Five reasons retailers use cloud

Scale, speed, savings, flexibility and security; the cloud offers retailers so much of what is needed, as we all reinvent ourselves for an omnichannel world.

Here are five ways cloud is helping retailers to both streamline and grow now, while preparing yourselves for the years ahead.

1) Scalable solution

Almost every retailer is experimenting with new, more flexible ways to sell and serve, including via mobile, online, self-service and BOPIS/ROPIS. But not everybody can easily or quickly scale pilots across estates or internationally. Siloed legacy systems create unforeseen complications; when one part is updated, another part needs attention. Aging point-of-sale systems can be blockers to innovating at scale.

The cloud, coupled with Flooid’s Unified Commerce Platform, provides a foundation for flexible, scalable retail operations that can be monitored in real-time.

2) Genuine innovation

Cloud helps retailers to innovate. Firstly, it can process and aid analysis of huge amounts of customer data. Retailers can better know their customers, and tailor innovation more specifically to consumer needs or existing behaviours. Secondly, the cloud makes it easy to spin-up proofs of concepts in isolation. Retailers can experiment with AI, machine learning or even the Internet of Things in a safe, high-speed, low-cost environment. If the experiment works, the cloud makes it fast and easy to deploy. If it doesn’t work, nothing breaks, and nothing is lost.

3) Serious savings

Retailers used to build or buy servers large enough to cope with the largest events of the year – for example Black Friday or post-Christmas sales. These servers are expensive to build and maintain, and are inefficient, because for almost the entire year they operate under peak capacity. Some retailers continue to pay for space they don’t use.

Cloud has changed everything. Today, retailers can use cloud to just pay for the capacity used. Public cloud’s elastic capability allows businesses to scale up or down by the second – and that pay-as-you-go model means massive savings. Cloud also saves money on software and licensing fees. And it lets retailers move from a CapEx to an OpEx financial model – another win.

4) Targeted flexibility

Outdated legacy systems make it difficult to join the dots between store operations, eCommerce, supply chain, inventory, fulfilment HR and promotions. The cloud brings everything together and creates an environment where new technology can be tried and easily added to the mix. Flooid’s cloud and platform services allow retailers to adopt technology from Flooid, while using preferred suppliers, or to build capabilities in-house. For the first time, it’s possible to take advantage of flexibility and choice over capabilities — and providers.

5) Enhanced security

Changing data regulations, ransomware attacks and the increased likelihood of data breaches can all cause CIOs sleepless nights. The cloud means operational data – even down to store assistant user profiles — can be stored separately from each device. If a piece of hardware is infected, broken or lost, data remains protected. And once replacement hardware is in place, it takes just seconds to pick up where you left off. And data can be stored in whichever region or country makes sense for your operations.

Flooid’s deep cloud expertise can help retailers save money, scale and improve operations, contact info@flooid.com for more information.