In 2022, accelerating business processes digitalization has become more of a solution to keep retail companies in the economic market, and not just a development trend as seen until 2020. The global Covid - 19 pandemic has led companies to invest in new digital technologies and new business processes to maintain their position in what is called the digital economy.
The digital economy has many explanations, but all with a common sense: to connect brands and companies with consumers through digital technologies and channels. In fact, the digital economy builds new agile business models and connects companies with customers through new technologies that have radically changed the way brands interact with those who consume their products or services. The retail industry has been one of the most heavily influenced industries in this new digital economy. Retailers have been hit by a radical change in customer expectations, starting with the way they communicate and interact, and continuing with the way they get the information they need, and finally the products they intend to consume.
What does this tell us? That customer experience (CX) becomes very important in business and development strategies for companies in the retail industry. CX becomes a priority for companies in the retail industry if they want to offer services and products that meet the real needs of consumers. However, building a strong strategy to improve the customer experience also requires a solid understanding of their behavior. And this understanding can only be achieved by consolidating and adopting a data-driven strategy.
Our partnership with Salesforce, the #1 CRM platform in the world with a portfolio of over 150,000 global customers, contributes to the digitalization of the retail industry with innovative business growth technologies.
Salesforce technologies and products are focussed on concepts such as "customer-centricity" and "Customer 360". Starting with 2020, the Customer 360 concept from Salesforce made the transition to Digital 360, which connects and aligns sales, service, marketing, and eCommerce teams with a single customer overview, managed using a single CRM platform (Customer Relationship Management).
* Salesforce State of Marketing ReportConsumers, especially those in Generation Z, have shown a massive interest in new channels for purchasing the products and services they need. At the same time, 56% of companies expect most of their revenue to come from digital channels in the next 3 years.*** All this data indicates a new competitive market which this time takes place in a digital environment. Commerce Cloud is Salesforce's technology for the retail industry that gives you all the tools you need to sell faster and smarter, right where consumers are.
** Salesforce "State of the Connected Customer" Report *** Salesforce "State of Commerce" ReportSalesforce offers features such as building and launching customized customer-driven promotional campaigns, personalized web experiences that improve and increase revenue, features such as saving shopping carts, optimized payment flows, and quick and easy order fulfilment experiences.
Online stores developed using Salesforce Commerce Cloud technology offer attractive experiences regardless of the device, with an easy-to-navigate design and relevant shopping experiences for consumers. Commerce Cloud gives retailers the opportunity to interact with their customers through relevant 1-to-1 product recommendations, predictive sorting, and personalized searches.
"Commerce Cloud is an ecommerce platform that has all the capabilities needed to develop smart and intelligent online stores, with personalized experiences for each consumer, depending on their needs and behavior. Commerce Cloud provides tools for order management, stock and the entire product ordering and delivery process, being a tool based on innovative technologies that enhance the customer experience when they interact with a company.”
Liviu Carcia – CEO Next Consult Romania
Salesforce Sales Cloud helps companies connect, manage, and unify customer data across a single platform. It also provides access to all customer information, orders, interactions with marketing or service departments, and campaigns.
Sales Cloud automates business processes and helps sales teams optimize their work, access real-time data from anywhere, and increase revenue through agile and dynamic work processes based on customer profile. Sales Cloud provides companies with artificial intelligence capabilities that deliver relevant information about a customer's likelihood of buying more, predictive analytics, or revenue forecasts.
Marketing departments can use customer data to create personalized and relevant journeys and customer experiences, regardless of the channel they are. All customer journeys are automated, and the messages and the entire content is personalized based on the information about the consumer.
Marketing Cloud helps marketers to deliver messages, on different channels, at the right time and in the right place and also provides the ability to deliver personalized product recommendations, 1-to-1 emails, send messages when customers are active on different channels, or optimize the volume of messages sent based on customer feedback.
Salesforce Service Cloud provides the necessary technology for customer support departments to meet customers’ needs with all the information they need, regardless of the channel on which it operates: website, call center, social media or even WhatsApp.
Salesforce technology for customer support departments provides service agents with a unified 360 degrease image of the customer, data about them and their problems, along with features designed to resolve problems faster and with less effort.
Salesforce Service Cloud helps support departments automate workflows using artificial intelligence tools, interact with customers on any online or offline communication channel, and centralize all interactions with them in one place. Furthermore, it includes features such as managing and centralizing support cases, customer access to all communication and support channels, integration with other systems, chat bots with artificial intelligence skills, or ticketing-based customer support.