How to Lead Retailers Through the Digital Transformation

Brenda McCurry

Karen Bomber

Shopping has adopted a digital element – one capitalizing on efficiency over tradition, particularly this year. Whether it’s groceries, clothes or toys, more customers are growing accustomed to a digital side of shopping, opting to either get their goods delivered at home, or instead choosing to buy online and pick up curbside.

As a result, retailers are feeling the burden from two customer bases: traditional shoppers still using brick and mortar stores, and those actually using the stores as microfulfillment centers. This new business model causes a unique challenge for retailers, but with the right tools and proper guidance, they can adapt to meet the changing preferences of their customers.

Digital Fulfillment

The influx of convenient shopping options has driven retailers large and small to rapidly adopt some form of online shopping so consumers can order goods from their homes — and some right to their homes. By providing at-home delivery and click-and-collect shopping options, retailers are reaching a wider customer base than ever before. However, they cannot do so until they make one critical investment: a strong digital infrastructure. With the help of a reseller partner or an agent, as well as some of the latest technologies and services, the implementation and operability of a retailer’s e-commerce structure can determine its ability to compete in a rapidly changing business environment.

Fortunately, with online shopping increasing over the last few years and booming this year, retailers can be confident in their decision to build up a digital infrastructure. Whether you’re working with a mom-and-pop store or a national chain, businesses are looking for trusted advisers to guide them through this digital transformation. Implementing wireless configuration within an end-user’s store and beyond is the first step to allow for an interconnected physical and digital storefront. This provides options to connect delivery and point-of sale-systems, inventory management platforms, loyalty/engagement programs, an online web store and more. Having the capability to integrate different areas of operations is crucial for maintaining smooth operations both in-store and online, especially as convenience continues to guide the direction of the industry, providing significant opportunity for resellers and agents, alike.

Accommodating Click-and-Collect Customers

As retailers continue to offer shopping solutions for the online, on-the-go shopper, businesses are forced to become a type of microfulfilment center where employees both stock shelves and package e-commerce orders. However, brick-and-mortar stores weren’t built to serve as fulfillment centers; they were built for in-person shopping, designed with casual browsing and impulse purchases in mind. With the help of expert resellers and agents, businesses can work around this new dynamic with innovative uses of technologies that can be leveraged to help employees fulfill online orders with ease and continue to provide customer service to in-person shoppers.

Offering e-commerce options can bring in a higher number of patrons, but businesses need the right tools so there’s no loss of customers. Once the right digital configuration has been established in a store with wireless access points throughout, mobile devices can serve as modes of communication within the store. Employees can communicate with each other to help avoid wait times for curbside pickup and errors in order fulfilment. When a customer ordering groceries, for example, places an order for apples but instead receives bananas, the customer will quickly …