Are you a retailer looking to elevate your brand? Are you striving to provide a more [if uk_office] personalised[/if] [if us_office] personalized[/if], frictionless shopping experience across your physical and digital channels? If so, a possible solution could be to use Dynamics 365 Commerce by Microsoft to build a custom retail solution for your business that elevates some of your main problems.
To do this, you will first need to understand the core challenges your customers face, work out what possible solutions to those challenges could look like, and then build a project team to deliver the solution.
So, what is Dynamics 365 Commerce?
Dynamics 365 Commerce is a suite of tools developed by Microsoft, part of the Dynamics 365 family, that enables businesses in every niche to become more productive. In retail, the Dynamics components that are specifically tailored to the sector are found in Dynamics 365 Commerce.
The benefits that are delivered by building your solution from Dynamics 365 Commerce are:
One: Cross-channel customer engagement
Enable your customers to take ownership of their purchase by enabling them to buy when, how and where they want–on any device–by delivering full parity of experience on and offline.
Two: Build customer loyalty
Create a central hub that contains all customer-focused info. Understand their needs and create longer lasting relationships through AI-powered tools that will grow and strengthen your brand.
Three: Digital commerce-ready
Whether you’re currently running an online store or not, creating a fully end-to-end solution that scales to your needs across basic online and advance e-commerce is vital.
Four: Iterate,[if uk_office] optimise[/if] [if us_office]optimize [/if]and streamline
Friction-free commerce is the aim of the game. Enable your customers with a seamless commerce experience, with integrated, [if uk_office]optimised [/if] [if us_office]optimized[/if] back-office operations through AI and machine learning.
Five: Create flexibility and security
Flexible deployments mean you can meet your operational requirements and you can create a configurable, scalable platform that meets all global compliance and security standards.
Retail case studies for Dynamics 365 Commerce
If you’re going to invest in Microsoft Dynamics resource to deliver a Dynamics 365 Commerce project, you will need to understand not just the functional benefits, but also the commercial benefits to adopting the technology and the additional team resource. Below are three case studies from prominent retailers who have made the decision to adopt Dynamics 365 commerce.
Macy’s: Transforming online and mobile customer service through an AI-driven virtual agent
Macy’s understands that customers are increasingly turning to digital channels to browse and to shop, and that more and more, customers will only buy once they have all the necessary information.
Customer experience is therefore of paramount importance. Macy’s decided to implement a virtual agent powered by the inbuilt Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI solution for customer service.
This virtual agent has deep connections through to Macy’s back-end system, and this means it can action and resolve customer issues, and help to transfer customers in a seamless fashion to a live agent if necessary. Currently, the virtual agent is helping to answer over one quarter of customer queries, and Macy’s already has plans to expand the functionality to other shopping channels.
According to Joe Timem, Vice President, Call Center and Credit Systems at Macy’s, “we chose the Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI solution for customer service because we felt that it is the best, most flexible, and most scalable platform out of the box. It allows us to be nimble and quick to market.”
Dr Martens: Full Dynamics 365 integration to improve customer experience
Dr. Martens, the iconic British footwear brand, has ambitious growth plans for retail and e-commerce channels. The brand understands that it needs to suit the needs of the modern consumer, and therefore all legacy applications would need to be replaced with Dynamics 365. This process was dubbed “Project Reboot: Join the Revolution”.
“Dr. Martens consumers are young and tech savvy, and they expect modern retail experiences,” says Jackie Reid, Program Lead for Project Reboot. “Microsoft Dynamics 365 gives our customers the ability to buy online, return in-store, and leverage Click & Collect, while simultaneously supporting our global colleagues to make smarter and more accurate decisions. To say the change has been significant is an understatement.”
The brand has already rolled out these capabilities in the UK and US and is in the process of rolling out across Asia Pacific. With an annual turnover of £500 million, the brand now has the tools and capabilities it needs to do three times that amount of business over the next 10 years.
Resourcing your Dynamics 365 Commerce project
If you’d like some help understanding what sort of resource you might require for your next Microsoft Dynamics project, give us a call.
We have been working in Dynamics for over 15 years and understand the needs and requirements of Dynamics teams across the UK and United States, and we have great D365 retail clients. We therefore understand the market, the tools that you will likely need to use, and have access to a broad pool of candidates, many exclusive who will be able to help you.
In today’s post-Covid 19 landscape, working life is dramatically different, and candidates have a new set of criteria for deciding which project they want to work on next. However, with our expertise, we can ensure you pick up only the best Dynamics 365 Commerce resource out there.
If you'd like to speak with a member of our Microsoft Dynamics recruitment team, [if uk_office] get in touch with us on +44 (0)1483 233 000.[/if] [if us_office] call us on +1 646 889 1920. [/if] Alternatively, visit our contact page and get in touch.