CGI unifies experiences in the Dutch retail sector

In the face of falling profits, supply chain bottlenecks, growing competition (e.g., marketplaces), and demands for personalized experiences, retailers continue to shake up their strategies through digital innovation, bringing greater agility to thrive at a time of huge volatility. A theme PAC explored further in conversation with eCommerce and marketplaces expert Ioannis Tzogas, who prior to joining CGI Netherlands as Principal Business Consultant, Retail & Consumer Services, held similar roles at Adidas and Nike.

Despite the eCommerce rush during the pandemic and the adversities retailers face in the current macroeconomic climate, CGI believes eCommerce investments will continue to grow until 2027. This growth is not only seen in eCommerce but, according to Ioannis, applies to the unified commerce experience, blending brick-and-mortar with online channels, i.e., the world of ‘phygital’. 

This market perception derives, in part, from projects and CGI’s “Voice of Our Clients” initiative. CGI’s “Voice of Our Clients” are one-on-one interviews with over 1,600 executives across industries and geographies to better understand how macro and industry trends affect business and IT priorities and investment plans.

Ioannis states that digital retail leaders invest more in the total digital experience (consumer, user, and employee experience). Established retailers’ focus areas include driving consumer engagement and loyalty in the ‘phygital’ space. In contrast, digital entrants focus more on optimizing processes, supply chain and operations automation, and Product Information Management solutions (PIM) to manage and collate product information from multiple internal and external data sources (e.g., ERP, Product Lifecycle Management, supplier feeds). 

Phygital 

During the pandemic, a significant emphasis was placed on eCommerce. Today, it is more about unified commerce and omnichannel presence. CGI is working with its customers to connect all channels into a single, seamless consumer experience regardless of where the customer journey starts (e.g., online, in-store, starting online and collecting in-store, etc.). To support its customers, CGI blends its offering with consulting expertise and IP solutions such as the CGI Retail Suite, a unified solution covering the entire retail value chain.

Customer loyalty

A big part of unified commerce transformation is to offer better experiences. Customers are driven by low prices and curated experiences that resonate with their buying patterns and values, regardless of channel (online or offline). Retailers are therefore investing in, for example, Buy Now Pay Later and circular economy schemes, membership privileges and partnership approaches (e.g., purchases made at retailer A translate into privileges at retailer B or vice versa), and other application-based solutions (e.g., store proximity promotions) and experiences such as endless aisles (in-store online orders by merging online offerings with in-store locations).

These types of seamless experiences are not new when visiting large and established multinational brands, including Nike and Adidas. However, for less established brands, in-store legacy infrastructure is often a bottleneck to providing customers with endless aisles experiences. One of the limitations often experienced by retailers and employees is the lack of visibility into stock levels. CGI is working with its customers to bridge this gap between back and front-end environments, improving the shopping experience for consumers while empowering employees through new digital solutions, platforms, and training.

Thriving Marketplace

Online marketplaces dominate the Dutch retail market. Local marketplace leader Bol.com delivered net sales of US$2,466 million in 2021 and counts among its competitors, Coolblue.nl, ah.nl, Wehkamp.nl, and Zalando.nl.

Bol.com’s success has not gone unnoticed and is steering more food and non-food retailers to invest in the marketplace industry in pursuit of incremental net sales opportunities, new ways to engage and interact directly with new consumers online. According to Ioannis, retailers looking at this segment are adopting transformation concepts such as data management & syndication, consolidated stock management, and order management, to name a few. These topics are quickly evolving into critical business areas, with CGI partnering up with the right experts and solution providers to support retail brands in this journey.

CGI case study

CGI has been working with a number of non-food retailers on engagements such as click-and-collect capabilities, i.e., order online and pick up in-store, same-day deliveries, and bicycle collection & delivery services, endless aisles, to name a few.

A large fashion retailer selected CGI as its integration partner for its unified commerce transformation program. The chosen cloud-based solution offers seamless shopping by combining (m)POS, e-commerce, order management, and inventory & fulfillment, click & collect, ship-from-store, and more. CGI’s role covered configuration, end-to-end retail test management, and overall supervision of implementing interfaces connecting the solution to the backend systems and vice versa. Moreover, CGI offered value-added services, including retail staff training and coaching.

Overall, CGI is well positioned to respond to retailers’ digital needs, having over 4,300 dedicated retail and consumer service experts, and over 800 customer experience management experts, combined with its portfolio of CGI-developed solutions.

The CGI Voice of Our Clients initiative adds clear benefits to staying on top of the latest industry developments, trends, and challenges, enabling CGI to adjust its capabilities and solutions according to industry-specific needs.