Top 5 Reasons Retailers Go Google

Transcription

1 Top 5 Reasons Retailers Go Google

2 CONTENTS Executive Summary Analyzing and Leveraging Dispersed Data Engaging with Customers Strengthening Collaboration Streamlining Operations Innovating for the Future Conclusion Executive Summary We will see more disruption in the next ten years of retail than we did in the previous one thousand. Doug Stephens, founder of the website Retail Prophet and author of The Retail Revival: Re-imagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism 1 Transform Your Retail Enterprise And Customer Experience With Google To Stephens point, the retail industry is not only undergoing significant changes, but it s also doing so at a rapid-fire pace. These changes are taking place across all aspects of the business. As Gartner notes, consumers are continuing to use the power of digital technologies to redefine the way in which they interact with retailers. 2 Similarly, independent research firm Forrester writes, Empowered consumers and connected employees are interacting and collaborating, using millions of apps and ubiquitous, rich social connectivity to do business in ways we simply could not conceive of just a few years ago. 3 Today, customers are often more educated on products than welltrained store associates. At their fingertips lies a window into any competitor s pricing, promotions and loyalty programs. For brick and mortar retailers, the key to staying relevant in this dynamic market is twofold: To engage customers and to merge online and offline shopping and engagement into a single, seamless experience. In addition to improving the customer experience, retailers must also transform their internal operations in order to thrive in the 21st century. While the customer experience is becoming increasingly important, retailers must also focus on improving traditional capabilities around internal operations in order to power the modern shopping experience. Gartner contends: Critically, digitalization is enabling consumers to instigate transformational change in retail businesses, and there is no doubt that this will mean a transformational change to retailers application and technology infrastructures. 4 Through our work with leading retailers like Jordache, Design within Reach, Woolworths, Perry Ellis International and many more, we have learned the key focus areas that retail leaders consider when moving to the cloud and going Google. Based on these priorities, here are the top five reasons that retailers go Google: 1. Analyzing and leveraging dispersed data 2. Engaging with customers 3. Strengthening collaboration 4. Streamlining operations 5. Innovating for the future

3 Analyzing And Leveraging Dispersed Data The use of flexible processes, more data, and better analytics means that leading firms can: 1) provide intelligent products and services that are of more value to consumers and provide more information on their usage; 2) plug into their ecosystem better by tapping data from partners, government entities, and data marketplaces; and 3) make better strategic decisions by anticipating and detecting shifts in their market. 5 Forrester Research, Inc. In today s world, data is everywhere. From individual shopper profiles and aggregated revenues to competitors, demographic patterns and even the weather, data is present across all aspects of the business. And the ability to make sense of that data is key to making good business decisions. In its 2013 report Top Technology Trends to Watch: 2014 to 2016, Forrester writes: Firms that embrace big data concepts, open data and adopt new adaptive intelligence approaches are creating nextgeneration smart systems that overcome limitations and create disruptive business innovations. 6 Google BigQuery and Maps for Work allow retailers to do just that by using the same technology and power that Google uses to make sense of the entire internet. In this example you can see all your store locations displayed on a map: firm continues, achieving this level of personalization is difficult, as the magnitude of data both consumer and transactional has increased significantly as a result of technology and customers increasingly shopping across channels. 7 Given this warning, it becomes clear that the retailer s most essential tool for successful omnichannel engagement is data and analytics. It s the raw material that gives a retailer the insight into customers and the confidence that reaching out across both the physical and digital channels will be effective. For example, retailers can use big data to deliver more effective support by segmenting high value, low service customers to create a single view of these customers. Specifically, using big data with Google BigQuery to analyze sales and assortments at the SKU level makes it easier to stock popular products, while leveraging Google BigQuery and Google Prediction API to respond to external factors and gather data from multiple sources allows retailers to measure the impact on sales. Retailers can also use BigQuery and Google Maps Engine API to stay ahead of competitors by analyzing the effect of opening or closing a store, visualizing competitors locations and proximity to customers and making more informed decisions about how to invest in new channels (e.g. catalogs, stores, websites). To see how this plays out in a real-life scenario, let s take a look at recency, or the idea that customers who bought from you recently are more likely to buy from you again than those who purchased a long time ago. Retailers can take this very old concept, run it through the big data machine and use the results to target the right customers on the right channels. Engaging with Customers As illustrated by this example, tools like Google Maps allow retailers to visualize data and even overlay multiple levels of data such as CRM data, competitor data, weather data, average income data and look for trends or correlations. Having this insight into the business and its customers is critical for success. At the same time, the boom in online shopping has led to more choices and power for customers and increased competition for retailers. In the face of these changes, brick-and-mortar stores need to introduce omnichannel engagement to stay relevant. That means taking their greatest competitive asset the physical store and pairing it with new, online initiatives to engage with customers in more personalized and compelling ways. According to Gartner, Retailers that are able to execute offers to the right consumers at the right time will gain a competitive advantage with receptive consumer segments. But, the research Customers and partners drive the pace of change, and the only way to keep up is to engage with them. This increasingly requires a compelling digital experience that adds value to people s lives, in their context and at their moment of need. 8 Forrester Research, Inc. Shoppers use smartphones to check competitors prices, look for coupons and deals and measure shipping costs down to the penny. If they re standing in the aisle at your store and they find a better deal, they will walk away. Yet it s hard to compete on price alone in a world full of discount sites. So what s a retailer to do? Most retailers are used to decades of push advertising: Telling shoppers what to look for, what s in season and where to buy it, but push advertising isn t enough anymore. Today, retailers must take a look at the other side of the coin and begin to engage in pull advertising, as well. The way retailers advertise at the Zero Moment of Truth must be completely different, because every lead is now initiated by the consumer, not the business. As UK retailer John Lewis writes in its 2013 report How We Shop, Live & Look, Consumer expectation is changing at pace. Shoppers

