Specialized retail: a unique solution for the Russian market

Key tasks of the retail sector

Retailers often face two key problems: competition for customers and cost minimization.

IT costs remain at the same level or even grow in the new environment, since information technologies and innovations make it possible to ensure qualitative improvement of the retail business efficiency. To win customers, businesses use personalized, increasingly mobile services, machine learning and data mining, digital signage and various innovations that make it possible to get closer to customers (Q-busting, personal delivery, service line resource optimization, etc.) and become more customer-friendly.

«However, ambitious claims that customers will give up traditional shopping once and for all in favor of online stores have no fundamental ground. Of course, the percentage of online sales is growing in specialized retail, but the growth rate does not stimulate mass exodus of retailers to online,» says Galina Musina, Head of the Department for Retail Solutions and Services at ICL Services.

What is specialized retail?

This retail segment is only making its first steps in the Russian market and has recommended itself as a promoter of customer service innovations. Specialized retail businesses operate in a single area, for example, sell handbag, clothing, or cosmetics brands.

Key distinction of this retail segment is the necessity to ensure high level of awareness about the product a business is focused on. Customers expect that specialized store employees have unique knowledge of the product features and properties, understand all aspects of its usage and highlight specific advantages of the product for each customer.

As a result of these peculiarities, specialized retail businesses do not think in terms of average market performance that are typical for large hypermarkets offering a wide range of products. This market players monitor tastes and preferences of each individual and must know their customers in person.

To ensure flexible service and individual approach to customers, the retailer business processes must be optimized along with the continuous monitoring of numerous performance indicators, and managing the business becomes much more complicated. Cegid has developed the Yourcegid Retail Y2 solution for the specialized retail companies. The software makes it easier to perform and automates many day-to-day tasks: collection and analysis of a huge volume of data about customers, support and consolidation of the growing number of product and service sales channels, offering individual purchase terms and unique product sales.

Omnichannel model rules

Retailers are gradually moving towards the development of omnichannel trade offering their customers to start and complete purchases using platforms that are convenient for them. However, implementation of the new policy requires efficient modification of fundamental business processes, such as warehousing, logistics optimization, product delivery planning and control. Besides, it becomes possible to offer new services, for example, real-time visualization of stock, flexible supply chain, and various delivery methods.

The first stage of the transition has already begun: a customer orders a product via a web-site and collects it at a store. Or, vice versa, he/she finds the product at the store and orders home delivery. The omnichannel strategy has been used for several years by such companies as M.Video, Wildberries, Tekhnosila, and Hoff. Sophisticated automation of logistics processes will make it possible to avoid losses when delivering products to customers by courier, via post offices, postamats, or order pick-up points.

"To win and retain customers, a retail business primarily needs to build internal processes in the organization," says Galina Musina. "Implementation of an integrated ecosystem of applications and devices will make it possible to create efficient relationships with customers through all sales channels within a single interface."

Yourcegid Retail Y2 advantages

What makes Yourcegid Retail Y2 unique among other software solutions for the retail sector?

1. Yourcegid Retail Y2 is a solution for sales management in specialized retail. Unlike many other solutions, Yourcegid Retail Y2 focuses on collecting, storing, and processing event the smallest details about products. For this reason, the data processing module is the key element of the solution. The level of detail for a product description in the system is virtually unlimited and can be tailored for specific business needs.

2. Modern technologies are able to change our habits. These changes also affect customers. That is why many retail companies try to consolidate all sales channels within an omnichannel model that creates a single operational sales mechanism. Yourcegid Retail Y2 minimizes costs and risks during the transition from multichannel to omnichannel, while other solutions cannot boast of the same efficiency and, moreover, hide the traditional multichannel model under the disguise of ominichannel.

3. Further to the topic of modern technologies, we can mention the emerging opportunities for retailers in the area of improving the customer service quality. One of the major trends is the increasing mobility of store employees who manage retail network business processes using an integrated ecosystem of applications and devices. As a result, they can pay more time and attention to customers, while routine tasks, such as memorizing product features and properties, preparing and printing checks and invoices, can be performed by information systems.

4. Yourcegid Retail Y2 is developed so that retail networks of any scale could have maximum flexibility when purchasing the functionality that meets their requirements and budgets. The module architecture of the solution makes it even easier.

Business case of Furla, the Italian luxury company

The Italian luxury company Furla chose Yourcegid Retail to increase the efficiency of managing its retail processes and offer its customers a unique shopping experience.

The project was launched in Europe and now covers more than 340 stores where Yourcegid Retail Y2 is used.

Seeking to support explosive growth of its activities on the markets of different countries which vary widely from one another, Furla faced the need to centralize its retail and merchandising activities. To do this, it is necessary, on one hand, to have a uniform centralized database, and on the other hand, a possibility to monitor closely task execution at the local level (store management, customer loyalty programs, local taxation, etc.).

Studying a range of offers on the software market, Furla chose Yourcegid Retail Y2, the software for all-channel retail trade, using which a retailer can manage all its business dimensions and relations with customers on a real time basis and through multiple channels, which is a priority for present-day retail customers. The project covers two main business dimensions: store management and loyalty programs.

«On the retail market of fashion goods with premium class service, understanding of customer inquiries and maintenance of relations with them is a priority. Use of the system enabling to manage our stores all over the world from a single center, considering all local peculiarities and requirements, made it possible to increase considerably comfort of the purchase process in our stores. And it meets our purpose — to provide customers service at a very high level which has no parallel in the world,» says Eraldo Poletto, President and General Director of Furla.

Conclusion

In summary, YourCegid Retail Y2 is a modular, integrated and customer-oriented solution that efficiently handles the digitalization challenges and helps retailers successfully solve organizational issues and offer high-quality customer service in the era of close interaction between the retail trade system and customers.

«Yourcegid Retail Y2 is a modular solution and, no doubt, can be implemented using a unit-based approach,» says Galina Musina. «At the same time, Yourcegid Retail Y2, as a full-scale omnichannel solution, offers maximum advantages to retailers when the cash register operates together with Clienteling Yourcegid Retail Y2, online store, analytical mechanism and so on. Certainly, a staged transition to using individual Yourcegid Retail Y2 components along with the existing IT landscape of a retailer, but we should bear in mind that this approach requires integration resulting in additional costs. In our opinion, the deployment of a pilot Yourcegid Retail Y2 solution for an individual store or group of stores is a much more efficient approach.»