{"id":4480,"date":"2017-02-03T06:08:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T06:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/store-experience-retail-marches-toward-oneoffice-nrf_020317\/"},"modified":"2017-02-03T06:08:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T06:08:00","slug":"store-experience-retail-marches-toward-oneoffice-nrf_020317","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/store-experience-retail-marches-toward-oneoffice-nrf_020317\/","title":{"rendered":"Retail Embraces the Digital OneOffice and Optimizing the In-Store Experience (NRF report)"},"content":{"rendered":"

HfS has been spending the past several months talking about the Digital OneOffice<\/a> \u2013 a business model focused on placing the customer at the center of every internal operation, even those not normally considered customer-facing. Whether you consider your firm a \u201ctraditional\u201d business or a digital native, you need better customer centricity.<\/p>\n

Recently I saw evidence of how this new focus on customer centricity is affecting the retail industry. Retail is rife with brick and mortar giants struggling to pivot their operations to support omnichannel shopping, and online upstarts vying to make their voices heard amid the e-commerce din. After hearing yesterday\u2019s news that Target\u2019s Goldfish project — its mysterious Silicon valley digital startup —\u00a0 now swims with the fishes<\/a>, I started thinking about the tales I heard at the recent NRF conference<\/a>. From both retail giants and small retail innovators, moving to OneOffice is about enabling the ability to support heightened customer expectations and often strengthening business fundamentals in order to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stepping into the Customer\u2019s Shoes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Target\u2019s stated reasoning behind abandoning the potential e-commerce spinoff was to renew a focus on the brick and mortar business, strengthening the personalization of the in-store shopping experience with greater personalization and payment options on its shopping app.\u00a0 In doing so, Target is putting a stake in the ground about where it wants — and doesn\u2019t want — to compete. In the case of this retail giant, leaders see greater value in digitizing and optimizing the experience of its in-store customers than in creating something new that doesn\u2019t necessarily jive with what customers want from Target.\u00a0 It seems counter-intuitive that focusing on brick-and-mortar stores helps in Target\u2019s Digital OneOffice transformation, but this move shows that the retailer is honing in on its customers\u2019 experiences where the customers want it.<\/p>\n

This strategy had plenty of examples at NRF. I saw providers demonstrating solutions which have the potential for retailers to take their traditional businesses to the next level. These solutions ranged from getting real-time information from the store to engaging the shopper around product education to promoting promotions or specials while they\u2019re making the product decision were top of the list for this kind of optimization. Specifically, here are some exhibitor examples:\u00a0<\/p>\n