Carmela Salisbury

7 October 2024

Unified Commerce

Seven things to look for in a retail technology partner

Carmela Salisbury

7 October 2024

Unified Commerce

Can your retail system keep up with customer demand for omnichannel experiences?

Consumers now see both the online and offline shopping experience as part of the same buying journey and not one versus the other.

This is introducing more complexity into the business, with channels becoming less physical and more digital. And that’s why unified commerce is now retail’s top priority, with 88% of retailers investing in unified commerce or considering doing so to build a customer-centric approach to retail.

But at a time when 2 in 5 retailers (40%) lack in-house expertise to make the most of new technologies, and only 25% of retailers can connect online and store data, many retailers are looking at how to rebuild their businesses from the bottom up for their unified commerce business model.

They know that working with the right people and the right technologies will make the roll-out of new customer experiences much easier and deliver results much faster.

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

There are seven important indicators of a good technology partner:

Maturity and market responsiveness

With a mature platform you can focus on delivering innovation because the critical functionality you need already exists.

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.

Real-world customer experience

A strong track record and referenceable customer base means less risk.

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.

Flexible and innovative mindset

Seek a partner that can pivot quickly as markets change.

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.

Broad product capability

Choose a partner that can give you a holistic portfolio and expansive retail ecosystem.

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. You’ll need all your core requirements out-of-the-box plus the ability to customise and easily add new functionality.

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.

Consulting and market understanding

Ensure your partner can translate your business needs into functional solutions.

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.

Exceptional operations

Make sure they combine experience, processes and systems for faster ROI.

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.

Local and committed to your success

A local partner means you can have more influence on the product roadmap and expect faster turnaround.

Retailers are developing a customer-centric mindset and building new skills and capabilities to compete with new competitors. They recognise the risk that comes with global vendors with an indirect model of engagement and support.

A local business means you can enjoy direct engagement with on-the-ground people focussed on your needs, and not distracted by offshore business activity. With direct access to second and third level support and simple processes, you’ll enjoy leaner, faster support services.

Biggest isn’t always best. A mid-sized company will have fewer layers of bureaucracy, giving them more agility and responsiveness. It also means that you’ll be an important customer of influence to your partner - they will value your business and work hard for it.

This blog was originally published on 21 January 2019 and updated 07 October 2024.

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.

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:

DOWNLOAD NOW

Carmela Salisbury

7 August 2024

Unified Commerce

How the move to ‘phygital’ is disrupting point of sale technology

Carmela Salisbury

7 August 2024

Unified Commerce

      Retailers are shifting focus from ecommerce to their stores to better serve omnichannel customers. Here's how changing consumer expectations are transforming in-store technology and disrupting legacy point of sale (POS).

For most omnichannel retailers, the growth of ecommerce has meant boosting their investments in physical retail.

That’s because the store is essential to creating and satisfying customer demand - even if the customer ultimately transacts online. Consumers now see both the online and offline shopping experience as part of the same buying journey and not as one versus the other.

With the ability to see, touch and feel products and assess alternatives, stores are important for marketing and customer acquisition. Store conversion rates are typically 20-40% - around ten times more than ecommerce channels (only 2.5-3%). The store remains the dominant sales channel, still generating more than 70% of sales. and continuing to grow at 4% year on year.

And with pressure on consumer spending plus inventory, pricing and interest rate uncertainty, retailers want to leverage their existing investments in stores and staff - 71% cite store operations as top-three driver for their tech investment strategy.

As the store shifts to become the hub of the omnichannel customer journey, the point of sale must shift as well.

But many retailers have hit a wall because their POS technology can’t support their customers’ current omnichannel demands, let alone the ‘phygital’ shopping journeys now expected by digitally savvy consumers.

They’ve been focussed on ecommerce initiatives, delaying important POS hardware upgrades and the shift to modern operating systems. Some retailers have POS systems that are end of life and about to be sunset, and others are hamstrung by legacy in-house solutions that require custom integrations with modern technologies or are no longer supported.

And at a time when 75% of retailers can’t connect their online and in-store transaction data, they struggle to deliver the cohesive, consistent unified experiences customers now expect.

If you’re upgrading your point of sale to modernise your customer experience, here are the important shifts in functionality to consider:

EX aligns with CX

Today, any store innovation must reduce friction for the store teams, which in turn will drive a great customer experience. Speed and simplicity are now the priority to help people be as productive as possible, wherever they are in the store.

However, many retailers run multiple systems within stores, forcing their teams to juggle between different apps and screens as they serve customers.

