In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the global organizations realized that no business is resilient to everything. However, some businesses that embraced digital transmission before the crisis recovered swiftly, and in some cases, even boomed.
According to the US Census Bureau, the US eCommerce sales reached a mammoth USD 347.26 billion in the first half of 2020, up 30.1% from USD 266.84 billion for the same period in 2019. That’s quite a leap.
As retailers increasingly embrace digital solutions, Microsoft, on January 13, 2021, introduced a dedicated cloud service for the retail industry, promising to help brands enable “intelligent retail.”
The tech giant has launched the private preview of ‘Microsoft Cloud for Retail,’ the third industry-specific offering, at the NRF 2021: Retail’s Big Show.
“Microsoft Cloud for Retail aims to connect experiences across the end-to-end shopper journey with integrated and intelligent capabilities,” said Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President, WW Retail and Consumer Goods Industry.
“By bringing together disparate data sources across the retail value chain, we will enable retailers to realize the true value of their data by enriching core business processes and turning data into actionable insights,” she added.
The retail-specific cloud service leverages various products, including Azure, Power Platform, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Advertising, to accelerate time-to-value while ensuring security and compliance. It helps retailers better know their customers, empower their employees, create an intelligent supply chain, or reimagine their business model.
‘Microsoft Cloud for Retail’ Capabilities Include:
- Dynamics 365 and Bing for Commerce – Drive demand with intelligent analytics and optimized online search
- Microsoft 365 for Frontline Workers – Empower first-line employees to collaborate seamlessly and improve operations
- Dynamics 365 and Azure Intelligent Services – Create digital and smart stores to automate processes and leverage real-time data to optimize multi-channel operations
- Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection – Secure your business and customers
- Microsoft Advertising, Dynamics 365 Commerce, and Promote IQ – Improve commerce conversion, advertising effectiveness, and revenue
- Azure, Teams, and Dynamics 365 – Enable Multi-Channel Fulfilment (MCF) with curbside pickup and BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up in Store) capabilities
- Dynamics 365 Customer Service -Improve customer experience
- Dynamics 365 Customer Insights and Azure Synapse – Know your customer better
- Dynamics 365 SCM – Build a resilient, agile, intelligent supply chain
“Our rich partner ecosystem will extend the value of the platform with retail-specific solutions to address the industry’s most urgent challenges, and future-proofing retail organizations to proactively be ready for what’s next,” said Bransten.
Earlier, Microsoft had launched ‘Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare’ in October 2020 and ‘Azure for Operators’ for the telecom industry in September. However, Microsoft has not yet made public the pricing for Cloud for Retail. In the case of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, the cost is USD 95 per user per month.
