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NRF 2020 REPORT

2020 is committed to be a transformational era for retail. Technology keeps on shifting the rules of engagement, consumers are more exigents than ever, and making them notice your brand among all the buzz in the market is a tremendous challenge. BAYBRIDGEDIGITAL was present at this year’s NRF edition, the biggest event featuring the latest technologies and retail industry trends to report to you the primary takeaways to keep in mind.

In Manhattan, the new outdoor storefront stocks inventory are based on local consumers interests. By also using a heat mapping tool to precise what sections resonate with shoppers the most.

Chairman’s word

“The level of creativity across retail has never been higher as our members respond to rising consumer expectations with new products and experiences that make people’s lives better” Mike George claimed.

Employees Empowerment

When a new merchandise arrives, or when the level of inventory fluctuates, sales staff must constantly update their knowledge base from shift to shift. The changing and dynamic nature of the retail environment makes this task a very challenging one. In order to make this mission possible, companies need to be equipped with the right tools that furnish their employees with Artificial Intelligence empowered tools that facilitate the access to key information and communication between staff.

In order to help its employees to make certain and well informed decisions, Walmart permits its associates to access a mobile store device supplied with specific apps that give real-time insights like expected shipments arrivals, out-of-stocks and product locations.

Retailers are adopting a 360° strategy to reduce costs, answer consumers’ needs and establish a proper communication between the different parts of the company. This optimal infrastructure is possible through an intelligent supply chain powered with data-driven processes to predict inventory and synchronize information sharing among all the members.A Data-driven supply chain strategy enables better communication between factories, warehouses, stores and other supply chain components. It keeps everyone on track to hand over efficiency.

Nowadays, companies are granted access to a wealth of data about their consumers, their businesses and the market in which they are operating. Yet, it can be difficult to use these insights in a way that benefits their businesses. Smart brands and retailers step out of the crowd by anticipating and quickly adapting to what truly the market needs. They listen carefully to what the customers need and how the local purchase patterns are designed, to better deliver a proper offer.

Responsive Merchandising

An intelligent Supply chain

1. RETAIL TRENDS

BayBridgeDigital©2020 - All rights reserved

BayBridgeDigital©2020 - All rights reservedNRF 2020 REPORT

Macy’s allows third party vendors to accomplish and ship orders directly to consumers through its Vendor Direct program, excluding the typically stagnant process of shipping from a Macy’s own warehouse and logistics network.

Companies need to understand how their data is structured. Data matters to any company, regardless of size, sector or type. It’s one of the biggest business assets. Data helps you achieve your organizational objectives and deliver your business strategy. To get the most out of data, it’s vital to have a data strategy in place to :

- Inform decision making- Invest in data scientist - Understand customers and trends

Throughout history, shopping has involved the -They are nowadays more exigents and hard to please. Here are some insights about the different profiles based on IBM survey :

81% of respondents worldwide belong to one of two shopper groups: Value-based consumers (41%) who want convenience and products and brands that simplify their lives, and purpose-based consumers (40%) who seek products and services that matches their personal values.

57% of surveyed consumers are willing to change their purchasing habits to help reduce negative environmental impact.

71% of those surveyed indicated that transparency and traceability are very important criterias for them before purchasing an item and are willing to pay a premium for brands that provide this to them.

The famous fast food chain Chipotle analyzed its social media data on Twitter and Instagram to compile the recurrent comments that describe its customers experience with the brand in an ironic way. Then created a customized Instagram augmented reality filter.

35% of consumers shop in “micro-moments” at least weekly and up to multiple times daily. Consumers now shop whenever and wherever the mood strikes them, usually while doing something else. Consumers are very interested in attending in-store events, particularly when they can meet with knowledgeable staff or see products for themselves.

67% of consumers enjoy their in-store experiences because of retailers’ abilities to get products into their hands quickly, answer urgent questions, and provide explanations about items and services they are buying. When retailers create positive in-store experiences, they can increase their customer loyalty.

