HELPING RETAIL THRIVE IN THE NEW WORLD OF WORK
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HELPING RETAIL THRIVE IN THE NEW WORLD OF WORK
With the retail sector going through a period of significant upheaval, key issues of
leadership, workplace culture and technology have been brought into sharp focus.
Retail contributes £400 billion to the UK economy each year. But the events of 2020
seriously tested the ability of retailers to embrace new ways of working.
While essential suppliers like grocery stores had to contend with supply chain issues and an
increased demand for home delivery, non-essential retailers had to reimagine their
business models.
In some cases, the pandemic accelerated existing UK retail struggles. But on the other hand,
a Retail Gazette report reveals that total online sales soared by 36 percent year on year.
Responding to the altered commercial landscape, many businesses have accelerated their
digital transformation.
“ We’ve seen two years’ worth of
digital transformation in two months.
Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft
”
Helping Retail | 2
Embracing integration to deliver
more than business as usual
If recent events have proved a catalyst for remote new sales channels and adapting stores to handle
working, creating a truly integrated business is
Focusing on
online order fulfilment. It was also recognised that
the next step forward. Giving employees the managing data more effectively enables access to
ability to access and interpret cloud-connected
what matters data can help them become more proactive and
deeper intelligence and personalise its offering to
deliver even better customer service.
able to spot opportunities to improve customer
Forward-thinking retailers are realising that experience, both in-store and online. Tools like Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power BI
the new world of work represents an encourage the sharing and analysis of information
opportunity to: At a Microsoft event, focused on ‘Moving closer to pinpoint trends, understand customer
to the customer’, JD Sports emphasised the need behaviours, and reveal crucial business insights.
to rapidly reimagine their physical spaces –
Empower employees with the
pivoting its business model at speed, creating
tools they need to achieve more
Improve employee wellbeing
M&S – delivering a better customer experience
and job satisfaction
Microsoft has been helping Marks and Spencer to deeply integrate machine learning and AI
Create a hybrid workplace that’s across the business. The company hopes that soon every surface, screen and scanner in-store
connected, future-proof and has will create and share data – and enable employees to act upon it. And every store worldwide
people at its heart will be able to track, manage and replenish stock levels in real time.
“
Give customers a better service
and a more engaging
shopping experience Colleagues have enjoyed being much more multitasked and
multiskilled and enabling lots of digital technologies to really
”
support them and deliver optimised customer experiences.
Helen Milford, Stores Director at Marks and Spencer
Helping Retail | 3
Encouraging collaboration – IKEA style
Profiting from the IKEA deployed Microsoft 365 to all its 166,000 employees.
benefits of collaboration Harnessing the power of Microsoft Teams, store staff are
Organisations able to foster a culture of collaboration able to share better ways of working and contribute ideas.
are better placed to respond quickly to unexpected
events and generate innovative solutions.
“
Grocery retailers like Sainsbury’s are experiencing a
massive increase in online orders and building
customer profiles so that they can respond to demand.
To meet those challenges, a united, connected
Digital transformation has created new
workforce is vital. opportunities for us to bring people together
”
By adopting Microsoft Teams across its entire and enable them to collaborate.
operation, Sainsbury’s has improved communications Jesper Brodin, CEO, Ingka Group
– with one voice reaching out to everyone, giving the
right information at the right time. And it’s created a
strong sense of involvement. Phil Jordan, CIO at
Sainsbury’s says, “People feel more inclined to
comment, to sit and talk, to ask questions.” Managing the unpredictable
As retailers negotiate the road ahead, digital solutions can enable agility, innovation
and the flexibility to scale operations at speed.
An OECD report from March 2021 forecasts that the UK economy will grow by 5.1
percent in 2021. And a KPMG/Ipsos Retail Think Tank white paper predicts growth of
up to 3 percent in the retail sector. If the economic bounce-back is significant,
retailers who can quickly ramp up business and respond to changing customer
needs will be best placed to thrive. Helen Milford, Stores Director
at Marks and Spencer
Helping Retail | 4What will customers look for?
Recent years have seen the fall of some major names, the rise of others and
the exciting emergence of new sustainable start-ups. In a Microsoft webinar,
Paul Martin, UK Head of Retail at KPMG, says six key drivers will continue to
shape consumer behaviour:
Value
A key consideration in periods of economic uncertainty
Convenience
Reinforcing the attractiveness of online and local shopping
Experience
Enriching online experiences and reinventing physical
shopping environments
Choice
Reducing the range of goods can ease supply chain disruption
Purpose
‘Doing the right thing’ will play increasingly well with consumers
Privacy and safety
Keeping customers safe and secure online and in-store
To deliver what customers are looking for, retailers can build an empowered,
connected and skilful workforce with access to intelligent tools to help them
collaborate more effectively, interpret data and drive innovation.
Microsoft Cloud for Retail
Learn more
Helping Retail | 5Customer Story
A FUTURE-PROOF
PLATFORM SO RETAILERS
CAN DELIVER DELIGHT
AO.com is a predominantly online Microsoft Dynamics 365 Being able to understand, decipher
Putting people
electrical retailer. Delivering on its
ambition to exceed customer
delivers agility and manipulate the data is
absolutely key to what we do.”
at the heart of
expectations requires constant Choosing a cloud-based solution as
the foundation for business Microsoft Dynamics is also very
everything
effort and innovation.
operations was crucial. user-friendly. “If you know Recent upheavals might have
Carl Phillips, Director of Technology Microsoft, you know how to use rewritten some of the rules of retail,
says, “As we raise the bar for our Mark Higgins, Chief Financial Dynamics 365,” says Weaver. but one thing is clear: the new
customers, their expectations have Officer says, “We selected Microsoft world of work offers a
gone even higher. Because we’ve Dynamics 365 as a product that Phillips agrees. “What we get with serious opportunity.
grown so quickly, one of the would scale across Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a single
challenges we face today is about our organisation.” view of inventory, a single view of Microsoft is here to help you create
how we are sure that our customers. Through some of the an inclusive, agile, resilient and
It’s quickly begun to deliver advanced analytics and Power BI… innovative workplace. One that
foundations continue to be stable improved insights. Yasmin Weaver,
and scalable enough for even more [we gain] … the ability to make actively nurtures employees,
Financial Controller says, “Our better and faster actionable promotes wellbeing and gives them
growth in the future.” previous system was very difficult to decisions about how to trade.” the tools to achieve more. Because
extract any value-added people are still your most important
information. asset, and the key to delivering what
your customers want.
Helping Retail | 6DISCOVER THE FULL STORY
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EMBRACING THE NEW WORLD OF WORK
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