The transformation imperative: How the cloud is helping to reimagine retail

From disruptions across supply chains and shifting consumer behaviors to new ways to shop and a continued explosion of data, the past year was one in which we experienced change at a pace and scale that we could never have imagined. Yet, despite this change, the retail industry is prevailing. It is as important as ever to the global economy, providing essentially the demand signal for the world. As retailers look for ways to better serve their customers and empower their employees all the way from the store floor to the top floor one thing is clear: they’re embracing cloud technology like never before.  

It's an important topic of conversation with retail leaders across the globe, and one central to their ongoing digital transformation. Recent research by The Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by Microsoft, showed that fifty percent of respondents cited cloud computing as the technology that factored most prominently in their transformation efforts. In the retail industry specifically, three major themes were surfaced as cloud technology helps retailers reimagine their futures:

1. Building agility AND resilience

If the COVID-19 pandemic taught us anything it’s that no business is resilient to everything. What’s more, retailers who laid their ‘digital tracks’ early were better positioned to adapt. Some have even emerged stronger capturing increased consumer spending and driving business growth. 

We’ve seen countless examples with retailers large and small across the globe. Just take Musgrave, Ireland’s leading food retail, wholesale, and food service company, they were well-positioned to ask their 1500 office-based staff to work from home almost overnight. And the cloud has enabled them to better cope with unexpected peaks and troughs in demand across both their online and brick-and-mortar businesses. Additionally, we partnered with Walgreens Boots Alliance to enable a virtual pharmacy consultation service via the Walgreens app. Both great examples of agility and resilience in practice.

2. Customer insights drive strategy, marketing, and experiences

The events of the past year have changed customer expectations for good. The new premium = transforming the customer experience. And now more than ever, retailers need to understand what, where and how shoppers want to buy. In fact, the research findings showed that the retail sector is most likely among eight industries surveyed to cite “improving customer experience” as the primary driver of digital transformation over the last 12 months.

Look at Chipotle who’s been using customer insights to better understand customer preferences, how they change over time and convert more guests into loyalty program members. Every customer is different, and customer insights allow Chipotle to personalize and market to them as unique individuals. The Bransten household is a BIG Fan!

3. Reimagining the workplace as well as the industry

As the disruption in retail impacted every part of the industry, retailers started to reimagine what coming to work actually looked like. For example, REI moved their entire call center remote and launched a new virtual outfitting service to help customers assemble bikes, find the right hiking boots, and gear up for camping trips using Microsoft 365 Teams. In fact, they even sold their corporate HQ to Facebook last year as they continue to evaluate what the future of the workplace looks like for them. Similarly, Office Depot enabled curbside pickup within 48 hours using Microsoft Teams and has built over 30 apps with Power Apps, saving over $100K in the process. It has also created a Citizen Developer program to train business users via Microsoft Teams to use Power Platform.

Digital tools are truly empowering employees to be more productive across the retail industry. I’m optimistic about the future of retail, excited by the opportunity we face as an industry and look forward to partnering with more retailers on their cloud journeys. You can read the research in full here.