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the customer experience. When asked
to prioritize the business imperatives
addressed by unified commerce, retailers
cited as number one the ability to quickly
respond to consumer demand, thereby
enabling organizational agility to effec-
tively execute merchandising, marketing,
promotional and loyalty initiatives. Next
on the list was increasing store associate
productivity by properly arming associ-
ates to enhance customer interaction
and increase conversion. Right behind
these two was a desire to support omni-
channel strategy and execution. This is
achieved by providing the backbone to
manage data and functionality related
to customers, product, price, inventory,
orders and content across channels.
A centralized commerce platform not
only is more conducive to support the
customer experience, Morris points out.
It also offers retailers the opportunity to
leverage a leaner and more flexible store-
level environment through the consoli-
dation of servers, operating systems and
applications at the data center or within
the cloud, rather than at the store.
“Centralization allows for fewer
devices and licenses to deploy and
maintain, and helps application updates
be deployed centrally to improve ef-
ficiency,” he notes.
The Wares
As suggested above, cloud computing
and SaaS, with their inherent speed, agility,
anywhere/anytime access and pay-as-you-
play models, represent the most logical
delivery methods for most next-generation
systems designed to keep up with dynamic
demands. But the “glue” to a unified strat-
egy is a robust middleware layer, or service
oriented architecture (SOA).
As BRP consultants explain, most cus-
tomer interactions and retail transactions
require data from various retail systems to
be gathered, analyzed and disseminated
in real-time. At the same time, it’s silly
to expect retailers to suddenly abandon
each individual legacy application before
Sleep Well.
Play Hard.
Available at Outdoor & Travel Shops Nationwide
W W W
.
C O C O O N U S A
.
C O M
1 . 8 0 0 . 2 5 4 . 7 2 5 8
2015
66%
63%
44%
46%
55%
36%
38%
26%
38%
44%
33%
33%
30%
44%
%
Key Initiatives Addressed by a Unified Commerce Platform
Source: Boston Retail Group, NRF
Percent of Retailers that Anticipat Significant B iness
Benefits Derived from a Unified Commerce Platform
Source: Boston Partners Partners
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
25%
24%
19%
15%
14%
4%
Quickly
Respond to
Consumer
Demands
M rgin
Brand Value
Revenue
% of respondents
% anticipating
significant benefit
Increase
Associate
Productivity
Support
Omni-channel
Strategy
Rationalize
Portfolio and
Reduce
Complexity
Transform
Store to be
Digital
Efficiently Open
New Store
Formats
(e.g. Pop-up
Stores)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
52%
46%
38%
• Inventory Turn
• Out-of-Stock
• Returns
• Operational Efficiency • Total Customer Value
• Net Promoter Score • Average Order Value
• Promotional Redemp
• Conversion Rate
Inside
Outdoor
|
Spring
2015
36