With the boom in e-commerce, many predicted a demise of traditional retail (or at least a big decline). However, the current trend is not going that way, and is heading towards a framework where both the electronic and physical channels come together to meet customer needs.
But this union of channels is not easy to put into practice in the retail sector, since many companies use different systems that are difficult to reconcile, which causes a disconnection with customers.
Microsoft has updated its Dynamics 365 Retail tool in February 2020, now called Dynamics 365 Commerce , to help in this revolution in the retail sector.
Dynamics 365 Commerce unifies the shopping experience
Commerce is a tool included within the Dynamics 365 suite of applications that helps retailers address current business needs and integrate traditional sales channels with emerging channels. This help focuses on improving the customer experience by enabling personalized purchases and offering an omnichannel response.
Improving the customer experience
If a business wants to be able to compete in today’s market and grow, it must offer a satisfying customer experience . That is why it is important for retailers to know how to align the customer experience with their brand or products. For this , Dynamics 365 Commerce encompasses all aspects of the company’s relationship with the customer, such as:
- Interactions through electronic channels.
- Customer assistance ( Call Center ).
- Customer interactions in the store.
- Integration with virtual stores and emerging channels
With the integration of all these aspects, Dynamics Commerce provides the retailer with a global and real vision of their customers. By uniting all this information with Dynamics Customer Insight , they can offer recommendations to their customers, obtained with artificial intelligence (based on purchase history, trends, among others). In addition, Dynamics Commerce will offer store clerks more complete information about the customer and their needs (a 360 view of the customer ).
Unify sales channels
The omnichannel is essential for the retail business to succeed. Today’s customers want to buy from the channel they choose, at the time and place they want. In this aspect, Commerce is focused on favoring this union of sales channels, working in the cloud, thus facilitating an omnichannel solution for the retailer .
In addition to facilitating the purchase or communication through multiple channels, Dynamics Commerce 365 allows a better participation of the company’s workers on the front line, guaranteeing better operational efficiency in the supply chain. For example, store staff may have better information about stock and availability of merchandise (in real time).
Retail trade tends to unify channels, improving the customer experience, in order to experience growth by being more efficient and competitive. With the evolution of Dynamics Retail, Dynamics Commerce focuses on helping this type of business to adapt to current times, being able to integrate its traditional sales with electronic sales, offering a comprehensive and complete service to its customers.
