Social media is helping ensure any customer interaction with your retail business or website is transformed into a personalized experience.
More than ever, this trend is helping retailers answer the ubiquitous riddle of a question, “what do my customers want to buy?” But with the solution to one portion of this riddle, comes another more pressing matter: how can personalized retail relationships be managed to scale?
In August, our marketing department helped to answer this question with the article How ERP Systems Are Turning Retailer Customers into Retailer Buddies on MSDynamicsWorld.
Within, they detailed how Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems – especially systems outfitted with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capabilities – can transform “a brand into a friend, and a global retail operation into the shopkeeper next door that people grew up with-and trusted-for years.”
While most retailers I speak to understand the importance of social media – and are bought in to the importance of a ‘Connected Experience’ most are left with the very appropriate question regarding how this will affect the bottom-line, in terms of both time spent and revenue gained.
The answer is simpler than you may think.
As the article goes on to explain, the ‘Connected Experience’ that occurs when a customer and retailer develop more personal relationships allows retailers to accurately map consumer preferences to retail stock.
For example, imagine you could predict the approximate percentage of your store visitors (online or brick and mortar) that wanted to purchase black sneakers versus brown sneakers – either for themselves or as a gift. This would allow you to stock only the most necessary amount of each product to ensure you implemented a retail supply chain that was just lean enough.
An ERP system, again – with CRM capabilities, allows you to analyze customer data and customer interaction (even through social media channels) to make these kinds of predictions. Both systems working together also allow for quick adjustments, as new data can be analyzed near instantly. In fact, over the holidays it’s likely not uncommon to find some retailers analyzing customer data daily to ensure store shelves are stocked seemingly by the minute with products to synch with the ever-changing demands of the holiday consumer. Or to personalize, the holiday guest.
As you are enthralled in the final weeks of what I hope and trust is a successful holiday season, I encourage you to take just a bit of time to read this article in MSDynamicsWorld.
And if you’d like to see exactly how an integrated ERP and CRM system will help ensure a successful 2011, built on the backbone of lean retail operations and personalized customer relationships, I’d be happy to show you a live demo of Microsoft Dynamics AX.
If you’re interested, simply complete the form to the right and we’ll schedule some time in January.
Also – stay up to date on the latest retail supply chain strategies by subscribing to our RSS feed, following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook or connecting with us on LinkedIn.
If you are a retailer seeking to implement a new supply chain strategy, contact To-Increase for a complimentary consultation.
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