The NASSCOM honcho enthralled all with a succinct and engaging speech. He said that entrepreneurship, retail and shopping have always been part of our DNA. These days digital is disrupting; technology has made Amazon and Flipkart what they are now. Technology has become all pervasive. It is indispensable for both online and offline retailers. Technology is creating knowledge, allowing retailers to have insights into the consumers’ behavioral pattern.
The new disruptions are coming from startups. And their services can be availed at lower costs. Technology is the differentiator allowing the retailers to have overall better performance in the market. There is need for startups to crowd source ideas. Retailers have to adapt to this new ecosystem where startups dominate. Today, retail is about product, technology and reaching out. They have to decide how they will use technology to expand, increase operational efficiency, productivity and profits. There is a need to correlate with the use of new business and to do so one has to redefine the business. There is a requirement for working on stretch goals to make the business relevant and sustainable.
By Suranjana Basu
]]>Kiran Komatla, Head – IT, Burger King
Raman Bhushan, Partner, PwC India
Sandeep Mistry, Head – IT, Pantaloons – Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd.
Moderators: Vineet Baid, Partner – Falcon Autotech and Siju Narayan, Smarter Commerce Lead – Retail & CPG IBM India and South Asia, IBM
The session started highlighting the enormity of big data which is difficult to capture, store and manage and are available both in structured and unstructured forms. The size of data today is about 4 zeta byte and will increase 11 times by 2020, pointed out Siju Narayan, Smarter Commerce Lead – Retail & CPG IBM India and South Asia, IBM.
Big Data analytics is complex and the best way to leverage is to focus on outcome. Data analysis should be directed by the well-defined purpose, suggested Raman Bhushan, Partner, PwC India.
Applications of insights
Kunal Mehta, GM-IT, Raymond Ltd informed that the big data analysis is captured in the areas customers’ buying habits, product requirement and product lifeline to design omni-channel strategy. As a part of data consolidation, Raymond has introduced consolidated CRM and is using social media for personalized promotions. Big data analysis is also being done for choosing the right location and right store size for opening a store.
Burger King has been in India for the past one year. Therefore, the organization does not have the benefit of the rich legacy of data, Kiran Komatla, Head-IT, Burger King informed. However, data is being captured from social media to achieve better control of stores, required to support aggressive expansion. Globally, Burger King designed its menu capturing data through the campaign “Have it your way.” Even in India, much data analytics had been involved to create the vegetarian menu.
According to Sandeep Mistry, Head-IT, Pantaloons, Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd. to make things straight retailers have to be specific about the goal they want to achieve through the big data exercise before initiating the journey. In contrast to Burger King in India, Pantaloons is sitting on a mine of data. It uses data analytics for insights-driven merchandising, marketing and operational strategies.
Think before you leap…
Before taking the plunge, the organization should think if it is ready for big data analysis. There should not be any kind of outside pressure.
Vineet Baid, moderator of the session and Partner, Falcon Autotech stated that big data analysis is a cross-functional project not just the prerogative of a single department.
Seconding his view Bhushan pointed out that many companies fail in this area since it is considered a journey by a particular department. Both issues of IT and business should be taken into account. It is also important to have the right partner in this journey for acquiring skills. Talking about failures, Bhushan added that sometimes wrong insights derived from the data analytics could ruin an organization. Also, it’s better for the organization to adopt moderate approach rather a big bang approach.
– By Suranjana Basu
]]>Ananth Padmanabhan, Head – Asia Business, Sonata
Anil Shankar, VP Solutions & Technology, Shopper Stop Ltd
Lee Gill, Group Vice President, Global Retail Industry Strategy JDA Software
Pankaj More, CIO, Walmart India Private Limited
Moderator Ranjit Satyanath
All channel retail is surely the need of the hour and it’s what pulls customers to a brand and help them being loyal to it. However, being omni-channel requires a lot of integration across platforms incurring heavy costs.
It is a call which needs to be taken from the point of view of how and when such integration can be monetised to achieve higher returns. This was the crux of the discussion All channel retail: Overcoming the Challenges of Integration at ReTechCon 206.
Being omni-channel has different meanings from different points of view. From a customer point of view, it means an ability to do seamless shopping at any time any place, anywhere. For a brand, the challenge is how to establish all the channels together at the same time to give the customer that seamless experience.
Highlighting this view point, Anil Shankar, VP Solutions & Technology, Shopper Stop Ltd admitted that the entire traits of loyalty is changing in the digital scenario and hence continuous engagement is necessary. Having said that, the opportunities keep growing.
Agreeing to the fact that being all channel surely has its challenges, Lee Gill, Group Vice President, Global Retail Industry Strategy JDA Software, pointed out that the most important aspect of being omni-channel is the need to be customer centric. He added that the most advanced market in omni-channel like UK has regrouped its strategy by collecting customer data and is trying to re-engineer its supply chain.
Ananth Padmanabhan, Head – Asia Business, Sonata added that it is necessary to make an assessment of the requirement of the customer in real time. This requires changing the existing infrastructure and building components around it.
Every customer is looking for “Any-time any-where”. In addition, they want just relevant information and not just junk data. Shankar feels that it is not indifferent messages, but consistent and relevant messages, which is the key to connecting with the customers. According to Abel Correa, Head of IT – Strategy and Project Governance, Arvind Ltd. it is therefore important to understand the customer experience and then deliver it.
