Resilient retailing: NRF23 takeaways

As we seek to navigate today’s uncertain economic conditions, it’s reassuring to hear insights and advice from industry leaders on how retailers can not only survive but thrive by embracing digital technology. So here are some of key takeaways from NRF2023 in New York City, where we explored resilient retailing and some proven ways to drive agility.

All resilient retailers have a few things in common, we learned. They lean into change and manage to thrive in periods of uncertainty; they’re able to anticipate unexpected shopper or market changes; and they can absorb financial and operational shocks better, such as those caused by supply chains.

Roxanne Flanagan, SVP & Chief Supply Chain Officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance was joined by Tomasz Blicharski, EVP & Managing Director, ?abka Poland at the Big Show event, which was hosted by Shelley Bransten, Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President, Global Retail & Consumer Goods Industries. All agreed that the tumult of recent years had accelerated digital transformation, with Microsoft technology enabling their businesses to become more resilient and to do more with less.

Embracing technology, we discovered, is key to resilience because it can enable inventory optimisation, lower energy costs, and smarter ways of managing labour shortages through process automation and intelligent stores. Customer experience is improved by data-driven shopper and operational analytics. Better data capture also enables real-time personalisation and a more sustainable supply chain.

Keeping a focus on the retail front line, sometimes known as ‘the brilliant basics’, remains fundamental. All these digital innovations need investment in training, onboarding and the provision of collaborative technologies to empower store associates.

Once digital transformation is underway there are many opportunities available to elevate customer experiences leveraging AI, dynamic pricing, digital advertising and unified commerce. For example, AI can expand the range and availability of products to maximise demand conversion and stock availability.

Interested in learning more? If so, why not join our Microsoft webinar on February 2, 2023, as we dig down into these topics and find out more about the new capabilities in Microsoft Cloud for Retail that help elevate the store experience and empower store associates to achieve more.

#microsoft #microsoftuk #retail #nrf #nrf2023 #microsoftretail #transformation #resilientretail?