Cloud Technology: Why it is Probably More Important to Retailers Than Any Other Sector

The term “Cloud” is all too familiar in both our consumer and business lives, now housing much of our commercial and personal data and freely accessible any time, any place and device.

Nearly fifteen years ago, Ian Tomlinson founded Cybertill with the foresight to see what Cloud technology could do for retailers and created the first Cloud EPoS and retail management system which culminated in the launch of RetailStore in 2011.

Back in 2001, Cybertill was pioneering in its approach to provide an alternative option to traditional server hosting, software installation and an easier more efficient way to manage their business for those wanting to change to a new way.

EPoS Must Go Beyond Transaction and Transcend Service and Brand Experience

Today, for retailers it is no longer just an option of how to operate EPoS and retail management systems but a necessary survival vehicle in the competitive retail jungle of changed rules and new bosses.

In recent years there’s been much noise about Cloud EPoS. The true benefits of retail cloud technology go far beyond transaction for both small and large retailers online and in the physical world.

Yes it offers a low cost operating opportunity for retailers; is the most scalable and easiest software to roll out across sites and manage centrally; greatly reduces admin and management in terms of no polling, inventory and creates compliant and secure data storage.

But the story does not end there. Looking beyond the basic cloud EPoS offering, there is a whole lot more it offers to re-invent retail management and processes to adapt to the new challenging multi-channel and digital consumer world.

Rules Are Being Re-written

In today’s retail world continual change is happening at an unprecedented pace. We predict that the majority of retailers will have to migrate to intelligent Cloud EPoS and retail management systems to survive changing consumer behaviour, outlook and a landscape dominated by new expectation demands, profit squeezes and the merging of the physical and digital retail eco-systems.

It’s a pivotal time, as the balance of power has shifted, once and for all, away from sellers and toward well informed, mobile, socially-connected consumers paving the way to an ever-changing game with new rules and new ways of operating.

Whilst other sectors may adopt Cloud technology primarily for its cost cutting, accessibility and efficiency, retailers are faced with challenges that traditional systems and architectures are no longer fit for purpose and in many cases are becoming a threat to the very organisation they underpin.

So what is going on here? For a start, the previously unforeseen divide between instore retail and ecommerce has been smashed as the on-the-go, tech-savvy shoppers research, browse, try on, and transact wherever and whenever they please.

Add to this the rapid demand for Click and Collect, Click and Reserve and any channel returns, retailers (and not just large ones) have been fighting a losing battle to meet these new shopping and buyer demands with existing systems and are being forced to find a new and better way of doing things.

This in turn, is forcing retailers to become much more sophisticated in how they predict demand, manage and move inventory and integrate their physical and digital selling channels.

It is these very steep challenges that retailers face that make Cloud technology probably more important to retailers than any other sector.

1. Multi-channel retail needs channel and system synergy. Silos must become a thing of the past and a new cloud-hosted intelligent hub to synchronise every element from transaction and inventory, through to warehousing and eBay. A single platform that enables a single view of every element from customer history to collections and returns. A flexible and holistic system that knows no channel boundary and that can communicate accurately, in real time, at every point. RetailStore was designed to go way beyond EPoS to become the central and thriving core that drives retailers operationally in the new and tough age of multi-channel selling and diminishing profits.

2. Multi-channel optimisation analytics. As retailers face greater profit squeezes by the rising costs of delivery choice, logistics and online competition, macro and micro data science needs to be intelligently streamlined, calculated and simply reported, in real time to optimise everything from multi-channel pricing, stock, predictive demand, purchase ordering and customer driven product assortment. Cloud gives retailers an intelligent core platform to act as the brain and engine room to drive, integrate, calculate and deliver the advanced data analytics required for maximum profit and overall optimum commercial performance.

3. Going mobile. Gone are the days when mobile simply meant a shopping App. Far more important today, is mobile’s unique ability to merge the digital and physical retail arenas including extended online catalogue show rooming instore; QR and AR extended product information; M-PoS for queue busting and adding a more personal customer experience; pop-up shops. Our on-the-go shoppers’ passion for their smartphones transcends all aspects of their shopping experience from preliminary research, stock availability, Apple Pay through to Click and Collect, e-Receipts, loyalty cards and promotional vouchers. As we move into 2017, we can expect to see the rise of AR for expanded product experience with the smartphone forming an interactive digital instore experience for our customers who know no boundaries.

4. Holistic visibility. Cloud technology for retail operations gives a precise and universal visibility like never before. Being able to track the entire logistical process accurately from supplier dispatch, pallet location, store allocation through to customer and store arrival schedules, provides a 360-degree panoramic view of every aspect of the operation and customer experience.

5. Intelligent integration. A seamless experience is everything for the multi-channel retailer from systems and data through to customer histories, promotions and loyalty. No longer can companies operate separate online and offline channels. Today we live in a blended world with a desire for omni-experience.

For many retailers, RetailStore’s cloud platform is not simply an EPoS and management system but has become the oxygen and intelligent backbone from which to flow every element to and from.

A core cloud hub that has no channel boundaries and naturally becomes the cogs of every connecting piece in the retail operation jigsaw, driving and analysing data, automating intelligence and enabling a level of precise and live communication stream across every channel window and touch point.

And with more and more innovative ways to extend sales and brand experience emerging from event and festival participation, instore augmented reality, any location pop-up shop initiatives from the remote to the faraway, what will the role and development of Cloud technology be for retail in the coming years?

To find out more about the RetailStore story, why not download “Re-inventing EPoS & Retail Management Software”?

Or read our short guide “Multi-Channel Efficiency. What are you doing?”