4 are demanding and being given a growing pool of channels through which they can buy the brands they love. 9 While e-commerce has changed retail, nothing replaces an in-person experience. Retailers need to evolve traditional store concepts by taking some of the best in e-commerce, like better data and feedback mechanisms and more prompt customer service, and applying it to the overall customer experience. Innovative retailers are achieving this goal and improving the customer experience both in stores and online by using Google solutions to deliver enhanced mobile and search capabilities for customers. According to John Lewis, Technological innovation has transformed what it means to shop. The omnichannel experience will continue as the driving force behind this change, with more accessibility via smartphones and tablet computers complemented by an ongoing commitment to customer service in-store. While technology allows customers to grab and go, people visiting shops increasingly demand a more interactive and immersive experience. 10 Many retailers are using Google App Engine and Maps for Work to create native mobile apps, complete with geo store locators and geo fencing, to build an amazing, immersive mobile presence through interactive apps that match the brand and help customers locate stores. Additionally, these solutions help stores recognize customers across all channels, making it easier to provide a seamless shopping experience and more personalized offers. As Gartner writes in its 2013 report on what digitalization means for the retail industry, the exponential rise in mobile usage, the growth in the use of social media, the increasing use of cloud computing and the growing strategic nature of information are converging to enable consumers to demand personalized and customized shopping experiences. For example, the convergence of cloud and mobile has enabled acceleration of data synchronization and access to real-time contextual information and can be used to deliver mobile coupons in real time as a customer is shopping in a store. 11 Retailers are also using Google App Engine to build dynamic landing pages that are increasing engagement and delivering better search results. When coupled with Google Search Appliance, these solutions are even improving the relevance of on-site search results. The most innovative retailers are taking this online engagement a step further and continuing the experience offline. As discussed above, omnichannel engagement is becoming increasingly important for retailers, and a key component of this type of engagement is ensuring that customers can seamlessly transition from online to offline engagement and vice versa. Google for Work solutions like Map Engine, Google Cloud Platform and Chrome devices are making this seamless, omnichannel experience attainable for retailers. With Map Engine, retailers can not only provide customers with directions to nearby stores, but they can also help customers find what they re looking for quickly once they get to the store by creating indoor maps. Meanwhile, many retailers are also adding Google Chrome kiosks in their stores to make it simple for customers to find information like price and availability. Chrome devices also make it possible to introduce reliable, lightweight and maintenance-free digital signage. Previously, this type of engagement was limited to marketing teams with big budgets, as signage could cost thousands of dollars per node, but Chrome is cutting those costs and making it attainable for organizations of all kinds. Large retailers like Best Buy, Dixons, Currys and Dillard s have all introduced Chrome kiosks over the past few years. 12 Woody Chin, Dillard s CIO, says the devices are key for his stores: We have many more employees than computers at our retail stores, so being able to share devices is key. With Managed Public Sessions, employees can walk up to any machine and get immediate access to their corporate and important internal systems. And since Managed Public Sessions wipes all data at logout, it supports our PCI compliance requirements. 13 Strengthening Collaboration In retail, things change all the time and ing about employee schedules, promotional timelines or new merchandise availability meant that the information was quickly out of date and risked employees having inaccurate information. Google Apps changed all that. Easily collaborating across headquarters and all our store locations helps us provide a much more consistent and inviting experience for our customers, and that s really important to us. John Edelman, CEO, Design Within Reach 14 One thing every retail business and every business, for that matter has in common is the need to have employees work together to get things done. We are all accustomed to office applications like word processing, spreadsheets and presentations that help us work together as well as the endless chains, attachments and version control problems that go along with those applications. But Google for Work solutions are changing all of that, introducing applications that keep everyone on the same page and providing new tools for collaboration like video chat and shared files that update in real-time. The result is increased efficiency and fewer headaches. Similar to Design Within Reach, global retailer Perry Ellis International was also able to foster a more collaborative and connected environment for its employees by implementing Google Apps for Work. Says Ronen Lapidot, Senior Vice President of Information Technology at Perry Ellis International: Now our global teams are able to connect through Gmail s video chat feature to meet face to face about upcoming projects, designs and merchandise. This has been especially helpful for offices with eight or ten hour time differences between them and has made us feel more like one cohesive team instead of siloed offices. 15 In addition to improving collaboration, retailers can also leverage Google for Work solutions, including Google Apps, Google App Engine and Google Chrome devices, to foster a more connected environment. As part of this effort, Google has developed its cloud solutions to help users work the way they live. This mantra has led to the created of a better mobile experience that makes working on the go easy and allows organizations to easily embrace the BYOD culture that many of today s professionals are seeking.

