Interview with Retalix

Today's retail world is undergoing a significant and rapid transformation leading to multiple challenges for retailers. In keeping pace with the technological challenges retailers are trying to overcome being bound to suppliers and shift their focus to the customer. On one hand retailers are looking for solutions to help increase revenues and enhance their customers experiences. On the other hand retailers are looking to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

The industry debate about enhancing the customer experience has been going on for over a decade, but very few retailers deliver that capability. What are the key challenges and what is your company's focus going forward?

Today's retail world is undergoing a significant and rapid transformation leading to multiple challenges for retailers. In keeping pace with the technological challenges retailers are trying to overcome being bound to suppliers and shift their focus to the customer. On one hand retailers are looking for solutions to help increase revenues and enhance their customers experiences. On the other hand retailers are looking to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

To meet the challenges, Retalix is providing customers with an increasing number of channels and customer-facing touch points; which empower them with more information and greater control over their shopping experience. Retalix is improving the customer experience by standardizing all channels and touch points, and allowing for transparency throughout. Retalix is using a single and unified engine, which assures the right offering by using 'Demand-Driven Retailing' for planning and management. Whereby the shopping demand is optimised with the customer, supplier, and market data. This approach provides retailers the tools to personalize their customer's experience, by focusing on loyal customers and targeting promotional offerings using behavioral driven promotions. In light of all these challenges, .Retalix aim is to put the 'custom' back into the customer, by providing the know-how and systems, which enable 'anytime, anywhere' and personalised shopping, with technological diversity.

What is the evolving role of technology as it relates to customer experience improvement programs?

As communications technology continues to evolve and IT systems move from closed to open architectures, retailers are improving the customer experience in the store and beyond.

In the store, which will continue to dominate the retail environment, technology enables the creation of multiple touch points to help customers become more informed, independent, and savvy. Wireless technologies, meanwhile, assist retailers in better targeting of their customers before, during, and after their shopping experience, by seamlessly connecting their actions to in-store and out store touch points and the central systems.

Retalix assists its customers to transform shopping beyond traditional brick-and-mortar outlets to "anytime, anywhere" retail channels such as, in the store, web, and mobile devices using Retalix's one single and unified engine.

Which in-store tools can retailers implement to enhance the customer experience?

Retailers enjoy a host of new touch points beyond the traditional POS to interface with customers. For example, Self-Checkout terminals, Self Scanners, and Area Scales provide customers with up-to-date tools for a faster, more efficient, and intelligent shopping experience. Kiosk, Mobile (POS), and Digital Signage devices expose customers to virtually focused product and retail information, enabling retailers to better target their messages. Wireless-based tools and Bluetooth devices help retailers better serve their customers from the moment they interact with the retailer's touch points, across multi-channels.

How can retailers enable profitable multichannel operations?

By better understanding customer's needs and shopping habits, Retalix's one core engine allows retailers to leverage multi-channel operations, from the store and mobile devices, to the catalogue and web. Offering targeted promotions, discounts upselling opportunities and information through multi-channels touch points.

In addition, through Retalix's 'Demand-Driven Retailing', retailers can act and execute more effectively at both the store and central office levels. Take, for example, Retalix Store Replenishment (DAX), which optimizes market and supplier data that is generated during shopper interactions at multiple retail touch points. Retalix Store Replenishment (DAX) enhances inventory management and facilitates data sharing between suppliers and retailers.

Retalix's one core engine for sales and store operations synchronises activities across all outlets through one accurate source. As such, retailers enjoy lower hardware and maintenance costs and greater control over customer experiences and operations.

How do you see an application-less store paradigm matching your company's objectives, moving systems centrally, and intelligence and interaction to the edge?

Retalix approach is to offer centralised applications in order to improve retailers' operational efficiency and decision-making effectiveness. For example, centralisation reduces total cost of ownership and the time to market by reducing costs by utilising the availability of online data. The decision to centralise less critical applications is straightforward, but centralising critical applications requires satellite locations or other backup means to ensure near - 100% availability.

How can retailers leverage real-time analytics and demand forecasting tools to drive customer-centric planning effectiveness and execution efficiency?

Understanding shopper's demand at different levels of aggregation, from the single customer to the entire chain, is essential for making intelligent decisions. By focusing on the shopper, Retalix strives to drive, optimise, and execute real time decisions - from promotions, through pricing and assortment, to replenishment.

Retalix's 'Demand-Driven Retailing' balances the retailer's buy and sell sides, by leveraging shopper demand signals. We accomplish this by providing system interfaces that enable data collection from multiple touch points, analysing data to gain customer insight, and tailoring our offerings to meet the customer needs.