Retailers are consolidating store technology onto a single POS-based retail system that lets their teams do everything, from sales transactions, customer loyalty, pricing, product and promotions through to virtual appointments and endless aisle access to stock.

Clienteling gets personal

Clienteling is becoming more sophisticated as consumer expectations for a frictionless ‘one brand’ experience rise. However, many retailers still have channel silos that mean any interaction or activity that the customer had with them online is not available to the customer or staff within the store.

Leading retailers are helping their in-store teams deliver more personalised experiences by using AI and data from across online and offline channels to create timely and relevant communications, recommendations, offers and rewards.

Initially provided for customers visiting stores during click-and-collect pickups, retailers like Cue Clothing are extending customised recommendations into other communications with customers, such as e-receipts and shipping notifications.

They’re taking advantage of the unparalleled knowledge of their store staff to boost digital sales and service by giving in-store teams the tools to connect with shoppers virtually. By integrating video commerce platforms with POS solutions (like Infinity) they’re automating the end-to-end process, from customer communications and data insights to seamless sales transactions and fast delivery.

Store experiences go digital

Retailers know that consumers now expect more from stores and are working to match those expectations with new experiences – such as events, service offerings, customisation, resale, repairs and so much more.

That also means extending digital experiences into stores, such as the ability to look up loyalty points, explore product information or browse and order from the entire inventory.

Mobility is a high priority and retailers are providing fast and flexible self-service checkouts, mobile point of sale and contactless payments everywhere the customer is - in the store, out in the yard, at trade shows and pop-up stores.

They’re using multichannel wishlists to let customers add items to wishlists in stores. By capturing both in-store and online shopper interactions they’re able to retarget customers with personalised marketing campaigns that build engagement and grow sales.

Fulfilment a competitive advantage

Today consumers make their purchasing decisions based on shipping costs and timings. They expect options – from slow to fast, and everything in between – plus visibility, communication and tracking, no matter the fulfilment solution.

However, most retailers struggle to quickly deliver new fulfilment experiences via their POS.

With modern point of sale systems, retailers are using their stores to support the fulfilment options consumers now expect and positioning inventory closer to customers – the source of demand.

Endless aisle access to all inventory via the POS lets them offer the fulfilment options consumers expect – such as click-and-collect, store-to-door and scheduled delivery, plus innovative new delivery solutions, such as 1-hour delivery via Uber and Shippit.

Future proofing an imperative

In the past, retailers who got behind on their store tech investments frequently focused on catching up to current standards.

Now, the focus is on future proofing – choosing platforms that speed up innovation, with the flexibility to change direction as opportunities develop, competitors act and customer expectations evolve.

When it comes to POS solutions that can support omnichannel experiences, look for a platform that provides a unified hub for all your channels – reducing integration, complexity and overheads, and increasing efficiency and accuracy.

With agile methodologies and APIs to easily plug-in new apps and systems, your new POS will be your platform for innovation – a springboard for adding new channels and services at a speed and scale that would be unachievable within a traditional omnichannel model.

This blog was originally published on 28 Feb 2023 and updated 7 August 2024

Want help to modernise your point of sale? 

As you transform your customer experience to deliver the seamless and personalised buying journeys your customers crave, your point of sale system must transform as well. If you’re looking for help to shape your strategy and extend your omnichannel capabilities, get in touch. We’d love to help you develop the solutions you need now and guide you to where you’re headed next.

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:

DOWNLOAD NOW

Carmela Salisbury

7 August 2024

Unified Commerce

Why unified commerce is the nirvana of omnichannel

Carmela Salisbury

7 August 2024

Unified Commerce

There’s a profound shift unfolding right now in the way retail technologies are assessed, implemented and integrated. And the primary force behind this upheaval is changing consumer expectations for a “phygital” shopping experience.

Many retailers have had to take a ‘just get something done’ approach to creating seamless customer experiences that span digital and physical channels. Now they’re struggling with omnichannel set-ups that only link systems together and can’t keep pace with changing consumer behaviours.

Many also face a technology cliff, with legacy solutions so old that they’re no longer fit for purpose or unable to support their phygital ambitions.

In addition, around 2 in 5 retailers (40%) lack in-house expertise to make the most of new technologies, and only 25% of retailers can connect online and store data to create the omnichannel experiences consumers now expect.

But omnichannel should not be the end goal. It’s just one approach to getting a single view of your customers that will help you deliver unified experiences.