5 For example, retailers are helping associates work more effectively by giving them access to information from any device, anywhere or showcasing knowledgeable specialists via Google+ Hangouts on Air. Many retailers are also building intranets with Google Sites and Google App Engine to disseminate critical information to store associates, share planograms more efficiently across stores and standardize the communication between individual stores and the corporate headquarters. Woolworths, Australia s largest retailer with more than 3,000 stores across Australia and New Zealand, introduced Google for Work solutions in 2013 and has since seen significant improvements in its ability to share information with employees. Although Woolies started off with a Google Apps migration, it quickly realized the potential of other Google for Work solutions and, not long after the initial migration, introduced multiple custom intranets built on Google App Engine. 16 Woolworths introduced these new intranet solutions to improve communications between its headquarters and numerous retail locations. With the solutions in place, users can now send targeted communications for example, to a certain region or a specific store so as not to bombard the entire organization with messages that are only relevant to a small percentage of people. This ability to send messages to select groups has significantly improved communication within the Woolworths organization. Now, Woolies intranet users pay closer attention to the messages they receive because they know the message is important and relevant to them, since they wouldn t be receiving it otherwise. As a result of the custom intranet with targeted communications, users can spend more time on what matters to them and less time filtering out irrelevant noise. Streamlining Operations Google Apps is built for team collaboration, which makes so many business processes easier. For example, reviewing job applicants used to involve ing each reviewer for individual feedback. With Google Groups, we can post the resume to a group and people can provide feedback and discuss it so that we interview the best candidates for the team. We also use Google spreadsheets to track supply orders and Google Docs forms to distribute quick inventory surveys and aggregate data from our retail stores. Ezri Silver, SVP Operations, Jordache 17 In addition to improving collaboration among employees and simplifying the process of accommodating high turnover rates, going Google can also help retailers streamline various operations. This streamlining is important because it provides retailers with the tools and time they need to focus on innovation, engagement and personalization. For example, retailers can more efficiently and effectively launch and promote products with Google+ Hangouts and pages, and even promote products via contextual offers created using Google Maps and BigQuery. Google for Work solutions also help retailers streamline the onboarding process, which is a critical process across the entire industry. Retail has one of the highest turnover rates across all industries and, coupled with seasonal hiring, this rate requires retailers to constantly recruit, hire and onboard new employees. As a result of this high turnover rate, it s essential for retailers to make the onboarding process more efficient. Recently, many retailers have done just that with the help of Google Sites, Forms and Hangouts on Air. These solutions not only automate a previously manual, time consuming process, but they also allow retailers to deliver on-demand training available anywhere on any device. Overall, these solutions simplify the onboarding process and make it more convenient for both the business and its new hires. Lapidot shares: Usually I travel to each location for weeks at a time to interview and hire employees and oversee the regional office openings. With Google Apps, we were able to interview job candidates via video chat and work with regional managers on important policies and resources that needed to be in place for these new offices and associates. I was elated to discover that what normally takes significant travel time and costs could be done right from my desk. 18 Innovating For The Future Going Google will transform the way our employees interact with technology and collaborate with each other at every level of the organisation. We re looking forward to providing our staff access to intuitive consumer technology at work and see the move to Google as the beginning of our journey towards a more efficient and innovative style of working. Dan Beecham, CIO, Woolworths Unlimited 19 For those retailers who have gone Google, making the move was about much more than improving current processes. Of course that is a critical part of the transition, but it s only one piece of it. The other reason that these retailers are introducing Google technologies is to future proof their organizations. Since its 1998 founding, Google has built an impressive track record of innovation, disrupting everything from search and to maps and, of course, how we work. And with new projects always under way and existing works in progress like Glass and self-driving cars, Google shows no signs of stopping. Sure, Google s self-driving cars may not be ready for the public quite yet, but imagining what will be possible when they are has retailers itching for more. Just think about the potential for efficiently delivering online orders and moving inventory. The possibilities are really endless. Equally as important, Google s constant innovation isn t limited to larger scale projects like these. With its regular, incremental updates to Google Apps and more, Google ensures that businesses are always evolving and able to keep up with the latest technology.

