{"id":93836,"date":"2022-09-22T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-01-23T06:07:11","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T14:07:11","slug":"create-your-smart-store-of-tomorrow-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/industry\/blog\/retail\/2022\/09\/22\/create-your-smart-store-of-tomorrow-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Create your smart store of tomorrow, today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Grandmothers ordering groceries online. Millennials driving through alleyways behind stores to pick up their purchased items rather than walking through stores. Outdoor enthusiasts booking appointments with experts to find the best bike and backpack that fits their needs. Store associates with full visibility about the status of items for sale in any of their stores, and the delivery status of items on their way. These are all examples of how consumers now relate to retailers. Rather than being just a sales channel, stores are now multi-faceted resources, enabling customers to experience products locally while accessing resources of the entire store network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly, a lot has changed in two years. For example, take a look at this 1500-square-foot store<\/a> that is unlike any food market most shoppers have ever seen. Retailers have been implementing cloud and edge infrastructure and creating connectivity to enable a modular approach. Stores are truly the new hubs for retail operations. They are points of purchase, fulfillment centers, and experience centers. These shifts are impacting how stores are laid out, what is on their shelves, and what\u2019s expected of employees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the store of the future, each store acts independently and swiftly improves and updates the experiences it offers to consumers while providing all the benefits of being a part of a larger retail ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infrastructure view<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To make this possible, successful retailers must build a digital foundation<\/a> for their stores that acts as a modular, flexible framework. This infrastructure framework leverages the same hardware and software assets to deploy multiple use cases in the store. It enables retailers to balance multiple internal initiatives, integrate point solutions, and coordinate technology capabilities such as edge-architecture computing. We find that many if not all retailers prefer adopting a hybrid approach in lighting up store services. Whether it is due to distance from the cloud, networking constraints, cost-saving, or maintenance considerations, many retailers choose to have edge capabilities to allow the store services to produce outcomes<\/a> at a faster rate. Coupled with the need to interact with on-premises devices such as cameras and the internet of things (IoT) devices, some edge pre-processing skills are also needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID-19 taught retailers that we don\u2019t know what the future brings. Their north star is to have a modular, solid, and secure platform where they can plug and play as needed. Retailers want a holistic view of a store, where all parts\u2014from endcap to cash register, and out-of-stock detections\u2014play together in real-time, orchestrating data, and putting it to work. And all of this is at the retail associate\u2019s fingertips. Retail customers need a blueprint to lay over their store footprint to define and map Horizon 1 to Horizon 3 scenarios. They need an orchestration platform where all solutions (homegrown and purchased) can be implemented and interact with each other, and most importantly, orchestrate the data and insights across all point solutions.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine if… your store updates itself the way a phone updates its operating system. Your stores change a few features overnight to be personalized to the needs of that particular location, format, and seasonal needs.<\/em> <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Evolve the business strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These changes are more than just technology. In this fluid environment, management must reconsider store operational and financial boundaries, so that profit and loss (P&L) and operating cost elements are managed and balanced and take into account each store\u2019s contribution towards online fulfillment, storage, brand building, returns, and marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it\u2019s a fully autonomous store, scan-and-go, smart shelves, smart carts and baskets, curbside pickup, or ultra-fast delivery, technology is a means, not an end, to your store of the future. It is the how not the why. The \u201cwhy\u201d must align with your business model and your competitive advantage to justify the investment. In our opinion, the fastest way to unlock the value of the store is to have a deliberate data monetization strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more in our recent blog: 5 keys to the frictionless store of tomorrow<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support the changing role of the store associate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Store associates are part of the transformation<\/a> as well. They\u2019re expected to nimbly work with new tools and understand the data to support their customers and support the increased efficiency of stores. To do this, stores need to reduce task redundancy and provide education, training, and best-in-class tools to communicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading retailers invest in empowering, engaging, and continuously re-training the frontline as they automate routine tasks and manual processes. Retail leadership is finding new ways to shift towards employee-centric business models to ensure they are the employer of choice for many while simplifying processes, reducing effort, and increasing productivity. During this time when talent is hard to find and even harder to retain, retailers must find a way to meet the expectations of both employees and customers. Retailers need their workforce to be digital, data-fluent, and diverse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reframe. Your customer is the only channel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once you start to leverage data, the magic begins. You know who each customer is, whether they are online or in the store. You start to personalize, engage with customers smoothly in the store, and consider these use cases that materially support the customer while also providing data to the stores that can increase their hyper-connectivity:<\/p>\n\n\n\n