Retail by MarketScale

Is Google trying to encroach on Amazon's territory with their new shopping page? That was the question on Daniel Litwin and Tyler Kern's mind during Business Casual, MarketScale's live radio show airing on Fridays at 8am CT. Helping them sort through the details of the story was Bryan Eisenberg of Retail Legends.

Hear why he says Google can compete with Amazon when it comes to selection but will struggle in other major areas, specifically availability.

On what seems like monthly basis, Amazon.com Inc. seems to be investing in a new industry, company or product. Its most recent investment, however, may prove to be its best one yet, even if it does not result in a monumental profit.

The company announced this month that it will retrain more than 100,000 of it’s U.S.-based workers in an effort to better prepare them and the company for the future. The upskilling program is a $700 million investment over a six-year span. This amounts to an approximate investment of $1,200 per year on each of the 100,000 employees, a number that is about one-third of its total American workforce.

A tightening labor market, an increase in automation and high profitability allows companies of this size to invest more in their workforce, even if it comes at the expense of profits. The Amazon program does not require employees to stay at the company, and the retailer is training some of its workforce in roles that the company currently does not offer employment in.

“What Amazon looks like it’s betting on is that they will be able to provide enough of a desirable workforce that these workers will by and large stay with Amazon, and put these new skills to use,” University of Washington Associate Professor of Economics Rachel Heath said.

The roles Amazon is training its employees for are based on data gathered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the most rapidly-hiring fields in the U.S. These include data science, data mapping and security engineering roles among others.

The move coincides with similar initiatives started by industry leaders like Walmart, JP Morgan, Accenture and AT&T.

It is no secret that the retail world has been changed forever by the digital age. The internet connected retailers to a global market, and those that have adopted to the new landscape have come out ahead of the competition.

The rise of digital retail is often associated with the demise of brick-and-mortar shopping. However, that does not have to be the case.

While it is true that the likes of Amazon and Alibaba have put pressure on traditional retailers to adjust to new consumer expectations, clever brands are staying ahead by blending digital experiences and metrics into their traditional stores. This omnichannel approach is the subject of a new book by authors Tim Mason and Miya Knights.

“If you neglect the store side of your business, not even online is going to save you,” Knights, Head of Industry Insight at Eagle Eye Solutions said.

Omnichannel Retail: How to Build Winning Stores in a Digital World provides a roadmap for retailers looking to create a modern and digital solution to the ever-changing world of retail.

“It’s not about being everywhere for the customer, it’s about being where the customer wants you to be,” Knights noted.

The book can be purchased here. MarketScale listeners will receive a 20% discount with the promo code Omnichannel 20.

We may live in the age of plastic, but 50% of transactions under $10 are still done in cash. There is more cash in circulation than ever before. In short, cash isn’t going anywhere. But, retailers know all too well that cash is fluid and hard to keep track of throughout the day as it flows in and out of the till.

So how do retailers keep track of legal tender, specifically coins, coming in and out of their store? We explore this question on this episode of MarketScale’s Retail Podcast with David Barclay, vice president of marketing for Tidel, as we discuss paper cash and how automated solutions can help stores manage their flow of cash.

Retail stores, particularly grocery and big box stores, are perhaps suffering the most from the difficulties of handling liquid cash. On a day-to-day basis, a store is losing profit as a result of the human element needed to handle coins and bills. But Barclay was adamant that stores need not eat into their profits by handling physical money.

Automated solutions, like that provided by Tidel, Barclay said, can help increase store efficiency and lead to “optimal use of store labor.” The biggest hurdle facing stores is that they “...don’t know at any one time how much cash you have on hand," he said.

As a result, cash is susceptible to theft, mishandling, and miscounting. Automated systems create better cash visibility, and the “ability to develop predictive models," Barclay said, which empowers stores with useful data for greater profit. Automated cash monitoring systems are not just for retail. Tidel’s software has made its way into the healthcare, education, and entertainment sectors.

More than just a network to monitor cash flow, Tidel helps businesses run more efficiently, which trickles into every part of the operation. The Tidel advantage is best summed up in the situation we’ve all been in--standing in line, waiting for an employe to count a handful of coins. Automated systems like Tidel’s, Barclay said, “...takes the manual counting of cash off the table.”

In the last decade, the retail industry has had to be limber, adaptable, and resilient as online retail has grown to an epic level. Brick-and-mortar stores have shifted their focus to providing customers with a delightful, efficient experience-- one that cannot be replicated online.

The room for error or issue in this shopping experience is slim, putting pressure on associates and even more pressure on higher-ups to develop a seamless workflow from top to bottom. Giving his perspective on today's podcast episode, breaking down the importance of managing workflow in the retail space, is Doug Spiron, senior vice president of ThinkTime, LLC, a workflow management software.

Spiron emphasized that technology has become more critical in the workplace than ever before, particularly in task management. With the convenience of e-commerce making brick-and-mortar less of a necessity to sell product, customers are now coming to the store for a second-to-none experience.

Disorganization, lack of product and overall passivity from associates no longer flies, because it leads to a poor experience for the end-user. The associates in store, fewer than in previous years, are looking for a personalized management experience, too, meaning they seek authentic, individualized answers to their issues rather than a scripted response from corporate headquarters.

With only 33% of associates in retail believing they have the tools they need to do their job, it is increasingly crucial to empower employees with a solution to their needs in real-time on the floor.