Instead, a unified commerce approach will break down your channel silos and move your retail business toward the holy grail of holistic, real-time, personalised customer experiences spanning in-store, online and everywhere in between.

To help explain why unified commerce is the nirvana of omnichannel, here’s a look at where we are now and where we’re going.

Multi-channel

To keep pace with new technologies and changing consumer demands, retailers are giving customers access to new mobile and online channels. In a multi-channel approach, each touchpoint and channel operates independently, with separate people, processes and technologies existing in functional silos.

But when you only add and don’t actually integrate new channels with the rest of your organisation, you create bad service experiences that frustrate internal teams and customers.

Silos mean that your customers have to deal with inconsistencies and gaps, such as incomplete sales histories, different tones of voice or having to start conversations afresh in each channel. These silos inevitably lead to disappointment and frustration, a lack of trust and even a sense that your organisation is incompetent.

Omnichannel

With an omnichannel approach, you’re connecting numerous backend systems so that customers can seamlessly interact with your brand. However, your channels are still operating in functional silos.

That means most attempts to offer unified experiences fall short.

You’re likely to be struggling with legacy technologies that have been customised and are infrequently updated, and then you bolt on new solutions that don’t easily integrate. These omnichannel systems are fragile, inefficient and costly to maintain.

And things can easily unravel. Adding new channels and tools requires additional custom integrations that are complex and slow, adding significant costs and curbing the agility and scalability you require.

Unified commerce

Unified commerce provides a central hub that breaks down the silos between channels and backend systems to deliver truly seamless experiences, while also solving omnichannel’s biggest weakness – operational complexity. Rather than building custom integrations to unify different systems, you can easily use all the tools and services within a single unified platform.

With a unified commerce approach, you can achieve retail nirvana by creating immersive and frictionless experiences for customers across all channels, touchpoints and locations. It gives you a single source of truth for inventory, order and customer data. With this one view of the customer, and all channels and engagement points connected in real-time, you can deliver a personalised and consistent customer experience.

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

Unified commerce has been a game changer for our clients.

It eliminates the customer journey pain points and amplifies the ‘wow’ moments. Now you can treat each customer as an individual, all the time – one person with one account, interacting with one brand.

Unified commerce can benefit your business in many ways:

Simplify your technology
A single commerce platform gives you a leaner and more flexible architecture to deliver greater agility, increased efficiency, more control and cost savings.
Accelerate speed to market
These improvements in IT efficiency and flexibility let you launch new tools and services to meet business demands and start seeing revenue benefits faster.
Optimise inventory and availability
Your most significant benefit will be increased sales generated by ranging and fulfilment capabilities that enable you to sell products across channels (and even sell products not normally stocked within any channels).
Boost in-store productivity and sales
By arming your store staff with the right customer data and tools, combined with AI-driven recommendations, they can more easily make decisions, provide personalised upselling advice, sell inventory at any location and serve customers faster, anywhere in the store.
Personalise your customer experience
With a holistic view of your customers, you can better plan your pricing and promotion strategies and get the right offer or message to the right customer, at the right time and right place.
Create relevant and agile experiences
With a single source of truth and powerful analytics, you can turn large amounts of data from disparate sources into insights that help you to attract and engage customers in new ways and improve your bottom line.

The result is the ability to deliver the personal, ubiquitous and unified experiences your customers expect, fostering loyalty, driving growth and improving profitability.

This post was originally published on 3 March 2020 and updated on 08 August 2024.

Want help to plan your next steps?

We can help you define your goals, develop a business case and create your roadmap to deliver the unified experiences that are best for customers, and most profitable for you. Get in touch.

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:

download now

Triquestra

20 May 2024

Customer Experience

The perfect blend: Four capabilities to look for in a liquor retail tech partner

Triquestra

20 May 2024

Customer Experience

Can your liquor retail business keep up with customer demand for new digital experiences?

Brick-and-mortar sales still dominate the liquor retail sector, with online sales languishing at single-digit percentages of total sales.

However, the move to online is real, with liquor online sales globally estimated to grow 4.5% between 2022 and 2027, reaching nearly US$40 billion by 2027.

This growth in online sales is introducing more complexity into the business, with channels becoming less physical and more digital. And that’s why everyone’s focussed on finding the right systems to rebuild their businesses from the bottom up for omnichannel retail.

But at a time when 2 in 5 retailers (40%) lack in-house expertise to make the most of new technologies, and only 25% of retailers can connect online and store data, they know that working with the right people and the right technologies will make the roll-out of new customer experiences much easier, and deliver results much faster.

