How embracing digital helps retailers survive, thrive

The global health crisis has changed the  way business is conducted. Indeed, no industry was spared, and those who adapted quickly were  the first to stem the adverse effects of prolonged lockdowns and restricted travel on businesses. One of the hardest hit was the retail sector. But along with the challenges, came opportunities.  Though the retail sector felt the effects of the pandemic most profoundly, it was also the sector to  quickly adapt digital technologies thereby, easing the impact of the crisis.  

Since March 2020, consumers have embraced digital technologies to purchase consumer  products, such as food, groceries, gadgets, apparel, and even consumer durables. Businesses  were also quick to cope with the demand. In a trend accelerated by the global health crisis, Filipino  companies have been offering products and services online to serve their brick-and-mortar  customers who are now sheltering at home. 

Amid the pandemic, many more online businesses have sprung. Last year, the Department of  Trade and Industry (DTI) recorded 88,000 online companies sought registration. In the retail  space, freely available big data showed an 80% drop in visits to malls, restaurants, and movie  theaters, according to a recent report by the World Bank and the National Economic and  Development Authority (NEDA). 

‘Competition is now in the Digital Space’ 

The Philippine and global economies contracted in 2020, but businesses that quickly shifted to  digital platforms got a head start on the road to resilience. This trend also turned the competition  into the digital space, where enterprises sell goods and services on virtual platforms.

For instance, malls and grocery stores that suffer lower foot traffic try to get a share of web traffic  by launching their e-commerce applications. Brands that consumers used to buy in physical  stores are made available in a few taps. Food retailers reach customers beyond the vicinity of  their physical stores through delivery apps. And now, a household can complete their entire  week’s shopping in mere minutes and at the same time dramatically reduce the risk of being  exposed to the disease. 

In 2021, online channels became a minimum requirement for any business. As a result, companies must be ready to ride—and even get ahead of—few trends in the retail space to  continue surviving and thriving. 

Global brands like Amazon are already leading the way. In Amazon grocery stores in the UK,  dubbed as Amazon Fresh, customers continue the experience of buying products in a physical  store, but without the inconvenience of long lines to the cashier and exposure to crowds. They  can bring their own bags to the store, pick up items from the aisles, and leave. Amazon processes  the purchases through computer vision, deep learning, and sensor fusion. Payment is handled  automatically in the Amazon Go app. 

Another leader, Nike, elevates the omnichannel shopping experience. While the world must learn  to live with health and safety precautions for the foreseeable future, they are making sure that  customers continue to enjoy the Nike lifestyle across all channels. In a New York store, customers  book a fitting appointment online, head to the physical shop to find a locker with the shoes they  want to try on. They use their mobile phones to open the locker and purchase the shoes. The  orchestration between the online and the offline experiences is seamless. 

‘Taking Advantage of Technology’ 

Any brand can take advantage of technology to scale their business. For example, lean  businesses that sell their products on social media can attend to inquiries and support requests  from their customers 24/7. They do not need round-the-clock manpower to do so. Run by artificial  intelligence (AI), chatbots can now handle natural conversations through chat. When deployed via social, websites, or apps, they facilitate the buying process whenever and wherever the  customers require. 

Business operations, on the other hand, can make use of augmented intelligence, a type of  machine learning technology that reduces human effort without completely replacing it. One of its  applications in retail is to read and understand the context of documents such as receipts and  invoices, so that humans can simply consume the digitized information and use it as they see fit. 

AI also enables businesses to gain a more significant share of the customer’s wallet through ultra personalization and product recommendations. This is similar to upselling customers through  product displays in line with the cashier — only this time, they are served not with the generic low ticket items like candies and magazines, but with products that they are highly likely to get based  on their purchase history, preferences, and profile. The recommendations may be provided in app, via personalized ads, or to their emails, extending the experience beyond their online  shopping session. 

Stratpoint Technologies, a digital transformation leader in the Philippines, has enabled dozens of  customers both locally and abroad to bounce back from economic disruptions such as the COVID 19 pandemic. They have created mobile applications for e-commerce, malls, payment services,  insurance, knowledge management, health monitoring, and many more. Beyond software 

development, they also design and build the cloud infrastructure that will host entire platforms to  ensure that the applications perform fast, stay on, and run securely for their customers’ users. 

Mary Rose dela Cruz, CEO of Stratpoint, comments, “Business today — they have no choice.  They need to evolve and use technology. The competition is now global, and the barriers to entry  have disappeared. Stratpoint, with our 20 years of experience in digital transformation, can help  businesses thrive in this new environment.” 

For more information about Stratpoint’s digital transformation solutions for retail,  visit www.stratpoint.com/retail.