Retail IT White Papers

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. The State Of Contact Center Technology 2/22/2021

   Can it mitigate the impact of change? Can it drive unlock new efficiencies? Can it generate unprecedented value? Always relevant when evaluating contact center technology, these three questions took center stage amid the events of 2020. The best technology would have helped companies smoothly transition to remote work and digital-first communication. It also would have helped companies elevate their experiences — and reduce agent and customer effort — even in the face of such uncertainty.

4. Online Consumer Insights Report 2/5/2021

   This report includes data on consumer sentiment for commerce trends in fulfillment, omnichannel, Amazon, and more. Consumer insights into the COVID-19 pandemic are also included.

5. Retail Supply Chains Take On Pandemic-Era Challenges 1/13/2021

   One retailer needs to set up curbside pickup in a day. Another is doing ship-from-store but needs real-time data on the number of units of specific items at each store. Others are deciding whether to keep merchandise at shuttered stores or send them back to distribution centers. Those are among the challenges retailers are facing during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. They are not easy to face alone. 

6. The Cyber 5 Holiday Report 1/13/2021

   How the peak shopping weekend shook out during this unique holiday season. Find out how a later Amazon Prime Day coupled with merchants earlier holiday discounts impacted the kick-off to the holiday season. Also, an analysis of discounts offered by DNVBs and a look at why supply chain snafus have complicated retailers' overall holiday plans. Plus, an in-depth look at how fulfillment operation improvements will outlive the pandemic and a real-world test of how retailers' curbside operations fared during the Cyber 5.

7. Reimagining The Store Of The Future: Retail Adjustments For A Post-Pandemic World 10/22/2020

   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.

8. Cash Transactions In The Mobile World 2/19/2020

   For two decades, the PC has reigned supreme over all POS solutions, operating as point of sale terminals that sit on counters and control various peripherals. However, the need for PC-centric solutions is waning as a more flexible POS model emerges Leveraging cloud and mobile technologies, this model supports thin client and IP-enabled components such as cash drawers and printers.

9. Protect Yourself: 8 Security Best Practices For Retailers 10/21/2019

   The retail industry is a favorite target of cyber attackers. Hackers know a successful attack on a retailer can give them access to the data of thousands or even millions of payment cardholders. Cyber criminals can sell that data for a tidy profit to other criminals on the dark web who use it for fraud, identity theft, and phishing attacks. Cyber crime is big business; it’s projected to cause damages of $6 trillion by 2021 on organizations of all types and sizes.

10. Retail Cash Loss: Addressing The Problem With Intelligent Technology 9/6/2019

    Any business that accepts cash for transactions has come to expect that some percentage of it will vanish as a result of fraud, administrative errors and employee misdeeds. Inventory shrink, which includes cash loss, costs retailers an estimated $47 billion annually. It is so prevalent that retailers have a line item for it in their P&L statement.