So, how do you evaluate a new retail platform provider?

There are four important capabilities they will need to provide:

1. Expertise across all retail, not just liquor

You’ll want a mature retail platform that supports liquor and convenience, rather than a narrow, liquor-specific POS system.

A partner with experience in highly competitive retail industries - like fashion and big-box retail - will have expertise in disrupting the customer experience, with APIs and a retail ecosystem few can match.

They’ll bring best practice ideas and capabilities from other retail sectors - not just liquor retail - and have POS omnichannel expertise distilled into all the essential modules you need to deliver seamless and differentiating experiences in stores, online and on mobile apps.

And with all the core liquor features you need out-of-the-box - plus localised functionality and the ability to customise – you’ll achieve a faster return on investment.

More than 2 in 5 retailers (45%) demand retail industry expertise from their technology partners.

2. Real-world customer experience

A strong track record and referenceable customer base means less risk.

You’ll want a partner with recent and proven success in liquor and convenience retail, with a track record of complex, large-scale deployments across multiple stores, multiple formats and multiple geographies.

They’ll need to understand your environment where fast service is non-negotiable, staff require specialist knowledge and transaction volumes are highly variable. Make sure they have people who can help you plan and implement your projects, so that they deliver now and well into the future.

Their experience in the liquor sector will give them a deep understanding of the trends changing mobility and convenience, and bring you the best of consumer, retail and CX applications and technologies.

42% of retailers demand use cases for technology solutions.

3. Broad product capability and innovation mindset

Choose a partner that can give you a holistic portfolio and expansive retail ecosystem.

Offering a unified customer experience means unifying all the front- and back-end systems that run POS, inventory, ordering, customers and loyalty, pricing and promotions, analytics and fulfilment. You don’t want to be tied to a point player that can only provide segments.

When you choose a partner with a mature platform, they can focus on delivering innovation because the critical functionality you need already exists.

An open architecture and APIs will let you cultivate a modern retail and CX ecosystem that reduces risk and increases flexibility.

And with agile methodologies plus experience working with agile retailers, they’ll have the ability to move to fast and change direction as opportunities develop, competitors act and customer needs evolve.

‘Cutting edge’ technology is expected by 46% of retailers.

4. Local and committed to your success

A local partner means you can have more influence on the product roadmap and expect faster turnaround.

Liquor retailers are creating distinctive omnichannel customer experiences by developing strong brands, offering tailored convenience, expanding the breadth of their product offerings (or moving into specialist categories) and generating new revenue streams.

They recognise the risk that comes with global vendors that have a narrow focus on liquor POS or an indirect model of engagement and support.

Biggest isn’t always best. A mid-sized company will have fewer layers of bureaucracy, giving them more agility and responsiveness.

It also means that you’ll be an important customer of influence to your partner - they will value your business and work hard for it.

48% of retailers want the ability to build long-term partnerships and 50% want accessible solutions.

Want help to deliver a personalised, fast and seamless CX?

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.

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

Download

Triquestra

30 April 2024

Unified Commerce

From bland to demand: 6 opportunities from increasing your IT spend

Triquestra

30 April 2024

Unified Commerce

Are you confident your next tech investment will help achieve your strategic business goals by solving the challenges you face and creating new opportunities?

In recent blogs we asked if retailers were spending enough on their IT and, if not, how to make the case for increasing spend. We also shared retailer’s top spending goals for 2024 and three investment priorities.

Now we’re looking at the metrics retailers have set themselves to gauge their success in 2024, and the opportunities unleashed by increased IT spend.

Even though it’s tempting to press pause during another challenging year, the most successful companies will be those that find ways to differentiate to meet changing customer demand.

Retailers that are aggressive on growth – creating distinctive omnichannel customer experiences and expanding their product offerings, while also reducing costs over time - are the companies that will create value, meet customer needs and head off the competition.

The most progressive and driven retailers know that they need to do it quickly. But at a time when only 25% of retailers can connect their online and in-store transaction data, many retailers struggle to create a unified user experience that traverses easily between online and offline channels.

That’s why unified commerce is now firmly established as the dominant modern retail strategy, with 88% of retailers investing in unified commerce or considering doing so to unify online and store experiences and make their businesses stronger, smarter and ready for the future.   

Making investments count

So how do you ensure your next investment will drive growth in a muddled economic environment?

