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Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, the retail industry has witnessed widespread disruption. Retailers had to shift entire business models overnight while dealing with unpredictable changes in the supply chain, merchandising, and store operations.

In the aftermath of those disruptions, today’s retailers are looking for ways to take the agile changes they incorporated and make them scalable. And accelerated digital transformation has made data more valuable than ever in acquiring and engaging loyal customers.

With help from Salesforce solutions for retail, retailers can unlock their data potential to optimize their operations and create more personalized customer experiences at the same time. As a result, they’ll lay the groundwork for a business that’s more scalable, flexible, and customer-focused.

Who need Salesforce Retail Cloud?

The target audience of Salesforce solutions for retail is retail leaders who recognize the impact of digital transformation on customer relationships. They’re constantly thinking about strengthening customer experiences, and they want to make the most of every customer encounter with their brand. Some of their responsibilities include:

• Driving digital solutions for customer-facing channels
• Transforming business models
• Optimizing operations
• Creating a data-driven culture

What Customers need?

Here are some of the main objectives and obstacles that retailers face:

Acquire and engage loyal customers. The most successful retailers are laser focused on building relationships by aligning with consumer expectations. Accessing and optimizing customer data is essential to fostering those connections. Retailers needs to harness the power of data to understand their customers, personalize customer journeys, and drive engagements that build loyalty.

Meet shoppers where they are. Today’s consumers embrace omni-channel shopping – it’s not uncommon for an app, website, and physical store to play a role in a single transaction. To capture and keep customers, retailers have to eliminate friction between these channels by delivering a seamless, connected experience. Retailers wants to build a cohesive brand, break down silos between channels, and engage with customers in new places.

Reimagine the store and associate. Online commerce may be high on a retailer’s priority list, but the physical store is still important in any digital transformation. Retailers can combine data with digital tools to reimagine the roles of their physical locations and store associates. Retailers wants to unify digital and physical touchpoints, expand in-store experiences, and empower associates to connect with customers.

Salesforce for Retail Overview

With Customer 360, retailers can access a single, digital-first platform that helps them meet the needs of their evolving industry. Let’s look at how Salesforce solutions address the retailers’ goals:

Acquire and engage loyal customers

• Optimizing marketing. Salesforce for retail can help take the guesswork out of marketing. With Marketing Cloud, retailers can access valuable insights in real-time to gauge campaign performance. Teams have more flexibility to optimize marketing ROI and internal marketers have the data they need to get buy-in from leaders.
• Understanding customers. Marketing Cloud can also help to align retailers with the preferences and expectations of their customers. Persona-based targeting allows retailers to optimize each journey in a way that resonates with a variety of audiences. Retailers will also appreciate having access to a single view of each shopper so they can tailor offers, service, and product recommendations to an individual’s habits and preferences.

Meet shoppers where they are

• Connecting the brand across channels. Salesforce for retail supports a cohesive brand presence across every consumer channel. With a single, data-driven hub for sales, service, marketing, and commerce, fostering the seamless experience that modern consumers expect becomes second nature. As shopping trends push purchasing capabilities to social apps and video streams, retailers can meet their customers in new channels with a sense of brand familiarity.
• Tending to customer inquiries. Customer 360 helps connect data across the entire organization. Retailers can access marketing and sales data from Service Cloud to help their customers no matter where they’re engaging. Customer service employees can answer questions and improve relationships on any channel the customer prefers.

Reimagine the store and associate

• Evolving the physical store. Salesforce solutions for retail can help your prospects get the most out of their brick-and-mortar locations. Beyond transforming store operations with data and digital tools that streamline processes, Salesforce can also help retailers integrate their physical and online stores. The Customer 360 platform makes it easier than ever to introduce new commerce capabilities, like buy-online-pickup-in-store and curbside pickup, that make their storefronts even more useful.
• Expanding associate roles. Store associates serve as the human connection between a shopper and a brand, so making the most of these interactions is top-of-mind for your retail prospects. Salesforce for retail can support face-to-face connections by equipping associates with the customer data they need to personalize encounters and build long-term loyalty.

(Source: Salesforce)