Delivering Connected Retail Customer Experiences
Revolutionise the shopping journey— and protect customer data in the process
Customers’ expectations are evolving
Are you staying ahead of them?
No matter your sector, you can’t escape digital disruption—but this might be especially true in retail
COVID changed everything about consumer behaviour, and it did so pretty much overnight. Now it’s time to reset the bar.
Brands must work harder than ever to meet fast-changing customer experience (CX) requirements to win and stay relevant. Retailers’ business models need the ability to manoeuvre and stay agile to deliver new products and services at pace—and at scale.
More and more customers expect personalisation based on their needs and preferences.
Since the pandemic, consumers demand a totally new kind of shopping experience. CX is now the key brand differentiator. Price and service will always be hugely important—but it’s how you make customers feel that keeps them coming back for more.
CX directly impacts your bottom line
CX leaders achieve greater total shareholder returns in the long run compared to the market average. Colt provide superior CX because we have the network and technology to support it, ensuring every interaction is easy, consistent, time-saving, and personalised.
Three pillars for delivering connected retail CX
Accelerated digital transformation
The pandemic shone a light on the digital transformation laggards. Retailers were compelled to accelerate their innovation and creativity to reach customers in a digital-first manner. This shifted the emphasis from a product-centric to customer-centric approach, and enhanced the buying experience in brand-new ways.
Retailers also need to become data-smart
Retailers must optimise marketing communications for relevance and timeliness, as well as provide hyper-personalised shopping experiences. Because while migrating to the cloud can seem like a costly endeavour, when executed correctly by a partner such as Colt, its ROI in your digital transformation easily justifies these initial investments.
Transform your network with lightning-fast connectivity
Through its best-in-class service optimised for software- defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualisation (NFV), and cloud services, the Colt IQ Network has the breadth and depth to support the technology and communication services on which your customers depend. Colt’s Dedicated Cloud Access service connects you to the cloud provider of your choice, empowering you with fast and secure cloud connectivity.
2.
Customer connectivity— wherever they are
Consumers expect an omnichannel shopping journey, seamlessly accessible across every device—24/7. They want to be able to shift effortlessly from mobile to app to desktop, and take their basket with them. That means retailers need fully connected technology ecosystems which link POS, ERP, and CRM to digital customer touchpoints.
There are plenty of obstacles along the way
Conflicting data sources, vendor solutions, and APIs often produce points of failure. What’s more, your very reputation depends on data security and compliance, which demand you protect sensitive customer data and adhere to stringent regulations. Just one bad interaction can be all it takes: 61% of consumers are unlikely to shop again with a brand after a poor customer experience.
Consistent customer connectivity is only as strong as your network
In the long term, the success of a network infrastructure lies in its flexibility, agility, and security. It must be flexible not only in being configurable and on demand, but also commercially around implementation options and contract terms. It must be agile enough to rapidly shift environment, especially since no one knows when the pandemic will end—or indeed what’s just around the corner, which the pandemic has made everyone far more acutely aware of. And it must be secure in terms of access to systems, be they hosted on-premise, delivered via the cloud, or hosted via a collocated data centre.
That’s why Colt have top-tier partnerships with every major cloud provider
Colt’s technical alignment with communication service providers (CSPs) ensures cloud applications perform better on the Colt IQ Network.
Unite control and orchestration with big data analytics—using Colt’s intelligent technology
Colt’s SDN and NFV technologies deliver consistent connectivity to data centres the world over. That means your data stays on our network longer and is more secure, rather than traversing third-party networks. With technologies like network encryption, next-gen firewall (NGFW), and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) mitigation, we protect firms’ most vulnerable asset: customer data.
3.
Flexible and scalable solutions
Now more than ever we’re seeing mergers and acquisitions in retail. But there’s an increasing number of key technology partnerships. ‘Close-to-home’ platforms like Shopify—not to mention disrupters like Uber—are enabling faster delivery, helping retailers stay way ahead of customer expectations.
But it’s nigh on impossible for retailers to deliver the necessary connectivity solo. As alliances grow stronger and partnerships expand, so too will your network. This is where Colt come into our own.
Colt’s On Demand service can be upgraded almost in real time
We empower retailers with scalable control of their network connectivity in real time, giving them genuine breakthroughs just at the time they most need fully flexible connectivity solutions between their buildings, data centres, and CSPs.
Colt’s On Demand services are ordered via a customer portal, with a fast, easy-to-use order interface which supersedes traditional order forms. With Colt’s innovative bandwidth flexing, service bandwidths can be flexed up and down in line with demand.
Customer experience is at the heart of everything we do
The CX experts at Colt strive tirelessly to improve consumers’ shopping journey, from the first touchpoint to the last. The value our solutions brings has never been more apparent since COVID transformed the shopping experience, and has helped countless retailers around the world grow and effect long-lasting positive change.
Deliver the success your enterprise deserves
When you partner with Colt, together we build the foundations for an optimal retail CX. Get in touch today, and one of our friendly specialists will show you how Colt will revolutionise your customers’ shopping journeys—and unlock business growth, strengthen your brand, and enhance your reputation.