Customers need their problems solved right away. Towards that there is a need to empower the front-end, and not loop it through the back office, which requires the customer to wait, affecting customer experience.
According to More, it what will really make for a good experience is making it easy for the customer to do business with you. Even while doing the inventory calculation, the logic in the algorithms needs to be changed according to the season. These external factors need to be detected to be able to reach out to the customer. Technology should be used to drive this. Customers are aware of technology changes and would like to be part of it.
One of the challenges in going omni-channel is to have a single view of the inventory. While discussing on how it can be done, Abel said that data is pulled from the stores, come to the HQ and then integrated with the website. This integration is possible only at a smaller level but as the stores increase, it may not be cost effective.
The discussion clearly highlighted the fact that changes need to be made in the infrastructure and systems to enable true omni-channel. Changes may be required to be done both at the point-of-sale as well as the warehouse level.
The discussion concluded with the view that integration should not be just for the sake of doing it, but only if the business really requires it. If the all-channel requirement is to be adopted, then it is absolutely necessary to get online at all levels or else the cost of holding specific inventory only for online shopping will not be feasible.
By Sanjay Thampy
www.yesteethatsme.com
Alisha Malik, Vice president, E-Commerce, Metro Shoes Ltd stated that creating customer delight is the essence of customer experience. This should translate throughout the purchase process and extend to after-sales services. She highlighted the importance of social media for customer engagement. Meenakshi Vajpai, CTO, VLCC Health Care Ltd opined that every single moment a customer engages there is an opportunity for retailers to provide effective customer experience. Consistent and holistic experience across all touch points is the basis of good customer experience, said Vinod Bidarkoppa, Group Chief Information & Technology Officer, Future Group. In the innumerable great experiences a brand providers, customers usually remember the ones that are bad, he added. Therefore, retailers should know how to negate a bad memory with efficient services.
Customer Experience for high profitability
Profitability is at the core of every retailer’s attention and good customer experience is an essential tool for that. A customer is touched by good experience and goes back to the same service provider. Here he is driven by his heart initially and then his mind makes him to do so. That was how Roy of Microsoft described the role of heart and mind that influences the wallet. Nath too related customer experience with brand recall. But customer experience should be designed keeping into account the customer’s perspective. Describing the next level customer delight Malik stressed upon personalized services using 3D printed shoes with exact specifications of a particular customer. She also added that education is required to elevate the skill level of the workforce to match the advances in technology.
Creating convictions about the brand across the channel is one method that VLCC is doing through interactions, wherein word-of-mouth is becoming an outcome of good customer experience, said Vajpai.
Consolidation of data and single view
Bidarkoppa and Vajpai highlighted the consolidation of data to create a single view of a customer for customer engagement and redressal. Roy stressed upon proper understanding and measuring the problems so that an effective solution can be devised to produce seamless customer experience.
By Suranjana Basu
]]>Bhupesh Dinger, Director – Operations, Enrich Salons & Academy
Nitin Bawankule, Industry Director – E-commerce, Retail, Online Classifieds, Technology, Education and Government, Google India
Rajiv Nair, Chief Executive Officer, Celio Future Fashion Limited
Ramesh Menon, CEO, HyperCITY Retail (India) Ltd
Moderator: Kishor Chitale, CEO – Capegimini Local Business Services, India & Middle East
Digital is changing the consumers. Nitin Bawankule, Industry Director – E-commerce, Retail, Online Classifieds, Technology, Education and Government, Google India informed that from the year 2012 onwards there has been a rapid increase in the number of people showing interest in searching online for shopping. Since 2015, there has been a massive change in the behaviour of the customer who now likes to check out prices online but still likes to feel the product at the physical store before taking the buying decision.
So digital is actually driving footfall to the stores, which is what retailers should cash on. Technology can be of great help here. “For technology to revolutionise stores, retailers should encourage their employees to participate in the online revolution,” said Ramesh Menon, CEO, HyperCITY Retail.
One retailer that has taken the lead in embracing digital is Celio. CEO of the company Rajiv Nair feels that for a company it is imperative to embrace the digital revolution and do away with the traditional methods in most areas, especially advertising. A YouTube video gets around 2 million views within a few days, something which is not possible using traditional means of advertising.
Correctly pointing out a key challenge today, Kishor Chitale, CEO – Capegimini Local Business Services, India & Middle East said that customers come from different strata. It is therefore a herculean the task to ensure that all kinds of customers are engaged equally.
Technology can help a great deal, but it still is a serious challenge. An e-based learning programme that Google offers could be a possible solution, suggested Bawankule of Google. It helps engage customers from different strata.
For any technology go actually work, there needs to be a change in the mind-sets of customers, he cautioned.
Today, on an average, Indians spend 150 minutes on their smartphones as against 117 minutes in front of a television. So the answer on which platform the retailers should leverage is obvious.
The consensus of the experts was that the push from the Government towards Digital India is certainly going a long way in increasing internet usage in rural India. Hence, it is time that brands start using digital marketing to target the rural market too, which been untapped over the years.
Accordign to Menon of HyperCITY, long-term sustainability will be defined in future by those who can deliver faster and those who can deliver efficiently. Therefore, efficiency in the supply chain is something that every company should strive for.
All unanimously agreed that unless companies embrace change in technology quickly and with an open mind, it will be a dead end for them. “There is no way around one-vision, one-organisation, one-platform. That’s the mantra for the future,” said Chitale of Capgemini.
By Sanjay Thampy
www.yesteethatsme.com