6 Given how fast technology continues to change and how rapidly the retail industry is transforming alongside it, the ability to keep pace with and even get ahead of these demands is critical. Retailers who are stuck on out-of-date technology, whether it s two years or two months past its expiration, won t be able to keep up with their evolving customer-base and stand to lose out to competition. With Google, however, retailers can be sure that the latest technology is always within reach, giving them the confidence they need to meet even the loftiest of their customers expectations. Conclusion By helping retailers take advantage of data, better engage with customers, improve collaboration and streamline operations, Google for Work is allowing for true innovation. The retail industry is evolving at a rapid pace, and retailers need to embrace these changes and stay ahead of new trends in order to remain competitive. One of the main factors driving these changes is an increase in customer expectations, which is a direct result of the rise in mobile and social technologies. Today s customers are looking for a personalized shopping experience that can seamlessly transition between on and offline channels, and the retailers that can provide these experiences will come out on top. However, providing this customized, omnichannel experience is easier said than done. Nevertheless, many retailers are achieving this goal and taking it a step further to plan for the future with the help of Google for Work solutions. From making sense of big data and analytics and powering innovative customer engagement to improving collaboration and streamlining operations behind the scenes, Google for Work solutions are providing retailers with the tools they need to meet and even exceed the expectations of modern (and future) shoppers. The advent of digital solutions are changing the way people work, live and interact, and the effect on how people shop is no exception. For the retailers who understand this shift and are innovating and evolving early, Google s suite of business tools is quickly becoming the solution of choice.

7 Resources 1. Lutz, Ashley. 10 Predictions for How Shopping Will Completely Change in the Future. Business Insider. January Predicts 2014: Digitalization in Retail Means M-Commerce Grows, E-Commerce Slows, Personalization Misfires and 3D Printing Transforms, Gartner, November Top Technology Trends to Watch: 2014 to 2016, Forrester Research, Inc., November, Predicts 2014: Digitalization in Retail Means M-Commerce Grows, E-Commerce Slows, Personalization Misfi res and 3D Printing Transforms, Gartner, November Top Technology Trends to Watch: 2014 to 2016, Forrester Research, Inc., November, Top Technology Trends to Watch: 2014 to 2016, Forrester Research, Inc., November, Predicts 2014: Digitalization in Retail Means M-Commerce Grows, E-Commerce Slows, Personalization Misfires and 3D Printing Transforms, Gartner, November Top Technology Trends to Watch: 2014 to 2016, Forrester Research, Inc., November, How We Shop, Live & Look. The John Lewis Retail Report How We Shop, Live & Look. The John Lewis Retail Report Predicts 2014: Digitalization in Retail Means M-Commerce Grows, E-Commerce Slows, Personalization Misfires and 3D Printing Transforms, Gartner, November Google Is Poised To Revolutionize Consumer Retail. Forbes. September Chromebook Kiosks for Customers and Employees. Official Google for Work Blog. April Edelman, John. Google Apps is the Perfect Fit for Design Within Reach. Google for Work Blog. September 17, Lapidot, Ronen. Perry Ellis International brings their global team together with Google Apps. Google for Work Blog. September 20, Beecham, Dan. Report from Down Under: Woolworths goes Google. Google for Work Blog. April 16, Silver, Ezri. Innovation is in their jeans: Jordache moves to Google Apps. Google for Work Blog. February 13, Lapidot, Ronen. Perry Ellis International brings their global team together with Google Apps. Google for Work Blog. September 20, Beecham, Dan. Report from Down Under: Woolworths goes Google. Google for Work Blog. April 16, 2013.

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