The retail landscape is evolving at an astronomical pace. While the way consumers shop has been changing for some time, the pandemic accelerated many digital transformation initiatives, altering the way brands, employees, and consumers interact.
To stay ahead in this complex marketplace, business leaders need to ensure they have the right communication strategies in place to align and engage their staff.
An effective platform for Unified Communications ensures retail companies can inform, align, and empower their teams around great customer experiences. What’s more, the correct tools offer exceptional insights into opportunities for business growth.
The following case studies provide a behind-the-scenes look at how the correct UC initiatives can make a phenomenal difference to retail success.
Currys and Workplace from Meta
One of the biggest technology retailers in the United Kingdom, Currys relied heavily on top-down, intranet-based communications for a number of years. However, this strategy came with significant issues, such as a lack of two-way communication for frontline colleagues, and minimal visibility. With separate intranets for every business unit, Curry’s was struggling to align teams.
With a goal of upgrading the performance of employees wherever they were in the retail landscape, Currys implemented Workplace from Meta. The technology quickly began to break down the barriers to communication separating their staff. When the pandemic hit, the Workplace environment ensured every team member could stay safe and informed, even in the mobile landscape. Currys now uses Workplace live streams, collaboration tools, and news feeds to facilitate knowledge sharing, employee bonding, and enhanced frontline experiences.
Cue Clothing, Zoom and Brauz
Even before the lockdowns and subsequent challenges of the pandemic hit the retail landscape, Cue Clothing was looking for ways to enhance communications between teams. The innovative fashion retailer was an early adopter of video communications technology, using conferences to help guide customers towards their ideal style.
When the pandemic hit, the company wanted a way to accelerate its digital communication efforts, using Zoom video conferencing and innovative booking tools from Brauz. With help from Zoom and Brauz, Cue Clothing was able to build a “Live Connect” video commerce experience, which allowed users to connect with staff for consultations in-store. The customer can interact with a stylist, purchase products, and more, all without leaving a video conference. All the while, Zoom gives team members more freedom to collaborate and innovate on the back end.
L’Oréal and Poly
One of the biggest brands in the cosmetics and beauty landscape, L’Oréal has devoted itself to delivering incredible products to customers for more than 100 years. The company’s location in Russia was struck with unexpected difficulties with their DECT communication solution during 2017, wherein teams were struggling to collaborate and connect. Experts discovered the team was suffering from interference from other large companies in the area.
L’Oréal decided it was time to look at new solutions for internal communications capable of empowering long-range communications without compromising on voice quality. The company also wanted something compatible with their existing UC solutions and ergonomic enough to support long-term wear. The brand ended up turning to Poly and embracing the “Voyager Focus UC” package. The technology helped the company to achieve its goals of preserving excellent communication experiences with a focus on comfort.
O’Brien Fine Foods and RingCentral
O’Brien Fine Foods stands as one of the leading retailers of cooked meat products in Ireland. It’s also a popular supplier of some of the top food retailers throughout the United Kingdom. Despite being a family-owned business at its core, the company has grown at an exceptional rate over the years. However, O’Brien Fine Foods has frequently struggled with its communication strategy.
Every time a new location was added to the business roster, a new on-site PBX and copper lines were distributed to a different office. The result was a selection of disconnected PBX systems without any links to pre-existing technology. Cross-site communications became inefficient quickly, and many staff members were constantly tied to their desk phones. When the pandemic hit, prompting a need for new mobility, O’Brien Fine Foods turned to RingCentral. RingCentral’s cloud solution gave the company a phone system they could use anywhere, on any device.
Bosch and Microsoft Teams
A leading global retailer in the technology landscape, Bosch employs more than 400,000 associates worldwide, with specialists distributed into four business sectors. Like many companies, Bosch relied heavily on email to conduct global business conversations. In the past, the team used an SAP portal rooms account for managing email records, but when support for the product ended, the team found itself searching for a valuable alternative.
Bosch ended up turning to Microsoft to leverage the Microsoft 365 ecosystem for productivity tools and communication. The company implemented a SharePoint environment in 2020, which made it easier to classify and capture important emails across the business landscape. The use of Microsoft Teams also allowed for the development of a new range of communication standards in the business to keep staff members closely connected.
SPAR and Logitech
SPAR, a major retailer in the UK and other regions throughout the world, needed a way to keep its various business divisions and employees connected. With more than 50,000 staff members to serve, this wasn’t an easy undertaking. During a migration to Microsoft 365, SPAR considered leveraging Microsoft Teams, but needed the right hardware to support its collaboration initiative.
After extensive testing of various devices, SPAR decided to turn to Logitech for its scalable and powerful technology. SPAR started by implementing Logitech Meetup as a mobile room system for Bring Your Own Device meetings. When the initial purchase turned out to be a success, SPAR started installing various new Logitech devices into different branches, from the Logitech Rally Bar, to the Rally Plus Bundle for video collaboration.
