Delivering on the vision of Buy Anywhere Fulfill Anywhere

by Gene Weaver, Director, Product Strategy

According to a new report by retail industry analysts RSR Research, retailers' biggest challenge is in how to merge the digital and physical selling worlds into one compelling, seamless customer experience.

The report, entitled "Omni-Channel 2012: Cross-Channel Comes of Age" found that, while all retailers believe that the shopping experience should be consolidated across channels for a consistent experience, only 32 percent have achieved that goal. Additionally, more than half of retailers stated that not having a single view of customers across all channels is their top inhibitor.

These themes resonate loudly from the retailers I interact with on a daily basis, particularly as the Back to School shopping season looms, followed all-too-quickly by the critical holiday season. To them, achieving this all-channel Buy Anywhere Fulfill Anywhere nirvana may appear overwhelming, largely dependent on undergoing some significant "heart surgery" on their technology systems.

At RedPrairie, our approach and guidance does not involve major surgery, rather a step- by-step journey to help retailers achieve visibility – for all-channel orders and enterprise- wide inventory – so they can meet the customer at all the touch points where they wish toengage.

Today, we've announced the availability of RedPrairie Commerce Suite 2012.1, a new, scalable suite of solutions designed to help retailers get one major step closer towards achieving Buy Anywhere Fulfill Anywhere. RedPrairie Commerce Suite is a powerful solution that helps retailers drive sales as well as build customer loyalty by creating seamless all-channel shopping experiences, with a 360-degree view of orders, merchandise and customer behavior, plus the all-important integration with RedPrairie fulfillment solutions.

Now, using RedPrairie Commerce Suite's Store Center, in-store associates can "save-the- sale" by placing e-commerce orders for out-of-stock items. They can also place orders from an "endless aisle" of items not normally stocked at their location. The solution makes this possible by providing order visibility across all-channels and 360-degree customer management.

Being able to offer a range of fulfillment options is also a potent sales and loyalty driver. Some customers will want to return to the store to pickup an item (which increases foot traffic and consequently opportunities for more purchasing) or perhaps they prefer to have the item shipped directly to their home. Either way, retailers need visibility to enterprise- wide inventory plus their fulfillment partners. The integration between RedPrairie Commerce Suite and our inventory management and order fulfillment capabilities makes this possible.

July is just a few days away. Back to school is just around the corner. Black Friday is 149 days away. What are you waiting for?

Posted by RedPrairieBlogs on 6/27/2012 2:12:11 PM