Retail Unified Commerce Solutions Are the Roadmap to Success

Are you looking for a way to increase sales and improve customer satisfaction? If so, consider implementing retail unified commerce solutions from RPE. We’re a leading retail consulting firm that’s been serving retailers across the United States and Canada since 1999, and our knowledgeable consultants understand how to strategically implement omnichannel retail software that will benefit both your business operations and your customers.

Why Implement a Unified Commerce Platform?

Today’s retailers need a unified commerce platform. Retail unified commerce has transformed how people shop, and in today’s ultra-competitive environment, successful retailers must address ever-changing consumer expectations in order to stay afloat. Unfortunately, the aging retailing system makes true unified commerce difficult or even impossible to accomplish. Under the older system, retailers often operate separate information systems and have distinct processes in place for each sales channel. The channels are unable to share important information such as customer and item details, transactional records, and pricing strategies. This leads to a silo effect with numerous negative consequences for retailers, such as the duplication of investment and effort, the creation of inconsistent data, and the inability to capture a real-time snapshot of the entire operation across all channels. Plus, because inventory is poorly managed, and because it’s challenging for customers to purchase an item through one channel and then pick up or return it in another, it also results in decreased customer satisfaction.

With fully integrated omnichannel retailing, on the other hand, retailers are able to act as one cohesive business and achieve their goal of providing a customer-centric shopping experience. E-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores are able to work together to create unified commerce. Omnichannel retail software brings together the entire business and allows merchandising, replenishment, store systems, and all other key systems to work together. Thanks to integrated systems, information can smoothly flow across all channels in real time, providing seamless communication and allowing customers to shop anytime, anywhere. Retailers can operate more efficiently, improve their return on inventory investment, leverage their assets, and analyze customer behavior to make better use of their marketing and promotional budgets.

RPE’s Approach

At RPE, we help retail businesses embrace an omnichannel strategy with integrated merchandising solutions to succeed in today’s marketplace. Our consultants work with all levels of retail management to assess a company’s current systems and software. We take the time to understand the direction a company is going and provide solutions specifically tailored to address current and future needs. We assist in developing a retail unified commerce strategy and a plan to get there. This roadmap may include different approaches for different retailers. We review each option in detail to determine what makes the most sense for a profitable transition.

Steps to a Smooth Retail Unified Commerce Transition:

• Create a roadmap — Begin by identifying pains, opportunities, and goals, then determine how you want to achieve those objectives.
• Define unified commerce — All areas of a retail business must have the same definition of unified commerce in order to succeed.
• Establish partnerships — Select interfaces or a retail solution that will best address your company’s needs, both today and into the future.
• Gain consensus — Right from the start, involve and gain buy-in from all key management who will be impacted by the transition, and continue to involve them throughout the project.
• Set a timeframe — A transition will take time, and you should account for potential delays so that a realistic plan can be achieved.
• Staff appropriately — Plan to bring in more staff, since existing employees likely won’t be able to perform their current duties while also completing the transition.
• Be flexible — Retail is changing at warp speed and will continue to evolve, so continue reviewing your company’s plan frequently and making adjustments as needed.

The way consumers shop is changing. Therefore, successful retailers must deliver on customer expectations to stay competitive in today’s disruptive environment. Achieve retail unified commerce with the help of RPE’s technical and retail consulting services, which include strategic planning, process improvement, package selection, implementation, hosting, and post-implementation support.  We look forward to helping your company make the transition to omnichannel retailing and a unified commerce platform.