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RETAIL SUCCESS GUIDE

APIs in Retail: The Secret to Staying Ahead of Warp Speed

Digital advances guarantee constant transformation. Every industry must deal with massive information flow: new data from multiple sources, through multiple channels, in multiple formats, and via multiple devices. The changes driven by the convergence of local, mobile, social, cloud, and the Internet of Things are very real, and very relevant. More to the point, they come with blinding speed.

And for every company in retail, those changes bring true opportunity.

The best way to survive—and thrive—is to stay ahead of changes. Companies need strategies and technologies that help them extract and share data securely, efficiently, and profitably. They need flexible platforms that can incorporate evolving customer habits easily. Above all, they need seamless integration between the physical and digital worlds.

Table of contents

IntroDigital advances guarantee constant transformation

Key issues First Among Equals: The mobile component in omnichannel

Truly Seamless: Moving easily between devices and channels

In the Loop: Partner integration at every level

The Internet of Things Changes Everything

Customer success:* ARGOS * LUXURY RETAILER * COCA-COLA ENTERPRISES * WESTFIELD LABS

The most forward-thinking enterprises in retail are already reinventing nearly every aspect of their operations. Many of the most innovative companies have discovered that leveraging an API management platform is the key to creating seamless experience across multiple channels to ensure easy communication and transaction between the company and its employees, customers, and partners. They’re powering e-commerce mobile and web experiences even as new tools and channels emerge. They’re enabling consistent just-in-time pricing and product information. They’re expediting data delivery to drive personalized offers, simplify in-store returns, empower sales associates, and enhance the customer experience. Put simply, they’re embracing change to boost the bottom line.

And the changes just keep coming. The customer environment in-store and online is evolving so fast and so radically that the retail business as we know it is on the cusp of its greatest transformation ever.

That doesn’t mean brick-and-mortar stores are going away (even Amazon sees the value of a physical presence, if only on a pop-up basis). What’s changing instead is the experience: An entire generation of customers now moves effortlessly between the physical and digital worlds, using a variety of tools and channels, and they expect retailers to keep up, or even lead the way.

This means omnichannel is key. Here’s just one recent stat: 75% of shoppers say social media channels influenced their shopping behavior and brand loyalty, and shoppers who interact with a brand across two or more channels are reported to be 21% more profitable than those who shop across one.

This in turn affects other areas; while seamless data access is vital, security is too—concerns now stretch from credit card data to personally identifiable information and intellectual property. Meanwhile, in the supply chain, predictive analytics and real-time visibility into inventory are critical, as are web-ready products and a strong fulfillment strategy.

So what key issues confront retailers? And why is a carefully planned API strategy so important?

ARGOSWith 735 outlets nationwide, it’s been estimated that 96% of the population of the entire United Kingdom is always within 10 miles of an Argos store. The company is known for staying ahead of the curve: The Argos site went transactional in 2000, added Check and Reserve a year later, launched Text-and-Take-Home in 2002, and had a hugely popular iPhone app by 2011. Now, a full-fledged API strategy allows them to offer a seamless experience while expanding touch points across every customer-facing channel. Building on early programs with mobile apps, Argos uses APIs to ensure the kind of scale, security, and multichannel-multiplatform innovation it needs. That means building apps from both open and closed developer communities, all while carefully maintaining the powerful Argos brand.

That’s a high bar, and Mashery plays a critical role in providing optimal automation with alerts and reporting. It prevents unwelcome access to APIs, partitions usage, and protects Argos from denial-of-service and replay attacks. By leveraging the Mashery Control Center, Argos can set alerts for transaction problems and ensure high-quality API performance for its apps across many mobile devices. And besides seamless integration with enterprise systems, the Argos API platform brings a powerful competitive edge—it’s how customers receive automated text updates upon in-store arrival of products

they’ve ordered.

This is what true customization looks like: a constant flow of more intelligent, more responsive, and more personalized apps.

SUCCESS STORY

75% of shoppers say social media channels influenced their shopping behavior and brand loyalty, and shoppers who interact with a brand across two or more channels are reported to be 21% more profitable than those who shop across one.

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Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) is still features one of the world’s most valuable brands, and it has many of the same opportunities (and obstacles) as every consumer-facing retailer. That includes internal operations, such as the need to support mobile apps for its massive field service and sales force. It also has a variety of strategic partners—including independent distributors, maintenance companies, and merchants—who need access to the data those apps generate.

CCE sees information transparency as a business enabler worldwide, but even a local program of this kind is highly complex. Still, the company set in motion an ambitious plan: to go to market quickly with a simple and easy-to-use solution; extend company information to mobile, social, and cloud capabilities; and implement an API management system that satisfies security and governance needs.

Mashery’s multi-tenant SaaS platform now provides scalability and global caching to minimize the strain on CCE’s sprawling infrastructure, and serves as a broker for API traffic between WebMethods, SAP, and Salesforce. Today, Mashery is the single point of API access for data across this giant corporation.

The benefits are clear to many business units, including sales, procurement, and finance. API traffic is managed with ease and reliability, saves time and money on maintenance, and creates new opportunities by connecting disparate data sources. Most importantly, just as speed and agility are the keys to the new digital world, CCE acknowledges the rapid rate of acceleration in market trends, and is able to keep pace. Projects are now discussed in days and months rather than months and years.

SUCCESS STORY:

Coca-Cola EnterprisesRETAIL SUCCESS GUIDE

“Before the API program, I’m pretty sure that if 1,000 of our users hit the enter key at the same time, we would have crashed.”