As retailers ramp up their technology investments this year, they’ve put in place critical metrics to measure the value:

Customers at the centre: Most retailers (94%) ranked new technology as a significant driver for drawing in new customers, with 35% citing it as their main driver. The metrics they’re using this year include increasing new customers numbers (54%) and retaining existing customers (47%). The amount customers spend is also scrutinised, with retailers looking for increased sales (48%) or cost savings (48%) that can be attributed to their tech investments.

But, despite customers being at the centre of ROI metrics, nearly half of organisations invest in technology without thinking about the customer experience (48%).

Empowering employees: Employees are also at the centre of what makes technology work: 61% of retailers ranked well-prepared and well-informed staff equipped with new technologies as the most important factor for a successful in-store experience.

However, more than 2 in 5 (41%) do not seek or consider employee input for these same technology investments, despite the impact this tech will have on them and the valuable insight they have into how it affects customers.

Demanding more from partners: As they put the pressure on themselves to make tech investments count, retail execs are also putting pressure on their partners. Their top expectations of tech vendors include accessibility of solutions (50%), the ability to build long-term partnerships (48%) and ‘cutting edge’ technology (46%). Unsurprisingly, they also demand retail industry expertise (45%) and use cases for technology solutions (42%).

But 2 in 5 retailers (40%) lack in-house expertise to make the most of these new technologies.

As you build your foundation for modern retail, are you confident your next tech investment will deliver REAL value for your business?

There are six important opportunities your retail business can unleash by increasing its investment in IT:

1. Simplify technology and improve business agility

A modern infrastructure gives you a leaner and more flexible architecture to deliver greater agility, increased efficiency, more control and cost savings:

Scalability: third parties can easily plug in, building the ecosystem of retail software, tools, resources and devices you can add and change to match your business needs.
Accuracy: exposing data and functions via APIs (rather than moving and replicating them) makes integration faster and standards-based, improving efficiency, decreasing errors and increasing accuracy.
Easier to maintain: a central platform reduces the need for reconciliation and manual processes to maintain and manage data and functions, and there is only one system to secure.
Reduced costs: Reduced maintenance, fewer developer hours, faster integration and scalable infrastructure decreases your overheads.

2. Meet changing customer expectations

Changing consumer preferences and rising expectations for omnichannel experiences are creating new growth opportunities. The retailers that deliver a personalised and memorable CX are best positioned for long-term growth and loyalty. With a holistic view of your customers, you can better plan your pricing and promotion strategies and get the right offer or message to the right customer, at the right time and right place. By creating remarkable customer experiences that meet or even exceed consumer expectations, customers will return again and again.

3. Accelerate speed to market

Improvements in IT efficiency and flexibility let you launch new tools and services to meet business demands and start seeing revenue benefits faster. There’s less work required to plug in and implement new functions across channels, test cycles are reduced, and you’ll use development capacity more effectively. You can run experiments to test new customer experience innovations, easily move the successful experiments into enterprise-wide operations and adapt to new market demands. You’ll innovate quicker, increase speed to market and build your competitive advantage.

4. Better data insights for relevant and agile experiences

A single, unified platform gives everyone across channels and stores the ability to view all customer touchpoints and react to potential issues in real time. With a single source of truth and powerful analytics, you can turn large amounts of data from disparate sources into insights that help you to attract and engage customers in new ways and improve your bottom line.

5. Optimise inventory and availability

With a unified retail platform that gives you a single view of stock across all locations, plus the ability to easily move it around the business, you’ll improve inventory accuracy, reduce stock requirements, minimise fulfilment costs and get products to customers faster. Your most significant benefit will be increased sales generated by ranging and fulfilment capabilities that enable you to sell products across channels (and even sell products not normally stocked within any channels). And by giving customers a range of purchasing and fulfilment options, you’ll enhance your service and increase customer satisfaction.

6. Boost employee productivity and sales

By arming your store staff with the right customer data and tools at point of sale, combined with AI-driven recommendations, they can more easily make decisions, provide personalised upselling advice, sell inventory at any location and serve customers faster, anywhere in the store. You’ll enhance customer interactions, improve the employee experience and increase conversions.

Want help to build your foundation for modern retail?

We can advise you on the key technology investments creating differentiated customer experiences and business agility. Just contact me at kelly.brown@triquestra.com or get in touch.

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

download now

Carmela Salisbury

28 February 2024

Unified Commerce

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

Carmela Salisbury

28 February 2024

Unified Commerce

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.

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

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.

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:

download now

Carmela Salisbury

2 February 2024

Unified Commerce

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

Carmela Salisbury

2 February 2024

Unified Commerce

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.

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.

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.