The COVID-19 crisis is unprecedented in its scale and uncertainty. Nowhere has its impact been more complex and varied as it has been in global retail.

Demand for clothing, luxury brands and in-restaurant dining and shopping has dropped dramatically, while food and healthcare retailers have been flooded by a tsunami of online shopping and the resultant sudden and massive expansion in digital transactions.

This unprecedented dependence on digital technologies has revealed cracks that have always existed in the retail supply chains, especially e-Commerce. But it has also forced retailers to innovate and swing towards more reliable supply chains and technologies that offer better integration with legacy infrastructure and ultimately drive sustainable scale.

Within this dynamic environment, where the industry is in the middle of a forced digital acceleration, retailers are increasingly turning to new business models and technologies to creatively redesign a new class of customer experience journeys. Indeed, customer experience journeys have been key to brand loyalty and spending decisions, always sitting at the heart of on-line or in-store retail growth.

It is already apparent today that digital technologies will drive growth for the global retail industry for some time to come and, indeed, retailers will need to move fast to keep customers engaged and manage their expectations in this dynamic new digital normal.

New technologies and standards such as Cloud Computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data Analytics have been bandied around by industry as digital disruptors for businesses and industries for a while now with several use cases in existence around the world.

How retailers are able to move away from legacy technologies to adopt new digital disruptors such as cloud-based applications and ERP systems will separate the men from the boys, the winners from the followers.

NetSuite is one such software and service with an end-to-end, customizable solution for large and small companies, helping them manage and integrate all their crucial business functions, including finance, operations and customer service, via a single cloud-based platform.

NetSuite’s cloud-based solutions are configured and customized to meet the unique needs of different companies and organizations, with the option to quickly and easily add new channels, geographies, business models, and brands. It is evident that this cloud-based proposition is much more flexible, responsive and compelling for many small and mid-sized businesses as well as larger enterprises due to its low cost of entry and ownership and faster time to market compared to traditional on-premise software solutions, especially crucial in this tough social and economic environment around the world.

Let us see how NetSuite can revolutionize the dynamics of business for the retail industry.

Single Commerce Cloud Platform: Retailers can offer their customers a seamless, unified shopping experience with NetSuite that offers an end-to-end solution and a single commerce cloud platform that combines e-Commerce, POS and order management with back-office systems. When a customer gets adistinctive and personalized experience, and convincing application in the web store too, it will naturally set the brand apart and fulfil customer expectations.'

Cost-effective: With a single Cloud platform across the front end and back office, operating cost is reduced radically. The best thing is that single cloud-based ERP allows retailers to integrate with other cloud-based applications. This dramatically improvises the efficiencies and capabilities of the company. Right from order completion to dispatch, NetSuite ERP provides a seamless process thereby offering accurate Fastshipping.

Omnichannel-ready: Customers want the same experience regardless of channel, with the ability to shop anywhere, pay anywhere, and receive merchandise anywhere. That inspires retailers to attain a holistic view of the customer, order, and the business and step up to move beyond the separated systems of the past and deliver a single view of your brand across channels.

It is especially important to understand the customer’s Omnichannel lifetime value to drive profits and productivity. By leveraging a 360-degree view of the customer, it will be significantly simpler to target the right customer at the right time with the right product.

Real-time Ordering Information: No matter how widespread online shopping maybe, physical stores are always going to be there. Consumers just need an easy, relaxed, and unified shopping experience. As long they get it, they will keep shopping. To keep the orders coming, the only thing that retailers musthave is to use a high-class high-end solution such as NetSuite that ensures real-time ordering information throughout the organization. That’s the secret; the retailers must deliver on the promise of satisfying, purchasing, and returning anywhere without breaking the bank whether at the national or international level.'

Easier Global Expansion: For any business to thrive, global expansion is inevitable and that leads to long term progress. The same applies to retail business. When there a single platform providing a seamless solution, it can address all challenges of global expansion. NetSuite offers a wide-ranging global solution that operates from a single platform offering several benefits. It is built to support several countries, languages, tax rates, and currencies. Multiple web sites for individual brands can be easily created and managed by it. Business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) selling models on a single platform are combined by NetSuite.

A key feature for Indian businesses also includes integration of a GST bundle that automates a huge part of the taxation process with automatic calculation of GST values and easier filing. In this rapidly-evolving global environment, retail companies must be able to achieve joyous customer experience journeys in concert with creating distinctive brand identities. Technology, especially new digital technologies like the Cloud, will continue to play an increasingly crucial role as a key multiplier of growth for different retailers, which will need to focus on ushering a kind of creative destruction to stay ahead of their competition and emerging market challenges.