Technology is revolutionising the world of retail and the digital era has had a big impact on the way people enjoy their retail therapy
Keeping up with the pace of change is one of the greatest challenges this industry faces.
Better use of technology in the retail industry could:
Take a look at Sigma's top software picks that will benefit the retail industry.
Click a trend for more information
1) Mobile Payments
Contactless payment has become increasingly popular for consumers making quick purchases under £30. Although already a staple in many retail chains, the demand for contactless and other mobile payment will continue to rise and become the ordinary as consumers search for more swift and efficient ways to shop.
2) Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT technology is already reshaping the retail industry. IoT is driving innovation and new opportunities by bringing every object, consumer and activity into the digital era. At the same time, leading businesses are making similar changes within their enterprises by digitising every employee, process, product and service. There’s only a matter of time before our fridges are ordering milk for us.
3) Virtual Reality
An emerging branch of IoT and no longer associated with just video gaming, virtual reality. Fashion retailers have used VR to engage with customers by taking them to ‘virtual catwalks’. Travel companies are using it to create virtual brochures, allowing potential customers to get a taster of what to expect on their holiday. Some retailers are even building shops through the power of VR.
4) Beacons
Bluetooth beacons transmit information to nearby smart devices. These can be used in retail to send messages to a potential customer’s phone as they browse around in store. This could be a welcome message, information about a new product or even discount codes to use instore. However, retailers are still seeing some teething problems when implementing these devices due to certain apps consumers will need to download in order to be targeted.
5) Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a very effective solution for retailers to build capabilities quick enough to attract consumers; it allows for them to adapt their offerings to meet the expectations of today’s digitally connected consumers throughout their shopping experience.
6) Security
Data breaches are becoming more common and costly (not just the fines but the damage it has done to reputations too). Retail is one of the most exposed of all industries to cyber attacks due to the volumes of information it processes, the quantities of sensitive private data retailers are trusted with and the number of entry points to their networks and systems.
Choose a vendor and discover what products are available
No company wants to become victim to a cyber security attack, and with consumers inputting their sensitive and private data regularly, the retail sector is one of the most exposed industries to be targeted.
Becrypt’s end point security products offer data protection and centralised management. These end point security solutions help businesses support and maintain security policies ensuring data is protected and helping organisations efficiently manage risks from both recognised and emerging cyber threats.
The Complete Enterprise Security Platform - Corporate Brochure PDF 2MB
For some retail companies, their IT landscape can be spread globally with everything from servers to mobile devices placed all over the world. This often requires third party support from other vendors.
Remote Support
Bomgar’s Remote Control enables organisations to remotely access and fix nearly any system, including laptops, mobile devices, kiosks and POS systems, on or off the network, with no worries about where the device is located.
Shaw Industries Inc. - PDF 138KB
Parallel Studio XE is the industry leading solution for High Performance Computing. Want to know what you need, before you know it yourself? Thanks to machine learning, retailers now have the power to predict what their consumer may also need with their purchases.
To get game changing machine learning, retailers need to crunch a lot of data, but to crunch that data they need software to spread and scale the load in the most efficient way across the system.
Too many ideas when putting together a new store plan? Or do you have customers who are developing a new product and want to consolidate their data?
MindManager
Keep all planning activity in one place with Mindjet’s MindManager. Flexible mind maps promote freeform thinking and quick organisation of ideas, so creativity and productivity can live in harmony. Start with a central topic and branch off into limitless other topics. Provide a graphical way to capture information.
Engaging brochures and flyers are the perfect way to entice consumers into retailer stores.
QuarkXPress
QuarkXPress is page layout and graphic design software that lets anyone create and publish rich, compelling materials for print, web, e-readers, tablets and other digital media using one easy tool.
Active Roles
Simplify the security and protection of Active Directory (AD) to meet compliance requirements and solve further security issues with Active Roles.
Deliver automated tools for user and group account management that overcome the native shortcomings of Active Directory. Eliminating unregulated access to resources whilst protecting critical data means companies can manage Active Directory domains and forests easily with Active Roles.
Change Auditor
With Change Auditor, organisations get complete, real-time auditing, in-depth forensics and comprehensive security monitoring on all key configuration, user and administrator changes Microsoft Active Directory, Exchange, file servers and more.
Change Auditor also tracks user activity including logons, authentications and other key services across enterprises to flag any signs of threat detection.
SharePlex
SharePlex is the largest independent database replication solution that ensures high availability and business continuity, enabling a business to meet its database operational goals. SharePlex provides high availability, scalability and near-real time data integration.
Having a complete view of how your website is running is essential for retailers big and small. SmartBear’s tools are used by development, testing and operations teams to deliver the highest quality and best performing software possible, therefore having a complete view of your systems and how it is working is easy.
With tools for collaborative development, functional testing, performance testing, and performance monitoring across APIs, mobile, web and desktop, SmartBear helps software teams create the world’s greatest apps and APIs by ensuring quality throughout every step of the lifecycle, from the first line of code, to live in production, and every test in between.
AlertSite
When aiming for online retail success, business’ want to make sure their website and other applications are running at peak performance, and to act quickly if they aren’t! AlertSite’s unified performance monitoring platform has it covered!
AlertSite provides a number of capabilities so that you can deliver websites and web apps that are up and running 24x7 and find issues that effect your end users before they do.
TestComplte
TestComplete is a comprehensive test automation solution with integrated support for a wide range of both internal and UI based testing. Designed for use by developers and testers alike, TestComplete offers both visual and scripted test generation and robust test management facilities.
Explain internal processes simply, train colleagues with visually enticing presentations and create professional looking videos with TechSmith’s creative tools.
Camtasia
Want to make professional videos, but don’t have the experience or skills? Camtasia empowers users to make amazing videos—even if they’ve never made one before. Record a video of a screen or bring in your own video footage. Then, use Camtasia’s drag-and-drop editor to easily create remarkable videos to share with anyone. Keep the audience engaged by adding eye-catching animations, music, and captions in record time.
Snagit
Keep your process explanations simple and clear with Snagit, the easy screen capture tool. Snagit has all the features a user needs to create engaging images and videos to communicate efficiently when words aren’t enough. Enhance each capture with editing features and effects to turn a simple screen grab into eye-catching visuals every time.
