By Jürgen Karnstädt
I have brought together a set of examples to show how new technologies are being leveraged by retailers to develop closer relationships with customers, be more competitive, and create entirely new kinds of shopping experiences. They are shown in Figure 1 below and are critical to the industry since the challenges facing retailers have been among the most daunting. Headlines proclaiming the death of the industry appear regularly. Retail outlets – from the largest to the smallest – seem to disappear just as often.
Figure 1 - Use cases for retail
Thankfully, technology solutions from companies like HPE and SAP are making it clear that there is still a good deal of life left in retail … and that the challenges can be transformed into opportunities. Here are four specific use cases that prove the point:
Up-Sell/Cross-Sell Recommendations - Providing up-sell and cross-sell recommendations to customers is the mostly widely adopted big data use case in the retail sector. This enables retailers to increase online purchases by recommending relevant products and promotions in real time. Retailers can recommend products based on what other similar customers have bought—providing upsell, cross-sell or “next best offer” opportunities. It can also improve customer loyalty by providing a more relevant, personalized online experience.
Social Media Analysis - Consumers can use social media to exert tremendous influence over a retailer’s brand or a product’s success. Retailers need to monitor online sentiment and respond in real time with relevant messages or offers. SAP allows for real-time ingestion of streaming data that helps retailers get the information they need fast. Retailers thus gain insights into consumer behavior
Fraud Detection - Retail fraud can range from fraud in returns or abuse of customer service, or credit risk for larger purchases, based on, for example, uncovering fraud rings, social media activity of customers and detecting patterns. It can also be major security breaches putting private customer information at risk. Retailers need to protect their margins and their reputations by proactively detecting fraudulent activities.
360° Customer View - Retailers can improve customer satisfaction and sales opportunities by integrating all relevant customer data across online transactions, POS transactions, social media, and customer service interactions into one single view. Retaining customers is a key metric for retailers, given the cost of acquiring new customers.
I’ll be providing more details about these and other use cases at visit the HPE Booth p.20 either at SAP TechEd Barcelona, November 14 – 16. If you are at the event, I invite you to stop by and see how HPE and SAP can make retail come alive and thrive in the years ahead by transforming insight into action.
For more information on all of the powerful and innovative HPE – SAP solutions, please consult our alliance page.
Jürgen Karnstädt, SAP Senior Consultant at the SAP HPE Competence Center in Walldorf, with 25 years of experience in SAP combining Business requirements with HPE offerings.
