’s been around retail for a while, with a platform built on a modern architecture and sound business model and proposition. They’ll need to understand your fast-paced, data-intensive environment where any significant level of downtime is unacceptable.

Their people will have the capability to help you plan and implement your projects so that they work for you now and into the future. When you choose a partner with a mature platform, they can focus on delivering innovation because the core functionality you need already exists.

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2

Real-world customer experience

Make sure your partner has a recent and proven success record for planning, implementing and managing complex, large-scale deployments across multiple stores, multiple formats and multiple geographies.

Have they implemented unified commerce systems or are they just unifying digital commerce channels? Ask for evidence of the relationships, products and services that help their clients to be successful, including the consultancy, customisation, integration, training and support services you’ll need.

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3

Flexible and innovative mindset

You want a partner who’s got the people and processes to move fast, while cultivating an environment where innovation flourishes.

Check that they have a history of responsiveness and the ability to assess and quickly correct any unforeseen issues. Can they change direction, be flexible and achieve competitive success as opportunities develop, competitors act and customer needs evolve.

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4

Broad product capability

Choose a partner that can give you a broad and holistic portfolio, perspective and experience. You’ll need all your core requirements out-of-the-box plus the ability to customise and easily add new functionality.

Offering a unified experience means unifying all the backend systems that run POS, inventory, customers and loyalty, pricing and promotions, analytics and fulfilment. You don’t want to be tied to a point player that can only provide portions.

Your partner should let third parties connect via APIs and cultivate a vendor ecosystem to reduce risk and increase flexibility. You also need to know that your partner has a strategic roadmap and investment committed for new capabilities. 

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5

Consulting and market understanding

Find a partner that will guide you in the right direction and tune technologies to fit your individual business needs. Do they have consultancy skills that span business and technical knowledge? Can they advise you on business processes as well as how the software works? Make sure they understand your wants and needs (as well as those of your customers) and can translate them into products and services.  

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6

Exceptional operations

Check that your partner can meet their goals and commitments, and that they have the organisational structure, skills, experiences, programmes and systems to operate effectively and efficiently. That includes agile — make sure they’ve done the training and really understand agile principles, methods and practices.  

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7

Local and committed to your success

Look for a partner that is a local business, focused on your region’s potential to succeed. A local partner means you can have more influence on the product roadmap and enjoy direct engagement with people on the ground committed to your success (and not distracted by offshore business activity). And a mid-size partner is more likely to view you as an important customer of influence.

This blog was originally published on 21 January 2019 and updated 30 May 2023.

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Want help to innovate and scale new services, faster?

Triquestra has been delivering retail management systems in multiple industries and geographies for more than 25 years. Our product and people are supporting award-winning retailers delivering disruptive, world-first customer experiences that build loyalty and grow sales.

 If you’re experiencing technology challenges that prevent you from unifying your physical and digital channels, get in touch. We’d love to help you digitise your business to create the unified experiences your customers now expect.

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For more on how a move to a unified commerce strategy gives you the flexibility and agility you need to keep in step with consumers’ changing needs, download our new ebook:

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Delivering a unified CX: liquor retail's new priority

The ecommerce boom and ever-increasing consumer demands for more digital and personalised services are rapidly changing the business of liquor retail. Kelly Brown explains why liquor retailers are overhauling how they plan, build and deliver their CX, and shares three steps to take to remain relevant.

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Customers now expect retailers to offer convenience, speed and value throughout the end-to-end shopping journey. They are more discerning and impatient, and don’t care that it can be hard to deliver – they only care about a great experience.  

That is driving a massive shift in how liquor retailers plan, build and deliver their customer experience.   

The retailers making the first move know that a compelling bricks-and-mortar presence blended with an improved digital offering can be leveraged for competitive advantage.  

And that means seamlessly integrating all backend systems and channels to deliver experiences that align with customer expectations.  

However, it’s complicated. 

While liquor retail has always been challenging – fast service is non-negotiable, staff require specialised knowledge and transaction volumes are highly variable – this requires a fundamental transformation of the standard business model. 

Liquor retail has been a laggard in creating new digital experiences and investing in technology to improve front- and back-end operations. Many liquor retailers have legacy solutions that are no longer fit for purpose and have bolted on solutions for the digital space that don’t easily integrate.  

And they struggle to support their customers’ current omnichannel demands, let alone the personalised ‘phygital’ shopping journeys now expected by post-pandemic, digitally savvy consumers.  

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So what steps can you take to differentiate your liquor retail business? 

Here’s a three-pronged strategy that will help create the distinctive omnichannel experiences customers now expect: 

1. Pivot into retail media services 

To remain relevant and competitive in the future, you’ll need to venture beyond traditional retailing and enter new service categories with a higher level of profitability. 

Retail media networks are emerging as one example in retail. Liquor retailers are monetising their existing data and channels by introducing state-of-the-art digital screens closer to the point of purchase, creating a raft of opportunities for alcohol brands to advertise. 

With the demise of revenue from third-party cookies, retail media helps alcohol brands reach the right audience - people who want to purchase alcohol and are legally entitled to do so - and drive higher conversions that increase sales. And as online alcohol sales grow – 15.2% growth is expected between 2022 to 2030 - so will advertising revenues for retailers. 

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2. Deliver a unified customer experience 

Focus on the end-to-end needs of your customers and revamp the customer journey to expand your relationship beyond quick visits to stock up on beverages. 

That means making purchasing online and in stores seamless and convenient through endless aisle, digital payments and ‘buy anywhere, fulfil anywhere’ services coupled with fast and flexible delivery options. 

Take advantage of the shift in preference for neighbourhood shopping, with local product ranges tailored to each location and community, supported by bespoke promotional programmes. 

And you’ll need to create true omnichannel experiences that seamlessly integrate physical and digital channels to create personalised customer communications, offers, experiences and rewards across in-store and digital touchpoints. 

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3. Embrace complexity to build new capabilities 

To revamp your business and aggressively embrace innovation and new technologies, you’ll need to develop new expertise and capabilities. That will introduce more complexity into your organisation, with sales channels becoming less physical and more digital.  

You’ll want a retail platform that connects your physical and digital channels to let you deliver customer experiences that provide the convenience, speed and variety customers demand. Embrace agile working to innovate and get products to market faster. And by using APIs, you can create an ecosystem of partnerships to deploy new apps, services, channels and devices.  

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Want help to differentiate your liquor business? 

If you want to create distinctive and frictionless customer experiences across all physical and digital channels, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop a unified customer journey. 

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For more on how to deliver every customer a personalised, fast and seamless experience, download our new ebook: