Use of Various Technology in Retail Applications Benefits

1. MBA FB&E
2012-14
RETAIL MARKETING
Report on Technology and Retail
Submitted to:
Professor Sapna Parashar
Submitted by:
Anant Lodha 124105

2. INDEX
SR.NO
PARTICULARS
1.
Acknowledgment
2.
Declaration
3.
Objectives
4.
Methodology
5.
Overview – Retail and Technology
6.
Bar Code Scanners
7.
Radio Frequency Identification
8.
Enterprise Resource Planning
9.
Point of Sales
10.
CPFR
11.
Data Base Management System -
12.
Customer Relationship Management
13.
E – Commerce
14.
Mobile Technology
15.
QR Codes
16.
Cloud Computing
17.
Electronic Data Interchange
18.
GSDN
19.
Video Conferencing
20.
Wi -Fi
21.
Security
22.
Conclusion
23.
Limitation
24.
Bibliography

3. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Sapna Parashar, Faculty of
Retail Marketing, Institute of Management for providing me an
opportunity to work on this project. I am very grateful for the constant
support and guidance throughout the duration of the entire project

4. DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the report entitled Technology And Retail submitted by me to Institute of
Management, Nirma University, Ahmedabad in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
award of the degree of MBA - Family Business and Entrepreneurship for 2012 -14 is a record of
bonafide project work carried out by me under the guidance of Professor Sapna Parashar.
I further declare that the work reported in this project has not been submitted and will not be
submitted, either in part or in full, for the award of any other degree or diploma in this institute
or any other institute or university.
Date: - 09/09/2013
Anant Lodha - 124105

5. OBJECTIVES

To know how technology have impact on consumer behavior, experience and ease

To understand different technologies that are implemented in retail stores

To identify the status of information technology implementation in various retail
companies.

To understand the customer’s expectation from the retail service provider how changing
shopper attitudes and technology are reshaping retail

Analysis of the role of technology in different retail formats.

To analyze the effectiveness of technology in the success of retailer
METHODOLOGY
Data Source

Magazines

Newspaper

Wikipedia

Retailer’s Website

Research Reports and articles

Blogs

White papers

Secondary Data

6. RETAIL AND TECHNOLOGY
The goal of technologies in retail is to develop technology devices which enable retailers to
provide just in time products at the quantity expected by customer with minimal shrinkage.
Retail is an information intensive industry and the adoption of information technology is
essential for the retail firms in the new era. Retail industry often works on cutthroat thin margins
and the crucial to survival lies in optimization of resources like time, space, product as well as
maximization of customer satisfaction. To be effective in this competitive world, retailer works
in sync with their vendor to predict demand of consumer, reducing inventory holding cost,
shortening the lead time which helps in saving cost. Integration of retail and technology helps to
achieve this objective with access to real time information to wide range of channels, trading
partner, managers and other concerned personnel and ultimately helps the retailer to have edge in
such competitive scenario.
Technology has been an area of extreme emphasis in retail industries as a way to accomplish
goals of using resource optimally and provide customer with best possible services.
Enhancements in areas such as supply chain management, inventory management, customer
experience, security has been made significantly. Wireless technology and its application in retail
have enabled the transformation of retailing that can improve operational processes, improve the
customer buying experience, and give better visibility for management into store operations.
Retail technology is more effective when it's fully integrated however networks composed of
multiple solutions create overly complex environment that lacks cost-effectiveness and
scalability. Companies like Wal-Mart, Tesco leverages heavily on technology and works
continuously to evolve new innovation to facilitate the process of retailing. Small investor slowly
and steady has started to get expose to new technology and tries to create ease. Various soft
wares and hardware are developed to make retailing convenience and integration of various
information technologies enabled them to take better and effective decisions. . The retail industry
continues to face a demanding market environment that requires companies to adjust and
actively manage change that may impact sales and performance. At the same time, advances in
technology and in capturing and analyzing data are helping companies drive growth, streamline
operations, and engage better with consumers

7. BAR CODE –SCANNERS
A barcode scanner is an electronic device for reading printed barcode. Bar coding scanners and
bar coding to identify an item, use pre-stored data to calculate the cost and generate the total bill
for a client.Barcode systems can provide detailed up-to-date information on the business,
accelerating decisions and with more confidence.Barcode scanners are relatively low cost and
extremely accurate compared with minimal error compared to key entries by hand.Retailers now
a days are increasingly using bar code system called the Universal Product code.
Barcode scanner helps retailers in following ways:1. Details Regarding inventory of goods sold
2. Automatic update and re-ordering of stock
3. Give a unique identification to every product and every piece
4. Better marketing information
5. Reliable and faster data gathering
6. Cost effective – Reduces labor cost
7. Easy access to information
Bar code also some have drawbacks like improper or damaged barcode labels, training to
employees involves cost, requirements of printing etc.

8. TUNNEL SCANNER
Tunnel scanning is a new concept where the consumer one by one keeps the full shopping item
on a moving belt through an electronic gate to the point of the sale. As the product passes
through the laser sensor, it automatically scans the product and its price and gives complete
detail regarding their purchase and the consumers have to do is to pay for the goods.

9. RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION - RFID
 Automatic Identification Method
 Stores and Retrieves Data using Tags or Transponders
 Can be attached or incorporated
 Contains Silicon Chips and Antennas
 Receive and Respond to Radio Frequency Queries from Transceiver
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a globally accepted technology, which has a great
success in the area of supply chain management and particularly inventory management. RFID
devices are used to conduct rapid, accurate, and frequent product cycle counts, leading to
significantly more accurate, near real-time information.

10. Benefits:
Reduces labor “touches”

Real-time visibility of inventory

Increases material handling speeds

Increase sales through improved in-stock position

Relocate mis-placed goods

Rapidly locate items sought by customers on the retail floor or in the backroom,

Identify shrink quickly

Reduce manual inventory costs

Accelerates decisions at point of activity

Improved error correction at the edge

Increased sales through

improved in stock positions

Enhance Customer

Experience & responsiveness

Increased accuracy & visibility

Real-time decision making
Applications

Automation of inventory tracking process, stores can keep costs down by maintaining
optimum inventory levels, avoiding stock-outs and eliminating unnecessary orders.

Product demand prediction become easy by tracking capabilities and store managers can
monitor sales with increased accuracy, ensuring that their inventory supply is stocked
accordingly.

Easy for the sales staff to locate a particular item in the store and check its availability in
less time which gives accessibility to the products from store to store and also to the
entire database.

RFID can enable marketing and customer service teams to identify customers, call-up
account histories, and provide value-added services to help create a personalized
shopping experience. This helps to handle customer request easily through access to a
centralized database.

11. 
Tags attached to the items have the ability to provide virtual personalized feeling to the
customer.

RFID technology facilitates retailers to collect information about their customers
purchasing trends shopping preference, habits and offer rewards, offers targeted to their
interests. to it

Retailer can track the items efficiently and encode multiple codes, resulting improved
inventory management and provides safety in terms of fast recall of the inventory and
minimizes the theft cases.

Helps the supplier in maintaining the stock of goods and keeping the shelf filled with
goods whenever needed and retail stores can see how quickly the products leave the
shelves and who's buying them.

RFID readers can simultaneously scan number of tagged items at one glance, regardless
of whether the tag is visible which is not possible in case of bar code scanning system

Tags in labels help track product source/specs and RFID-tagged items offer store-to-store
visibility, so items can be located immediately on one touch of button

Provides safeguard against counterfeit products.

Allows movement of inventory to be tracked which enables staff to identify the exact
location of any retail item at any time.

12. ERP - ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
Enterprise resource planning helps in integrating all departments and functions within a company
in a single computer system that serves the specific needs of different departments.
It is often referred as back-office software and does not run the up-front selling process. When
the customer service representative enters the customer order in the ERP system, he has access to
all the required information such as customer rating, the company’s inventory levels from the
warehouse module, and shipping dock’s trucking schedule from the logistics module.
Enterprise Resource Planning is designed to plan the use of enterprise-wide resources. Various
ERP vendors have developed retail-specific systems which help in integrating all the functions
from warehousing to distribution, front and back office store systems and merchandising. An
integrated supply chain helps the retailer in maintaining his stocks, getting his supplies on time,
preventing stock outs and thus reducing his costs, while servicing the customer better.

13. Benefits:

Superior Customer Service

Drive better customer relationship

Robust Analytics Engine

Merchandise Planning

Targeted promotions across stores.

Strong process integration across Sales and Supply Chain network

Efficient stock distribution.

Flexible deployment options.

Highly Scalable solution with large retailers

Highly configurable solution
Applications - Components of Retail ERP System:

14. Merchandise Management
Merchandise management includes activities like setting up, maintenance and management of
the retail outlet, keeping track of the prices of the items, inventory, and the different vendors
etc.thus takes in to account all the activities related to the management of the merchandise
offered for sale at the retail store. It offers an integrated interface to the other retail applications
and act as a link between the different retail applications supported by the retail ERP suite which
are aimed at facilitating retail operations more efficiently.
Retail Planning
Retail Planning focuses on the different strategies to be employed in order to help the retail store
in increasing the sales of the merchandise. It helps to achieve the economies of scale and
attaining the desired efficiencies by increasing the merchandise sales at the retail outlets.The
retail-planning component is extensively used by the middle and the upper management in
formulating favorable promotional strategies to arouse the sales and to fast inventory turnover.
Supply Chain Planning
Supply chain planning focuses on integral part of retail i.e. planning as well as the execution of
the supply chain system for the retailer and keep a track on supply system from the place of the
manufacturer to the end customer. It provides the complete track record and material flow from
beginning at the manufacturer and ending at the consumer
Store Operations
The store operations component keeps track and guarantees the proper functioning of the
entire store operations like store specific inventory management, sales audit, returns
management, perishables management and the labor management, customer management and the
associated promotion execution systems.
Administration Management
Retail ERP system automatically sends the day to day details to the Admin containing total
sales, workforce, accounts etc. The report generated helps the top management to take

15. decisions if any complexity occurs.This feature also includes other corporate financial reports
such as the accounts receivables, accounts payable, general ledger and the asset management
reports.Corporate administration component plays a critical role in providing the necessary
information to the top management to get a general idea of the health of the retail business by
way of the various financial reports generated by this component provided in the retail ERP
systems
VENDOR NAME AND ERP SYSTEM PRODUCT
SAP
SAP for Retail
Oracle
Oracle Retail Merchandising System (ORMS)
The Sage Group
Sage Pro ERP
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
AL data
AL data G.O.L.D.
JDA software
Portfolio Merchandise Management (PMM)
Island Pacific
Island Pacific Merchandising System (IPMS)
Jesta I.S.
Vision Merchandising suite
NSB Group
Connected Retailer Merchandising
Tomax
Tomax Merchandise Management
GERS
GERS Merchandising
Retalix
Retalix HQ

16. ERP
ADVANTAGES
DISADVANTAGES
SYSTEMS

Retail version of SAP offers

comprehensive user-friendly features.
SAP

SAP being a market leader in the ERP
SAP Retail Software is very
expensive.

In order to use the ERP package,
domain defines the market standards in
this segment.

undergo a basic minimum level
Highly scalable to adjust to the size
of training for using the product
and scope of the software user.

the end-users are expected to
effectively.
SAP for Retail can be customized as
per the requirement of retailer.

Superior networking offers features for

Incompatibility issues
real-time applications.
ORACLE

with similar products and
Cost effective in comparison to SAP
systems.
System

Requirement of hardware
resource for the product

The Sage
The Sage Pro ERP offers a Graphical

User Interface which is easy even for
Group
the new users.

Product requires minimum hardware
resources.
Difficulty in integrating the
product with other systems.

Issues raises in use of the product
when scalability takes place.

17. POINT OF SALES - POS
Point of sale refers to the physical location at which goods are sold to customers.It provides up to
date information on sales of different brands, size, color, styles, prices, etc. Under point of sale
technologies, specialized terminals or desktops are combined with bar coding readers, magnetic
stripe readers and cash registers for accurately and instantly capturing the sale transaction.
The main advantage of moving to computerized POS system over cash box system is the
sophisticated and detailed sales report it provides. It helps to analyze sales on basis of SKUs,
time period, promotions, by store etc. POS is such a system that it will pay itself quickly in the
time, money and labor saved and increased sales there upon.
Benefits:

No double entry of orders and no more long checkout lines

Improving customer relationship by providing convenience in shopping

Securing the business transaction

Standardization is maintained

Necessary information regarding the merchandise can be provided

Helps in predicting trends

Speed, accuracy of operations increases

Reduces employee shrinkage

Reduce costly inventory overhead

18. POS HARDWARES
CASH DRAWER
RECEIPT PRINTER
BARCODE
SCANNER
SCALES
CHEQUE READER
POLE DISPLAY
DIGITAL
SIGNATURE PAD
DEBIT/ CREDIT
CARD READER
PORTABLE DATA
ASSITANT
LABEL PRINTER
DISPLAYS
All IN ONE POS
POS SOFTWARES

ACCPAC ADVANTAGE DISCOVERY SERIES

ORACLE SMALLBUSINESS SUITE

BUSINESSVISION 32

MYOB PLUS FOR WINDOWS

BUSINESSWORKS GOLD

ONE-WRITE PLUS

EPEACHTREE

PEACHTREE COMPLETE ACCOUNTING

19. COLLABORATIVE PLANNING, FORECASTING,
AND REPLENISHMENT – CPFR
Collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment is a business model in which retailer and
manufacturer extend collaboration from operation planning to the execution through internet
based technology.
Planning
Develop Collaborative Agreement - Create Joint Business Plan
Forecasting
Create sales forecast – Identify exceptions to sales forecast – Collaborate on exception issues – Create
order forecast – Identify order exceptions – Resolve on exception items
Replenishment
Order generation
The vital aspect to CPFR is exception-based communication which is an automated system in
which the usual exceptions such as order cancellations or last-minute changes to delivery
destination are handled smoothly by the CPFR system’s information technology platforms.

20. Benefits

Increases sales and profit

Rapid deployment and integration of new applications

Improves customer service with proper fulfillment of demand

Accessibility via Web browser, desktop, laptop, or through a variety of handheld devices

Improves relationship with key trading partner and retailer
Applications

Formulating accurate forecast of demand, stock can be reduced and materials can be
more effectively managed throughout the supply chain resulting in decrease in inventory
levels with improved material flow.

Customer service enhances through better forecasting and thereby wrong stock on hand
can be avoided with increasing sales and improving delivery performance.

Increases employee productivity because data is centralized

With effective collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment technology
solutions, both manufacturers and retailers benefit from reduced overhead costs because
several inefficiencies are eliminated, antiquated manual processes, custom integrations of
different partner IT systems and searching for information in multiple sources/systems.

It integrates with various systems like CRM, Point of sales, ERP etc. and gives out acute
forecasting.

There are many aspect not covered under CPFR like demand management, real time
collaboration and other related parties i.e. forwarders, warehouses operators, transporters
etc. are not considered.
CPFR Solutions Provider – Dummond, VICS, Binary spectrum

21. DATA WAREHOUSING AND DATA MINING
Data warehousing is the coordinated and periodic copying of data from various sources, both
inside and outside the enterprise, into an environment ready for analytical and informational
processing. Data warehousing in retail is done through information from POS, cards payment,
inventory supply – usage, billing, vendors store data, merchandise and it related information,
customer and it type of purchase, spending, preference, choices etc.
Data mining is the in-depth analysis of information to gain specific insights about customers,
product categories, vendors, supply chain, inventory, merchandise etc. Data mining help
companies in better understanding of the vast volume of data collected by the CRM
systems.Retailer collects large amount of data on sales and customer shopping history.
Data collected by the retailer continues to expand rapidly, especially due to the increasing ease,
availability and popularity of the business conducted on web or e-commerce. Retailer can
provides a rich source for data mining. Retail data mining can help identify customer behavior,
discover customer shopping patterns and trends, improve the quality of customer service, achieve
better customer retention and satisfaction, enhance goods consumption ratios design more
effective goods transportation and distribution policies and reduce the cost of business.

22. Applications
Performing basket analysis
Items customers tend to purchase together can be known thus helps to improve stocking, store
layout strategies, and promotions.
Sales forecasting
Based on the trends and pattern of previous sales helps retailers to make stocking decisions.
Database marketing
Retailers can develop profiles of customers with certain behaviors, purchase, choice etc. and this
information can be used to focus on cost–effective promotions.Having access to customers
contact details and their service or purchase preferences through databases etc. can enable
organizations to alert customers to new, similar or alternative services or products
Merchandise planning and allocation
Merchandise planning and allocation become easy as patterns in stores with similar demographic
characteristics. Retailers can also determine the ideal layout for a specific store.
Product Movement and Supply chain
Based on the analysis of movement of specific products and the quantity of products sold,
retailers can predict when they will need to order more stock. Product sales data allows
merchandisers to define which products to order, the maximum of units and the frequency of
reorders.
Automated replenishment - Supplier Information can be known - Improves customer care Rapid development of new product - Integration of business and store operations

23. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
CRM is concerned with the creation, development and enhancement of individualised customer
relationships with carefully targeted customers and customer groups resulting in maximizing
their total customer life-time value. Customer relationship management means wide integration
of technologies working together such as data warehouse, web site, and intranet/extranet, phone
support system, accounting, sales, marketing and production.
CRM uses information technology to gather data, which can then be used to develop information
acquired to create a more personal interaction with the customer. In the long-term, it produces a
method of continuous analysis and reinforcement in order to enhance customer’s lifetime value
with firms. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is enabled by the gathering and
warehousing of consumer data.For CRM, data warehousing is done by collecting consumer data
from credit card transactions, loyalty cards, discount coupons, customer complaint calls, plus
(public) lifestyle studies.
“The ultimate goal of CRM is to provide a one-to one personalized service to each customer –
pre and post-sale”

24. Applications

Customer segmentation is a vital ingredient in a retail organization's marketing recipe. It
can offer insights into how different segments respond to shifts in demographics, fashions
and trends.

Retailers use the vast amount of customer information available with them to cross sell
other products at the time of purchase.

Find associations/co-relations between product sales, & predict based on such association

Improve the quality of customer service

Achieve better customer retention and satisfaction

Enhance goods consumption ratios

Design more effective goods transportation and distribution policies

Increased customer satisfaction, because they are getting exactly what they want meeting and exceeding expectations
Loyalty programs are set up to reward customers with incentives such as discounts on purchases,
free food, gifts, or even cruises or trips in return for their repeated business. Retailers use them
for three reasons to retain loyal customers to increase loyalty of non-loyal customer to collect
information about them and what they buy
Loyalty Membership cards - The primary role of a retailer loyalty card is to gather data about
customers. This in turn leads to customer comprehension and cost insights (e.g. customer
retention rates at different spending levels, response rates to offers, new customer conversion
rates, and where money is being wasted on circulars), followed by appropriate marketing action
and follow-up analysis.

25. Benefits:
Increased customer satisfaction

Ensuring that the focus of the organisation is external

Growth in numbers of customers

Maximisation of opportunities

Increased access to a source of market and competitor information

Highlighting poor operational processes

Long term profitability and sustainability
CRM is potentially a useful concept in the marketing and customer service areas of a retail
sector. The information and data attainable from a retail sector’s customers is so deep and
detailed, that the potential of CRM in this sector is enormous. However before CRM can even be
considered, the retail sector must ensure it has its retail basics in order.
Most recommended CRM Soft wares are RetailStar, Epicor retail solutions, Microsoft retail
management system etc.

26. E-RETAILING
E-retailing means electronic retailing i.e. selling of products or services via internet or
telecommunication network for personal or household use by customers. The primary purpose of
every e-retailer is to attract the prospective consumer to access to his site. However in online
shopping, customer retention is the toughest thing because of availability of same product on
different channels.
TYPES OF E-TAILERS
PURE-PLAY E-TAILERS
A Firm that sell directly to consumers using primary means as internet without maintaining a
physical sales channel Eg: - Amazon.com

27. BRICKS AND CLICK E-RETAILERS
Brick-and-click retailers that offers merchandise not through a physical store but also through a
transactional website.
Applications

Customers have a much wider choice at one click as many e-tail sites are available. Thus
the web creates global markets that bring together many consumers and many retailers.

With web search capabilities, comparison and selection becomes easier to find the types
of goods a customer is searching for, catalogs are received passively on part of retailer.

E-tailers can use price discrimination more efficiently than catalog retailers

E-tailers can use previous transactions to identify the likelihood of products being
purchased at certain price points and can accordingly make offers and provide reward to
the customers

E-tailers can change the product display based on regular basis to increase the visibility
of goods that the user is more likely to purchase based on past transactions.

Creating website is cheaper than opening a store and can reach consumer online
anywhere in the world.

With multiple channel available, consumer get ease in shopping as per his requirement he
can proceeds transaction.

28. 
E-tailer is not required to maintain showrooms or warehouse at prime location and no
maintenance cost pertaining to that helps to be cost effective.

The one of the important factor is better interaction with customers as it has the ability to
reach customer on an individual basis and accordingly responding to them.
Benefits

Caters Global market base of consumer

High brand recognition

Gathers information about consumers

Avoids direct costs for catalogues

Digitized format

Ability to react quickly to changes of customers tastes and demands

Ability to rapidly change visual presentation for goods.

Guarantee provided by highly reliable or well-known vendors

Online stores are round the clock i.e. 24*7

Saves times and effort

Get detailed information about the product.
Disadvantages:
Inconvenience in case of returning damaged goods and exchanging good

Cost added for website maintenance and updation on regular basis

Delay in delivery of goods to the consumer as compared to physical store shopping

Lack of consumers trust in online brand names and a sense of fraud and security as ability
to inspect merchandise before purchases are not there.

Privacy issues and spams

No negotiation and bargaining can take place on place of consumer
The e-trailing has come with great opportunities and advantages both for the retailer as well
as consumer. With the coming time, more of such innovative e-tailing models are likely to
come upon and cater the market with a competitive edge to the retailer over others.

29. MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
Arrival of mobile technology has brought in a new process both for the retailer as well as the
consumer. Right from shopping lists saved in draft messages to scanning QR codes, mobile
technology now plays a big role in the purchasing decision. Using mobile phones to alert
shoppers about complementary items, sales and as a vehicle for coupons is a very attractive
option for retailers. Partially, that's because it's a lot cheaper than, say, a smart shopping cart.
Most shoppers already have cell phones, so that limits the back-end investment. Third party
companies are also rushing in with solutions.

30. Retail advertising
Integrating mobile in the marketing mix is not a new trend anymore. To promote its new Curve
ID jeans series, Levi’s resorted to mobile display advertising to targeted group of women. These
ads were flashed on web and in-apps to attract the right TG.
In-store interaction
Not utilizing the device that is always with consumers for better engagement is simply not an
option anymore. To enhance purchase experience, a number of stores have adopted QR codes to
integrate products for consumers to research and decide. Marketers have also started engaging
customers with the convenience proposition, thus bringing in services such an m-payment and
m-check out. To take in-shop interaction to a different level, supermarkets have been creating
applications that offer the map of the arena to the consumer who can plan the entire shopping trip
according the priority on their list, self-scan items as they are added to the basket, get more
detailed or personalized information about products using extended, packaging, gather in-store
coupons and reductions, order products that are out of stock, add additional items to shopping list
or wish list etc.

31. Out-of-store interaction
It basically means to reach out to the consumer beyond the shopping experience. Supermarkets
have thus been seen adopting QR codes outside the malls in areas such as parking lots or near the
elevators to attract consumers, who is given an opportunity to check out the products without
entering the store.
Checkouts
Consumers can use their mobile phone at check out for self-checkout, redeem coupons and
promotions, pay, identify themselves and get access to loyalty scheme benefits, store points and
redeem offer linked to a loyalty scheme.

32. DEBIT –CREDIT CARDS
Payment through debit and credit cards i.e. plastic money has become quite widespread This
enables a fast and easy payment process and offer customers with all kinds of extras that cash
doesn’t. Depending on your card, you may earn one or more rewards.
Benefits:

No need of carrying cash

Provide convenience and hassle less shopping

Provide security of payment

Universal acceptance helps to access and carry out purchase anywhere

Data record takes place which help banks and retailer

Value added service

Essentials for mail, phone or internet purchase

33. QR CODES
QR codes can be a really easy to use and beneficial tool in the world of retail. A great way to use
QR codes in retail is to place a mobile barcode on the tag of every item in the store. This way,
potential customers can scan the code and look at product specifications as well as reviews of the
product they are interested in buying.
Applications

QR codes from the window displays to access product and brand information which is an
effective use of a store window display.

Featuring QR codes on promotional materials such as magazine or on boards’ adverts
results in increased brand-to-consumer engagement, increasing the time the consumer is
interacting with your promotional materials and the brand of their concern.

Mobilizing online retail sites, social media profiles such as Twitter and Facebook

Provides offers, discount coupons, tips, comparisons of products, availability etc.

34. CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud computing allows users to obtain computing capabilities regardless of their physical
location fashion through a shared physical infrastructure via internet. A full range of services,
including compute, storage, applications, and business processes, is now available from thirdparty cloud providers. These services can be obtained using various sourcing models ranging
from managed hosting to pay-for-use. It reduces complexity for retailers and provides
opportunities for high returns.
Real-time insight enables the retailers to keep repo with customer programs as necessary and
straightaway report problems with supply chain, merchandising, inventory or marketing
departments.Maintaining 100s of computers and managing an information technology
department are not only challenging responsibilities, but they are also very expensive
interpretations. Cloud computing allows retailers to manage these acute applications centrally,
thereby reducing both costs as well as complexity of handling.

35. Benefits:
Cost savings

Streamlined processes

Increased productivity

Simplicity and Convenience

Higher Flexibility

Secure communications

Scalability

Customer experience is enhanced through faster, easier transactions.
Applications

Scenario modeling,

Forecasting

Pricing optimization
Real-time analytics provide retailers with real-time insight into the current performance
of business operations in comparison to key performance indicators.

Virtualization of data center and store computing resources to increase utilization with
integration of all data bases.

Network-based designs that centralize IT resources, reduce costs, and serve mobile
workers.

Sourcing of computing services in pre-assembled stacks to speed delivery of new retail
solutions and reducing cost thereby

Flexible payment models to ease the burden of financing large capital expenditures
Cloud Computing Solutions - Dell Boomi, Preditix, Verizon

36. ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE - EDI
Electronic data interchange is the computer to computer exchange of routine business data with
trading partner – supplier like purchase order, invoice, account payableaccount receivables,
payments, inventory, supply chain etc. and integrating information on real time basis.
Applications

Data can move directly out of one computer system and into another fast without any
delay

Proper inventory level and supply chain can be developed

Real time information regarding various aspect of business can be obtained and better
decision making can take place.

EDI standards specify in which way data will be configured and where it can be found.

EDI can be retrieved only by authorized users, and then there are audit trails as well as
archives of information data put in.

EDI data cannot be easily changed by unauthorized users or the person not integrated
with the system.
EDI Soft wares - SaaS, QuickBooks, B2BGateway, Ventalk

37. GLOBAL DATA SYNCHRONIZATION NETWORK – GDSN
GDSN is an automated - standards-based global environment that enables secure and continuous
data synchronization, allowing trading partners in the supply chain to have consistent item data
in their systems at the same time. Master data across remains same for all the partners. Any
business partner makes a change in the master data especially product master, a simultaneous
change will be initiated in the database of all the other parties interested that is the suppliers,
company and the customers and thus all the parties in the value chain maintain the same master
data avoiding confusion and errors.

38. VIDEO CONFERENCING
Video Conferencing enables real-time collaboration between retailers, stores, suppliers,
warehouses, buyers, and sales teams, which ultimately leads to better customer service and
supply chain management. Retailers are turning to video conferencing on the sales floor and also
back of the store to provide better customer service, merchandise management and improved
internal communication. It also helps retailer stores at times in saving money by not retaining
employees at physical location as information can be accessed by customer through a video
configured. Retailers need to continuously engross and keep up to customer’s expectation of
service as they are the differentiator and possess the ability to respond quickly to market trends.
Benefits:
Better coordination

Real-time information access and effective decision making

Increased customer service levels - faster response to market and consumer demands.

Sharing of information among various parties as to buyers, suppliers, warehouses and
concerned

Increases store connectivity

Access to remote staff become easy

Time saving and cost conscious

39. Applications

Retailers can increase improve store operations, employee productivity, and enhances
customer satisfaction by doing timely communication.

Retailer can aid inventory checks, remote support, remote team meetings, last-minute
specials and new incentive programs.

Headquarters has faster access to sales reports, employee information, and remote
expertise.

Inventory levels and sales turnover can be shared between a retailer and a central store.

Expertise from distant location can be brought in for technical support.

Company meetings can be held for incentive programs, targets, goals can be shared.

Real-time collaboration enables better forecasting, more timely inventory checks and
balances, accurate tracking of shipping status and orders, and right procurement. The
result

Video conferencing-enabled customer service kiosk provides customer by providing
them information through face-to-face, interactive communications with distant staff
making it possible to meet consumers demand and changing market trends.

Training required for particular product usage or regarding some new techniques of work
can easily be communicated and demonstrated through conferencing sitting at other
corner of the world

40. Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi technology has matured and retailers have begun to see it as a vigorous, inexpensive
option for inside the store connectivity. The contemporary development of handhelds has
broadened the retailer's options for application delivery. As Wi-Fi becomes available on wider
range of mobile phones, retailers have an opportunity to provide data to consumers using their
own Wi-Fi networks. This would help in avoid the cost of connecting to a mobile operator
network and being able to deliver data such as pricing in a more secure way.
However, it also has significant infrastructure implications with Wi-Fi enabled handheld devices,
applications such as POS, inventory audit, item lookup, pricing and labor scheduling can be used
anywhere on the sales floor. Retailer always tries to give customer maximum satisfaction by
providing additional information in-store while making purchase and enable him to access Wi-Fi
thus helping the customers and less time in handling mundane task

41. SECURITY
Retailers face many challenges in keeping the store secure. Security concerns for retailer mainly
include customer safety, standardization of different security systems, education and training of
employees and security staff.
Retailers now benefit from store protection methods including camera systems, which can record
criminal activity in stores, as well as tagging systems, placed by shop entrances, which alert staff
to thefts retailers can reduce the cost and complexity of protecting customer information with
solutions that allow retailers to secure consumer data inside their organizations, and achieve
compliance with all retail data privacy mandates.Retailers can reduce the cost and complexity of
protecting customer information with solutions that allow retailers to secure consumer data,
merchandise and things related to it inside the organizations, and achieve compliance with all
retail data privacy
CCTV Camera
DETECTIONS
DOORS
SECURITY TAGS
DETACHERS

42. CONLCUSIONS
Retailers need to invest much more in capturing more specific technologies and catering large
customer base with ease. On part of retailer it is very important to keep integration between
various technologies engraved in business because this will lead to effective and profitable
transactions both for the retailers as well as consumers. .Retailers has started using their own
web portal or tie ups with horizontal players like to offer products on the web.Innovations of
information technology continue to improve the capabilities of organizations to retain and
distribute information. Real time information gathering technologies and decision support
systems promote real time decision making to benefit retailer however use of technology in
unorganized retail is in its primitive stage. The buying behavior is undergoing a change across
the globe with e-tailing slowly is making its presence felt therefore, it will become important for
retailers to secure a distinctive position in the marketplace based on value, relationships or
experience.

43. LIMITATION

Secondary day can be general and vague and may not be really help the retailer in
decision making.

The data may be old and out dated.

Articles, blogs, white paper may not be reputable.

Some of the technologies are yet not being developed fully

44. BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.questionpro.com/academic/1771.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/31785752/CONSUMER
http:// Retail-Industry-in-India-Information-Technology-in-Retail.aspx
http://www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/technology/whitepapers/wp_Retail_advances.pdf
http://edissertations.nottingham.ac.uk/704/1/06_MSc_International_Business_lixfz5.pdf
http://kelley.iu.edu/CERR/files/study_on_retail_tech99.pdf
http:// Retail-df/technolog.aspx
http://www.scribd.com/doc/31785752/RetailBusinesstechnology
http://www.autoidlabs.org/uploads/media/IBM-autoid-BC-003.pdf