How brands are using AI to describe what type of customers they have :

2. HOW TO USE DATA TO SEGMENT CUSTOMERS

During NRF 2020 Salesforce announced new features to enable customers to benefit from Salesforce’s success in the future. Its new features are designed to help customers create preferred sales experiences.

3. SALESFORCE COMMERCE CLOUD ANNOUNCES AT 2020 NRF

BayBridgeDigital©2020 - All rights reservedNRF 2020 REPORT

Brands need an agile and flexible platform, exactly what Commerce Cloud is all about.

The NRF is known as the world’s largest retail conference and exhibition. During this unavoidable event, numerous sessions are scheduled to give market players the opportunity to speak and share their visions of innovation and transformation in the retail market. Prestigious guests included CEOs from Starbucks, Mastercard, Cartier North America, and Kohl’s (award-winning Michelle Gass).

A new innovation has been announced to provide a new level of flexibility and scalability to develop commerce.

New and improved commerce APIs enable faster development of custom commerce experiences and applications. Commerce integrations and acceleration of commerce projects are accelerated by Mulesoft Accelerator for Commerce Cloud. This was only possible through predefined integrations for ERP and PIM.

Acceleration of headless experiences :

Agility and responsiveness when creating applications are the main expectations of commercial developers. Commerce Cloud Developer Center serves as a new API community to create, discover and share new headless commerce experiences.

Commerce Cloud Developer Center

Now Einstein AI Dashboard can provide merchandisers with near real-time metrics so they have the actionable information they need on sites, showcase pages to maximize AI-based registrations, increase revenue and measure success.

Einstein AI Cloud Commerce Dashboard

Seamlessly connecting and automating the sales order process (sales, execution, customer service) is possible in Salesforce Order Management. This provides a single view of customers and streamlined support.

Salesforce Order Management :

4. SPEAKERS

At the sixth annual NRF Honours on January 12, 2020 in New York City, the most influential people in the retail industry will be on hand to support and reward the next generation of talent and identify innovators participating in industry developments. Each year, the NRF Foundation honours the personalities who are involved in the evolution, development and future of retail. They are leading the way through ever-increasing innovation to ensure that the retail sector thrives and evolves with the times.Indeed, this industry has undergone many changes in recent years and continues to develop and evolve.

The Visionary award is a prize that is presented annually to a leader, a prominent personality in the retail industry.

This year, the Visionary was awarded to Michelle Gass (Kohl’s CEO) who became the first woman in the industry to receive the award. Michelle was recognized for her ability to significantly transform the contours of commerce.

5. THE VISIONARY2020 AWARD AT THE NRF HONORS

NRF 2020 REPORT

« In today’s competitive and changing retail landscape, companies need leaders who are willing to take risks to build more meaningful personal relationships with their customers. Michelle has cultivated an environment at Kohl where risk-taking is encouraged, which has never been more important than in today’s dynamic retail environment. » (Matthew Shay, President and CEO at National Retail Federation).

The culture of innovation that Michelle is building at Kohl is an inspiration to the industry. Her experience in the retail industry and her ability to understand her customers and anticipate market trends make Michelle a charismatic and transformational retail leader.

«It is a tremendous honour to be recognized by NRF. I am incredibly proud of our Kohl associates who work hard every day to deliver excellence to our customers and who determine our business priorities for long-term growth. It’s a time of transformation in retail, and we’re excited to come to the table with new and innovative ideas that fuel the future of our business and the retail industry. »

He can Zoom, scale, rotate and preview the items from different angles and corners. Augmented reality takes shopping experience many steps further by granting the customers to place the products from an online website to their homes even before purchasing them.

They can examine if they are compatible with the objects and decoration in the surrounding or even see if they are adequate with their style and their body shapes. All this, through with a simple click !

Practical Examples : BayretailTM already allows 360-degree images across a wide variety of categories:

Shoppers now have the privilege to live a three dimensional shopping journey, and therefore, 3D or Augmented Reality (AR) technologies have the whole potential to grow into a key differentiator for retailers, as long as consumers are demanding a personalized experience.

