{"id":14561,"date":"2020-04-14T20:18:18","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T14:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coforge.site\/cigniti\/blog\/?p=14561"},"modified":"2020-05-18T19:40:06","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T14:10:06","slug":"digital-ecommerce-retail-software-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coforge.site\/cigniti\/blog\/digital-ecommerce-retail-software-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"How Retail should deal with the looming uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long before a novel virus disrupted our everyday lives and, in a way, forced us to adapt to a new way of living, there were talks about the \u2018Retail apocalypse\u2019. Over the past couple of years, store closures have happened faster than store openings, while the overall foot traffic in malls and physical shops continues to decrease. However, this decrease in the customers visiting the brick-and-mortar stores has corresponded with an increase in online sales. If we look at the numbers, the overall sales have\u00a0<\/span>amplified<\/span>\u00a0despite the store closures.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With the COVID-19 outbreak, the closing speed has accelerated & the foot traffic has nosedived.\u00a0<\/span>But,\u00a0this means that the \u2018digital retail ecosystem in making\u2019 will simply come to its conclusion much earlier than it was expected to. Omni-channel will no longer be an option, digital transformation will be inevitable. As people are wary of\u00a0<\/span>touch<\/span><\/i>ing<\/span><\/i>\u00a0things or even coming in close contact with others, it is necessary that retailers step up their game according to the changing consumer behavior. As per a recent report, 58% of the people are likely to avoid public areas such as shopping malls amid the worsening outbreak.<\/span>\u00a0Estimates<\/span>\u00a0of sales volume through online grocery delivery in Beijing were reported to be two to three times as high as before the outbreak.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gartner research has shown that more than 80% of retailers have or plan to implement AI solutions across\u00a0<\/span>5<\/span>\u00a0key merchandising processes by 2021: product development and selection; planning; buying; demand forecasting; and<\/span>\u00a0allocation and replenishment to better deal with situations like the COVID-19 pandemic better. The analyst predicts that\u00a0<\/span>Retailers that do<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>n<\/span>o<\/span>t renew their focus on utilizing their store portfolio and on providing compelling\u00a0<\/span>unified<\/span>\u00a0retail commerce consumer-facing\u00a0<\/span>experiences<\/span>\u00a0will continue to lose out. They also need to develop realistic and\u00a0<\/span>benefit<\/span>-adding use cases for AI and ML into their business operations for core supply chain planning, forecasting, inventory and merchandising functions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are presenting some\u00a0<\/span>retail software solutions<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that the industry should adopt to come out strong from this crisis and develop greater trust among the customers.<\/span>\u00a0These solutions focus on how retailers\u00a0<\/span>c<\/span>an eliminate or minimize the need for human-to-human contact for ending the skepticism in their buyers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Building an end-to-end contactless retail ecosystem<\/h3>\n