Reasons Retail Businesses Should Move To The Cloud Computing

By Author: May Sanders
Total Articles: 16
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Cloud computing has been one of the significant technological innovations in the last two decades. People adopt it fast to store and run software systems on cloud platforms. Whether data storage or content access, cloud computing makes it easy for all with hand-held devices via the internet. Cloud computing offers the benefits of efficiency and flexibility to all businesses, including the retail sector.

According to research and consultancy firm Gartner, 90% of organizations will be moving cloud services by 2022. Moreover, the spending in the retail sector is estimated to reach US$257.1 billion by 2025. The same expenditure was US$182.5 billion in 2020. These statistics show that cloud adoption is growing exponentially in retail. Nowadays, retail businesses are expanding faster, and retailers need to move beyond the traditional supply chain, CRM, and ERP. This content highlights prime reasons why retail companies should move to cloud computing.

How cloud computing transforms the retail business

Data management, storage, and analysis are specific tasks. That is why businesses adopt cloud technologies faster ...
... to process and manage data for real-time insights effectively. Retailers need to think out-of-the-box, manage supply chains, and extend their customer reach with multiple stores to provide a unique customer experience and thrive in a highly competitive scenario. Integrating cloud computing services can do wonders in the retail sector by simplifying the workflow, reducing IT costs, and improving end-user experience and efficiency. There are different areas in a retail business where cloud services help the retail industry excel and take control of things by

• reducing infrastructure, storage, and computing costs
• allowing real-time access to inventory and operational data

With data security, enhanced profitability, efficient inventory management, better user experience, and disaster management, cloud computing is ready to change the functioning and performance of the retail sector.

Cloud in inventory management

Efficient inventory management has been a big challenge for the retail industry. Big retailers manage multiple stores and find it hard to manage their stock in real-time. They can significantly decrease stock shortage issues with predictive and prescriptive inventory forecasting. They also get freedom from managing inventories manually.

• maintain, manage, and monitor inventory faster
• real-time tracking and monitoring
• prevent rogue data from affecting your business processes
• managing supply chain in the cloud and POS updates
• remote warehouse management
• traceability of stocks and insight

Cloud in real-time inventory tracking

Now cloud computing helps big and small retailers have a broad and better view of their stocks with cloud architecture, real-time data, and analytics platforms.

• elimination of downtime issue
• inventory updates with mobile integration to back-office
• prescriptive analytics for automatic stock restoration alerts
• real-time integration between back-office systems and POS
• real-time live inventory dashboards through all channels
• tracking the exact location of your inventory with Sensor/RFID-based devices

Cloud for margin and pricing management

• exact picture of the stock storage capacity with machine learning
• locating the nearest store for the goods and items ordered by the customer

• incentivizing real-time store margin and pickups calculations
• prediction of real-time order pickup, ready, and delays

Cloud computing and analytics in retail

• develop innovative marketing tactics.
• generate customized offerings to improve the customer experience
• get a single source of data assembled from multiple sources
• help retailers achieve business goals
• improve the delivery value
• make more data-driven decisions
• plan targeted marketing campaigns

Every day retailers accept a continuous flow of customers and manage their consistent data at a wide scale. Cloud computing emerges as a unique tool for retailers to collect a significant amount of data generated by sales, inventory, customers, and stock. They need to handle confidential and business-sensitive data carefully because any channel's loss of personal business data can cause business failure. They also need to address the issue of data security. Data management experts recommended retailers store their data on the cloud utilizing advanced event logging, internal firewalls, firewalls, encryption, and physical security.

Retailers fail to utilize the customer and sales data fully. Cloud service providers analyze data with high-powered statistical models and computing resources to understand customer buying behavior, interactions, and trends. This trend helps retailers gain a competitive edge and make better decisions. Consumer data analytics plays a vital role in predicting purchases regarding customer buying behavior.

Conclusion

Today, cloud technology has become an integral part of the retail business, ensuring better growth and reduction in costs. It provides effective inventory management, improved data security, better customer experience, and enhanced profitability. Custom cloud application development solutions can help retail businesses get benefits of the cloud technology by migrating their data to the cloud and developing new apps with added benefits of API-based back end to generate analytics, cost-effectiveness, data security, and improved data sharing capabilities, quick response time, and simplified operations.

Research strategist for businesses focusing on trends in software, product and app development. Expert in analyzing, designing, and developing app and software products. Worked on various configuration management technologies and provided IT consultation. In my spare time, I enjoy coding, blogging about new technologies & traveling to new places.