Immersive commerce or the current mindblowing evolution of eCommerce, commonly known as the iCommerce, that boosts the customer experience to a whole other level, by imbuing different technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), 360° degree images, and Virtual Reality (VR), mixed Reality (MR), etc. in an online shopping journey. The purpose is to make the customers live an online experience closer to the instore shopping one. Rather than scrolling through basic 2D pictures of the product, and instead of reading the boring description about the items, the shopper now has the possibility to interact, examine the product and control it in detail.

6. VISUAL ECONOMY & IMMERSIVE COMMERCE

BayBridgeDigital©2020 - All rights reserved

BayBridgeDigital©2020 - All rights reservedNRF 2020 REPORT

Abigail Schirmann - Vice President Retail & CPG at BayBridgeDigital- held a conference during the NRF, under the name Retail Leaders Board, on the 14th of January in New York, in which she spoke about the most important trends that drive the retail sector. Here are some of the highlighted points and recommendations covered during this event :

Social Shopping : Instagram has become a shopping reference with 41% of e-commerce brands helding a profitable business through shoppable Instagram posts.

Micro personalization : When customers have a great experience, they’re willing to pay up to a 16% price premium.

Predictive Analytics : When shoppers follow AI-powered product recommendations, their average order value increases by 14%.

The reinvention of the store : Pop-Up Store is expected to generate $80 billion on an annual basis. Fast Checkout : ¾ of shoppers abandon their purchases because of long queues. The dawn of sustainability : Maison Simons offers customers the latest trends in clothing, accessories, and home décor — and the first zero net energy store in Quebec City.

Sebastien Zins, SVP Retail & CPG, Salesforce

POINT OF VIEW :

• Back to emotion • Reconnect the consumer with the brand• End to end customer experience• In Store shopping assistant and clienteling• Reinvent the store

« There were no big technological innovations or revolution revealed at this year’s NRF, compared to the previous years with the rise of artificial intelligence, Robotics, etc.  The main trend this year is a true come back  to emotions - and how technology enables brands to create personal experiences with their customers.

For retailers, it means accessing data easily, regardless of the source of channels data comes from. But it also means giving store associates access to that same data along with any practical information they need in order to make customers’ experience a personalized one.

Bayretail, developed by BayBridgeDigital, is this application that will enrich the sales associate’s ability to do local marketing and product recommendations at the same time, so that the experience between the brand and the customer remain always personalized. »

7. RETAIL LEADERS BOARD

To sum up the 2020 NRF edition, the retail experience -regardless of channels- is beyond the merchant’s analysis and the interpretation of consumer data. Given the enormous opportunity to create new value, companies should pursue emotional connections as a science and a core strategy. Firms can invest in deep research and big data analytics and advanced technological tools, but if they neglect the importance of having a detailed understanding of emotional connection to attract and retain the most valuable customers, the results won’t be spectacular. The most effective way to maximize customer value is to move beyond mere customer satisfaction and tap into their fundamental motivations and fulfilling their deep, often unspoken emotional needs in order to customize their experience !

8. CONCLUSION

BayBridgeDigital is a game changing software company headquartered in NYC. We are building a suite of digital applications on the Salesforce platform. Our mission is to create a world where retailers are loved by customers and employees. We connect brands technology and people to create new growth and business value faster.

BayBridgeDigital is a leading provider of retail-specific cloud and mobile software, driving digital transformation for the world’s largest companies. Awarded by Business Headlines as one of the «10 most innovative company in 2019», BayBridgeDigital is an “industry cloud” pure-player specialized on Salesforce, the world’s #1 CRM provider.Our product Bayretail increases sales, service marketing agility, operational efficiency and faster time to value for cloud and digital adoption across the enterprise. The company is committed to innovation, customer success, and a values-led culture.Bayretail’s mission is to empower next generation retailers with world-class mobile-first, cloud-first enterprise software that transforms the in-store experience.www.baybridgedigital.com

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