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2020 was the year in which we experienced disruptive change at a pace and a scale that we could never have imagined. Yet it was also the year in which many retailers embraced digital like never before. Take REI for example, which launched a new virtual outfitting service to help customers assemble bikes, find the right hiking boots, and gear up for camping trips using Microsoft Teams. Retailers who laid their digital tracks early were more agile, resilient, and ultimately positioned for growth. I\u2019m optimistic about the future of retail and excited by the opportunity faced in retail. But as we all know, the journey past the COVID-19 pandemic has only just begun. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s why I am thrilled to announce the availability of <\/span>Microsoft Cloud for Retail<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>public preview\u00a0<\/span>beginning on March 31.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At Microsoft, we are committed to helping retailers by working side-by-side with them to co-innovate and co-develop next-generation solutions that address their most pressing business opportunities. Retail is 31 percent of the world’s GDP and that data is the demand signal for the world. Microsoft Cloud for Retail data services consolidates disparate customer data sources\u2014your data, your suppliers\u2019 data, the data you don’t even know about yet\u2014to uncover actionable insights in minutes, not days. Discover retail insights from all data sources\u2014data warehouses, data lakes, and big data analytics systems\u2014with a single, unified experience at any point in the shopper journey.<\/p>\n Microsoft Cloud for Retail uniquely connects experiences across the end-to-end shopper journey, using a set of capabilities that deliver more relevant personalized experiences and operational excellence for sustained profitability. Few retailers have the budget or infrastructure to \u201crip and replace.\u201d Microsoft Cloud for Retail starts with a modular framework so retailers can innovate as they go. This modular and deployable solution activates both end-to-end services like curbside pickup or standalone services like Intelligent Recommendations. Microsoft Cloud for Retail is designed to give retailers the flexibility to adopt the capabilities they need to address their most pressing business needs, be it better knowing customers, empowering employees, building resilient supply chains, or reimagining retail.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are excited to explore Microsoft Cloud for Retail as a crucial tool to bring together our stores, product, and marketing systems and unlock the power of our data,\u201d Britten Maughan, SVP of Product and Partnerships, Lids.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a closer look at how we are integrating capabilities across the shopper journey.<\/p>\n Driving interest and awareness in your product or service is the beginning of the shopper journey. Using the right digital marketing channels with the right solution is critical in attracting new customers.<\/p>\n Retail associates or frontline workers are critical to the success of any retailer. They are the face and humanity of every brand. That\u2019s why we\u2019re so focused on putting retail-specific tools into frontline employees\u2019 hands so they can deliver best-in-class, multichannel experiences in an environment where safeguards and privacy standards are built-in. At the same time offering retailers the ability to create digital and smart stores to automate processes and use real-time data to improve operations.<\/p>\n Be it online, in-store, or via social shopping, at the point of purchase we offer connected tools to drive conversion, with on-site advertising, social selling capabilities, and secure payment enablement.<\/p>\n How do you get the physical product into the hands of the customer? Streamlining operations to make the delivery process as seamless as possible, with integrated customer support to help consumers at any point in the sales cycle.<\/p>\n The journey then continues with our insight\u2019s capabilities enabling retailers to better understand customer demand signals and cross-channel behavior with intelligent post-purchase analytics.<\/p>\n These customer insights feed into and inform the supply chain process of demand planning, inventory management, pricing, and distribution. Our intelligent supply chain capabilities are designed to ensure channel operations are optimized so when consumers enter into the next sales cycle, they receive the right product through their preferred engagement channel.<\/p>\n Our incredible ecosystem of industry partners expands the value of Microsoft Cloud for Retail with additional solutions to address the most pressing challenges the industry is facing today. There’s excitement among our leading partners about Microsoft Cloud for Retail public preview in March.<\/p>\n \u201cRetailers have been undergoing digital transformation for years but have struggled to realize their aspirations. Microsoft Cloud for Retail shows the breadth of retail-specific functionality that Microsoft has to offer, while addressing the need for modular solutions that reduce wasted time and money spent integrating systems. Accenture\u2019s ai.RETAIL solution is fully integrated on Microsoft Cloud for Retail to rapidly deliver profitable growth in challenging times by using leading AI-powered algorithms. With ai.RETAIL on Microsoft Cloud for Retail, retailers have the speed and flexibility to gain a deep understanding of their customers, scale personalization, optimize the supply chain, and manage risk across the business,\u201d Jill Standish, Retail Global Senior Managing Director, Accenture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cTCS is partnering to leverage Microsoft Cloud for Retail, and streamline as well transform the customers\u2019 business using TCS Algo Retail\u2122 suite,\u201d Shankar Narayanan, President & Global Head – Retail, Consumer Goods, Travel, Transportation & Hospitality, TCS.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is just a glimpse of Microsoft Cloud for Retail, built to adapt to you on your terms, modularized to enable the digital transformation of your unique business. To learn more, I invite you to register for Microsoft Ignite<\/a>, and join our Retail Session, March 3, 2021, where I will present additional details on the public preview, have a fireside chat with some special guests, and bring along some of our key retail team members for an \u201cAsk The Experts\u201d session. I hope to see you there!<\/p>\n Sign up for Microsoft Cloud for Retail<\/a> public preview today and welcome to Microsoft Cloud for Retail<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2020 was the year in which we experienced disruptive change at a pace and a scale that we could never have imagined. Yet it was also the year in which many retailers embraced digital like never before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9266,"template":"","categories":[150],"tags":[],"content-type":[115],"job-function":[],"coauthors":[166],"class_list":["post-2896","ms-industry","type-ms-industry","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retail-and-consumer-goods","content-type-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMicrosoft Cloud for Retail at-a-glance<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nDemand generation<\/h3>\n
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Stores and operations<\/h3>\n
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Purchase<\/h3>\n
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Fulfillment and service<\/h3>\n
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Post-purchase<\/h3>\n
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Merchandising and distribution<\/h3>\n
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A rich partner ecosystem<\/h3>\n