Increasing competitions are quite
often blamed for the loss in revenue of the retail businesses, whereas the fact
is that there are other factors, especially changing customer behavior and the
changing technologies, which are also equally responsible.
In fact, it won’t be wrong to say that
technological advancement impacts both customers and retailers.
On one hand, where shopping and other
related activities becomes convenient for consumers, retailers. on the other
hand, faces multiple challenges in order to fulfil the consumers demand with
utmost satisfaction.
Retail automation is that
technological advancement, which is meant to help retailers in delighting their
customers in every possible way. Besides, there are business automation
solutions like Value
Creation Automation (VCA), which also help the retail business firms in
evolving holistically.
Powered by technological advancements,
this is the age of customer-driven market for retailers, where automation
solutions like VCA can lead retail companies beyond recognition. More than
profitability, VCA is about adding value to every single retail business
process and making companies a brand people can rely upon.
According to Global Powers Retailing 2017 published by Deloitte,
“The retail trends for 2017 are focused squarely on understanding the art and
science of catering to the customer.”
In simple words, in order to run a
successful business, it is paramount for the retailers to find advanced
measures to deliver quality in product and maximum satisfaction in services, to
their customers. Retail companies must always be on the lookout for the new
approaches that can help them establish a robust customer relationship, leading
to their retention and improved loyalty.
In the prevalent business-market
condition, exploring VCA’s potentials can be very beneficial for the retail
companies, as it can add new dimensions to their businesses.
Before we proceed any further, lets revisit to the definition of retail automation.
Going beyond the technical definition
- in the places such as malls, convenience stores, airports, resorts and other
retail businesses which receive heavy footfalls - the management of activities
becomes difficult for the human employees.
Retail automation introduces
self-service module through advanced
business automation solutions. It
not only helps retailers in managing business processes with utmost efficiency
but gives a fresh and exciting shopping experience to the customers.
And, of course, ecommerce is the new
addition in the retail businesses that tries to reach global customers. And,
VCA can help them in fulfilling the high demand generated from the prospective
customers available online.
What is VCA?
Putting it simply, Value Creation
Automation (VCA) is a business automation solution that can help retail
companies in performing those business operations, which is beyond the human
capabilities.
VCA offers end-to-end workflow
solutions, which results in optimum resource utilization and timely delivery of
goods and services to the customers worldwide. The automated retail platform is
efficient, accurate and responsive, which together helps businesses in
delivering value and complete customer satisfaction.
Going steps ahead of CRM and ERPs, VCA
offers complete business automation solutions, which programs the business
systems for automated functioning.
What makes VCA a one-stop platform
for all automation solutions?
Apart from its innumerable features,
there are few important factors of VCA that makes it a one-stop platform for
all the automation solutions.
1.
VCA programs the retail business platforms to
urgently respond to a situation. In other words, it helps businesses in sending
out automated response to their customers, or said more appropriately, it
automates customer engagement.
2.
Its holistic approach, makes it different from
other various automation solutions, which with its end-to-end solution, VCA
automates complete business processes.
3.
In-built development mechanism of VCA, helps it
in keeping the businesses updated with the latest
business trends and technological advancement.
Multiple processes make the day-to-day
retail operations lengthy, and also unmanageable to some extent. From updating
inventory to getting the product and services delivered to the customers - it
needs precision, perfection and accuracy.
VCA leaves no room for errors. It
reduces human intervention and also automates tasks which are repetitive in
nature. This results in a sharp reduction in the operational cost.
VCA facilitates real-time monitoring
of every business activity, with the help of its single controller screen. It
ensures none of the company resources remains idle and maximum productivity is
achieved. Having streamlines the complete business processes, Value Creation
Automation (VCA) facilitates retail companies with a seamless workflow.
Automated PoS & UGC
When discussing retail automation,
there are two elements without which the discussion would not be complete.
These are Point of Sale (PoS) & User Generated Content (UGC).
Point
of Sale (PoS)
An automated Point of Sale (PoS)
system, is one of the key benefits that VCA has to offer. With an automated PoS
system, retailers can have a completely streamlined business processes.
PoS system is that point of
convergence, from where the company owners and managers can oversee complete
business operations. From integrating register screen, receipt printer, bar
code scanner, cash drawer, credit or debit card reader to getting sales report
and managing company employees, inventory and the customers - VCA automates
every single business activity.
Automated PoS can become the lifeline
for any retail business organization. Thus, VCA helps retail business in
recording every single transaction without any chance of data loss. Moreover,
automated PoS enables the retail houses in running their day-to-day operations
efficiently and with utmost accuracy.
User
Generated Content (UGC)
As the name suggests, User Generated
Content (UGC) is the content generated online by the customers or the end-users
of the products and services. It can be in the form of blogs, comments, audio,
video or even in the form of discussions on various forums.
VCA makes UGC robust and effective and
also results in making the feedback loop for the retail businesses more
productive. When customers or end-users talk about a company’s products and
services, it builds trust and value for that company. More the customers talk
about a company, more increases the brand awareness.
According to a statistics published in a report by TINT, 93 % of
the total customers find UGC very helpful while taking their purchasing
decisions and also it enhances the conversion rate by approximately 29 %. There
are reports, which also informs that the customers spend up to 5.4 hours, on an
average, on the content generated by the users.
Automated UGC not only gains SEO
(Search Engine Optimization) for the company but also help them in
understanding the customer behavior.
Conclusion
The 21st century customers expects on-demand
fulfillment of their orders, which is difficult for the retailers without
incorporating advanced business automation solutions such as Value CreationAutomation (VCA), into their business system.
Retail automation can help businesses
in understanding their customer’s continuously changing behavior and act
accordingly. In order to gain the competitive advantage, retail business firms
are left with no other option but to automate their process.
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