Retail IT White Papers

1. Scaling New Heights? Data Reveals Retailers’ Challenges, Opportunities In Scaling Their Businesses 9/1/2021

   The retail industry is witnessing significant changes in consumer behavior, driven by a desire for increased digital and omnichannel experiences. What hasn’t changed is that consumers’ expectations for secure, frictionless, personalized shopping experiences remains high. These high expectations extend across the purchase journey, from discovery through to post-purchase support. Furthermore, consumers expect that the shopping experience is consistent no matter how and when they choose to interact with a retailer, including both peak and nonpeak seasons.

2. 2021 Holiday Planning 8/23/2021

   Prepare for a holiday season that will be like no other. Hear from fellow retailers on how they are preparing to navigate shipping and supply chain challenges, as well as labor shortages. Plus, merchants continue to make omnichannel and website performance investments to prepare for the busy peak season. Also inside, tips on strategies retailers can implement this Q4 and insights into what online shoppers say they want from merchants during the holidays, such as updates to return policies.

3. Is Your Business Prepared For The Agile Age? 5 Keys To Perfecting Your Retail Strategy 8/9/2021

   “Agility” was the buzzword of 2020 as retailers feverishly worked to adapt their business models, experiences and services amid uncertainty. The ever-changing customer behaviors we saw during the pandemic, coupled with a rapid evolution of industry dynamics, will continue to make agility key to competing and thriving in retail’s new era.

4. Reimagining The Store Of The Future: Retail Adjustments For A Post-pandemic World 7/16/2021

   The COVID-19 pandemic created significant challenges for retail, and one that is likely to have long-term effects is to persuade consumers to return to stores. Concerns over the potential for infection have left many consumers feeling uncomfortable in stores. Retailers must take meaningful steps to earn the trust of patrons whose values and behavior have changed.

5. Prioritizing Total Cost Of Ownership In Retail Technology Purchases 7/16/2021

   Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the retail industry was transforming itself to adopt new technologies and accommodate evolving consumer preferences. Now, as retailers look beyond the pandemic, they need to invest in new technologies and services to stay competitive in the digital future. For point of sale (POS) solution providers, this opens profit-generating opportunities to sell technology solutions and deliver long-term services.

6. Leveraging Online Shopping, Omnichannel Service, And Personalization For A New Season Of Customer Expectations 7/15/2021

   After a challenging 2020 holiday season, retailers are preparing for another round of holiday shopping in 2021, this time with the hope that some amount of normalcy will return to consumer spending and shopping behavior.

7. Harnessing Data Can Drive Omnichannel Efficiency 5/12/2021

   One retail fulfillment center needs to count pallets of merchandise stacked to the ceiling to meet the surge in online orders that has come during the pandemic. Another needs to keep workers socially distanced. And with more shopping moving online every day, all retailers need real-time updates on consumer habits that seem to be evolving rapidly.

8. New Benchmarks For Customer Contact Performance 4/23/2021

   What worked yesterday will not necessarily drive success today. It will almost certainly not ensure a fruitful tomorrow.

9. How To Guide For Doing BOPIS And Curbside Pickup Right 4/8/2021

   The growth of omnichannel fulfillment programs such as buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup of online orders has been a retail industry trend for several years now. That trend reached a tipping point in the last 12 months, as the COVID-19 pandemic led consumers to seek out safer, contactless shopping experiences. Equally embraced by consumers and retailers alike, and for many of the same reasons (e.g., cost savings on last-mile order delivery), BOPIS and curbside have transitioned from nice-to-have to must-have services for brands with physical storefronts.

10. Radial Is A Leader In SPARK Matrix: Omnichannel Order Management Systems 3/17/2021

    Omnichannel order management systems (OMS) help retailers manage and fulfill complex customers' orders efficiently in an omnichannel environment to improve the customer experience. An omnichannel OMS provides unified visibility of enterprise inventory from warehouse, distribution center, store, and in-transit locations while performing complex order routing to enable efficient order fulfillment from the optimum location.