Spiron points to ThinkTime as an example of a solution that meets all the task management needs of today's retailer. It connects associates, in actual time, with a party that’s been designated to solve that task, providing support in a personalized way.

At the root of ThinkTime management software is the desire to help the associate work productively. Using technology, connection, and personalization, ThinkTime gives retail workers the tools they need to get work done and keep the focus on creating an excellent shopping experience for the customer.

Retail shopping before the age of the Internet was a grand event. It meant heading out to socialize and relax with friends while catching up on life happenings. Today, as we have taken to doing these pastimes on the Internet, brick-and-mortar retail stores are having to adjust.

What will bring modern customers into stores, and how can they secure their loyalty to come back? The answer–a curated, personalized shopping experience. To better understand this wired-in audience and their desires, retail stores are getting help from companies like Pocketstop. CEO of Pocketstop, Daniel Wagstaff dives deep into how collecting relevant data from shoppers can create a seamless VIP shopping experience.

This customized experience is precisely what contemporary customers crave. Pocketstop helps distill safely collected public data into relevant information, and then apply actionable marketing strategies that get customers in the store and keep them there.

Wagstaff describes the VIP customer experience, a data-personalized experience, as a “win-win.” The consumer wants to buy products catered for them while the store seeks to fulfill the customer’s exact needs. Data helps both parties achieve their goals. Wagstaff points out, “America isn’t slowing down on shopping.” Indeed, brick and mortar stores are not dying–They’re just undergoing a revolution.

When you think of digital signage in a retail store, the standard has become static imagery or looping media, providing color and branding but not much else. Trevor Sumner, CEO of Perch Interactive, says it’s time to think bigger and bigger.

On today’s episode of the Retail Podcast, brought to you by MarketScale, host Daniel Litwin sat down with Sumner to discuss how digital signage is evolving and becoming much more interactive and personalized. Sumner, who was recently recognized in the Corporate Excellence Awards 2019 as the Most Influential CEO of the Year 2019 for his work in Visual Merchandising, knows how powerful positive digital marketing can have on the shopping experience.

“With digital signage, I think of boring static media. Aren’t these just the banner ads on the internet that we hate?” Sumner said. “It’s an interruptive media.”

To avoid being interruptive and leaning toward being industry-disruptive instead, digital signage in-store is adding value to the shoppers chain of events. As a result, it’s serving customers better and giving retailers a wealth of information. Digital marketers are entering a new phase of in-store signage that’s focused on interactivity and personalization, where this media is helpful and informational, as well as fun.

“On the internet, you can click on products to get more information, so why can’t we do that in the store?” Sumner said.

Marketers are using the next generation of digital signage — computer vision, for example — for innovative ways to help customers. Cameras are being used in stores to see which products a person gazes at versus picks up, which data has shown it has a direct effect on the likelihood a customer will purchase that product. This kind of data feeds the retailer’s arsenal of ways to engage customers during the shopping experience.

“It’s about providing customers an experience that’s flawless, surprising, and even delightful,” Sumner said.

Technology continues to change the way that Americans are doing business. More consumers than ever are shopping online, helped by outdated laws about sales tax collection for remote sellers. Congress was asked to act and change the laws, but when they moved too slowly, the states took their own action. Enter South Dakota v. Wayfair, a lawsuit that made a lot of headlines in 2018. Now, retailers like Wayfair, Amazon, and others are forced to start meeting “economic nexus” laws, which state that the threshold for whether or not you must charge sales tax in a state no longer depends on whether you have a brick-and-mortar location there, but on your volume of sales or transactions with its residents. An estimated $34 to $35 billion are on the line here, so states are becoming increasingly aggressive about getting their money.

On this episode of “Weaver: Beyond the Numbers,” we interviewed George Rendziperis and Shane Stewart of Weaver’s State and Local Tax Services practice about how the landscape is changing with these new economic nexus laws.

Is your company complying with the new laws in every state where you have customers? What could happen if you don’t get into compliance within the next 24 months? How can you comply across state lines, and how will each state know if you owe sales tax? Listen here, or on Apple Podcasts & Spotify.

Technology has transformed the retail space. With the popularity of online shopping, retail stores are forced to consistently keep up with the shopping habits of their customers. Retailer, however, are not tech experts, and can struggle to integrate data collection into their business model while still creating an enjoyable shopping experience for their customers. This is where Octopus Management Solutions Inc. comes in.

ShouYi Poon, Vice President of Business Development at Octopus, joined the MarketScale Retail Podcast to discuss how the company consults with retail businesses to create a holistic, flexible technology solution for a brick-and-mortar space.

Technology in retail is not one-size-fits-all. Each business has its own unique customers and requires a custom blend of technology to fit its current infrastructure. However, retailers do not want to be bogged down by tech. As a result, the technology that retail companies bring in often does not communicate with the business as a whole.

For example, consumers want an online dashboard to check their purchase history, track orders, and watch loyalty points. Between buying online and buying in-store though, data gets lost and is not always communicated between brick-and-mortar shops and online platforms. In order to keep customers coming back, technology solutions must seamlessly communicate data between digital and physical stores.

Octopus Management Solutions Inc. helps implement tech that is designed, built, tested, and implemented specifically for the needs and consumer desires of each unique business.

Contrary to popular belief, retail shopping is not dead. Rather, it is adapting to the desires of its customers. Shopping is no longer about ticking off a list—it is about creating an enjoyable shopping experience for the consumer. Technology is essential to creating this harmonious experience that keeps shoppers coming back for more.