—Coca-Cola Enterprises’ CTO Kevin Flowers

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SUCCESS STORY

LUXURY RETAILERThis high-end chain has a broad portfolio of digital offerings, but leading the way is a series of mobile apps that can meet the needs of a growing audience without compromising the brand’s exclusivity. This means many diverse programs have to work together behind the scenes to ensure smooth interaction at the front end.

Mashery API services function at the nexus of multiple operations, enabling a range of programs that allow greater integration between the brick-and-mortar stores and online business. Used both for internal functions and external outreach, the program enhances numerous sales and marketing activities. Perhaps most importantly, the company uses Mashery APIs to power a wide range of customer-facing mobile apps, which deliver information to store associates and enhance the in-store experience for customers. The SaaS solution in place features Traffic Manager, Cache, Oauth 2.0 Accelerator, SSL and Sandbox, and the benefits are undeniable: ease of deployment and use, flexibility, developer relations and controlled access. And perhaps most importantly, traffic doesn’t go down—through contingencies such as anniversaries and Black Friday, the scalable volume capabilities makes sure business never stops booming.

For more than a century, this highly respected retailer has built on a foundation of elegance and quality. Every aspect of every app must meet that high standard—and with Mashery, it does.

First Among Equals: The mobile component in omnichannel Yes, omnichannel really does mean all channels, but the sheer ubiquity and convenience of mobile apps—on smartphones, tablets, and soon wearables—does put them in an elite category. Research shows that mobile apps perform better than any other channel; U.S. mobile transactions have already exceeded 30% share, and the number is even higher for top-quartile retailers. Native apps with custom navigation make all the difference—personalized promotions enabled by geo-targeting, in-store research and price checks, and payment capabilities that offer checkout options beyond waiting in line perfectly complement the in-store experience.

Truly Seamless: Moving easily between devices and channelsUsers take it for granted that they can move effortlessly between different devices and channels, but developers, designers, and engineers know how hard that is to achieve. Researching a product on a tablet, spreading the word via smartphone and social media, making the purchase on a PC, and checking on the shipment on the phone again—that’s not the future, it’s now. Just in time inventory is critical—when customers want to access products across different devices, they want to access the same product across different devices.

Research shows that mobile apps perform better than any other channel; U.S. mobile transactions have already exceeded 30% share, and the number is even higher for top-quartile retailers.

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Westfield Labs is part of The Westfield Group, which has 91 iconic malls in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. But even independently, Westfield Labs is poised to become huge in retail. That’s because it functions as an incubator for innovation, leveraging a plethora of social, mobile and digital advances to unite the digital shopper with the physical world.

At the center of that universe, of course, is the API. Developers at Westfield Labs are currently using Mashery APIs to build partner networks that have the potential to disrupt many existing processes. It has a lot to build on: The malls, parking facilities, events, branded products, consumer research, supply chain networks, etc., generate vast quantities of metadata that support the generation of new technologies and techniques.

A key goal is to create a virtual mega-mall through which all retailers can use pinpoint, data-driven marketing initiatives to meet individual consumer needs. Westfield is also working on a Mashery-branded developer portal, as well as Mashery-powered location and parking apps.

SUCCESS STORY:

An Incubator for Retail Innovation

RETAIL SUCCESS GUIDE

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In the Loop: Partner integration at every levelWith the right authorization, companies can access data through APIs securely and efficiently, which in turn brings the power to drive customer recommendations and personalized offers/re-targeting. For this, the process needs to encompass affiliates and internal partners. Many retailers now use API platforms to securely manage affiliate relationships, customize levels of access, and ensure brand consistency. It works internally too; APIs help companies manage data flow across departments and organizational groups. Finally, in the supply chain, customers use APIs to enable field staff to track stock levels and inventory. It’s not the most glamorous function—never getting the attention customer-facing mobile apps do—but it’s critical to operational efficiency and the bottom line.

The Internet of Things Changes EverythingIf the sheer quantities of data created and exchanged every day seem daunting, then strap yourself in. The Internet of Things has the potential to be a greater wave of disruption than any that came before. Right now, it’s mostly laptops and mobile devices, plus a few wearable newcomers, that generate and share data. Soon, everything from power tools to the kitchen sink will have the same capabilities. And as these tools get adopted, they will need to become part of the seamless family.

Given how much retail has already changed, it’s not hard to see that there’s more change in store. The smartest enterprises are crafting API strategies aligned with the changing world and seizing every opportunity to innovate, find new revenue and profit pools, and connect with their customers and partners in new and novel ways.

Contact Mashery today to find out if our class-leading API management platform is right for your changing business, and learn why Gartner recently recognized us as a leader in our space.

TIBCO Software empowers executives, developers, and business users with Fast Data solutions that make the right data available in real time for faster answers, better decisions, and smarter action. Over the past 15 years, thousands of businesses across the globe have relied on TIBCO technology to integrate their applications and ecosystems, analyze their data, and create real-time solutions. Learn how TIBCO turns data—big or small—into differentiation at www.tibco.com.©2015, TIBCO Software Inc. All rights reserved. TIBCO, the TIBCO logo, TIBCO Software, the Two-Second Advantage, and TIBCO Mashery are trademarks or registered trademarks of TIBCO Software Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other product and company names and marks in this document are the property of their respective owners and mentioned for identification purposes only.

09/22/15

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