BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Demandware®, Inc. (NYSE: DWRE), the industry-leading provider of enterprise cloud commerce solutions, today announced a new in-store solution that will extend the omni-channel capabilities of the Demandware Commerce platform into the physical store. Demandware’s new Digital Store solution will allow retailers to quickly digitize the store by combining omni-channel platform capabilities with purpose-built store functionality such as buy in-store/ship to home, guided selling, bar code scanning and secure credit card transactions. By infusing digital intelligence into the physical store environment, retailers can personalize service, increase store sales and optimize inventory carrying costs.
The Digital Store solution leverages comprehensive customer, product and inventory data from Demandware Commerce and enables store associates to access this valuable information on the sales floor via a tablet. An intuitive, easy-to-use tablet app allows store associates to quickly access a customer’s profile and past purchases, view product inventory availability and leverage that information to create a more personalized shopping experience for customers. Associates can also use the app to find additional product styles and sizes, make recommendations based on buyer preferences, perform price matching and overrides and more to enhance the shopping experience––ultimately increasing brand loyalty, reducing the possibility of walked sales and increasing in-store revenue.
While the physical store remains a popular channel for purchasing products, consumers increasingly rely on web and digital touch points to research product information. Consumer research conducted by Forrester Consulting1 found 69 percent of consumers trust web data, including product information and reviews, more than information attained from a sales associate in the store, while only 16 percent believe that store associates are the best resource for product information. However 43 percent of consumers will trust a sales associate more if the associate is aided by a web-connected device.
Retailers have a clear opportunity to leverage shoppers’ propensity to embrace digital information in the store, but are often stymied by channel-specific technologies that make it challenging to provide a seamless experience for the customer. With its new Digital Store solution, Demandware will enable retailers to quickly digitize the store with minimal cost and complexity by leveraging existing backend integrations, payment methods and robust omni-channel functionality available through Demandware Commerce.
Demandware’s Digital Store solution will enable retailers to:
- Increase In-Store Revenue—Customers can shop the entire product inventory from within the store, regardless of whether products are in the retailer’s or the manufacturer’s warehouse. By easily accessing inventory not carried in the store, store associates can prevent walked sales and increase in-store revenue, while decreasing inefficiencies in stock holding, allocation and shipping.
- Deliver Personalized Shopping Experiences—Store associates can provide consumers with a personalized shopping experience through clienteling and guided selling features, such as the ability to easily and quickly look up a customer’s profile and view their purchasing behavior and past purchases. The tablet application’s easy-to-use interface minimizes the need for training and increases efficiencies on the sales floor, while also arming the associate with data that allows cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, price matching and discounting options.
- Minimize Complexity and Cost––With a central commerce platform running web, mobile and store experiences, retailers can quickly digitize the store, without spending additional time developing, merchandising, promoting and operating siloed experiences.
- Capture Secure Payments––Credit card information swiped or manually entered is encrypted and secure. Retailers can control the functionality that resides on retailer-owned and managed tablet devices, in accordance with their store and IT policies.
“Consumers don’t think in terms of channels; they just want to shop. However, channel siloes can frustrate shoppers and result in walked sales,” said Tom Ebling, CEO of Demandware. “Our new Digital Store solution will give store associates one unified view of the customer and inventory so they can offer customers the best possible shopping experience. It’s a fast, easy way for our clients to leverage the power of digital in their stores.”
Demandware will demonstrate its Digital Store solution at e-Commerce Paris on September 24-26 and the Shop.org Annual Summit in Chicago on September 30 – October 2. The functionality is an enhancement to the Demandware Commerce platform and will be available to clients through Demandware’s seamless upgrade process at no additional cost.
About Demandware
Demandware, a leader in digital commerce, enables the world’s premier retailers to move faster and grow faster in the changing face of retail. Demandware’s enterprise cloud platform minimizes the costs and complexities of running global, omni-channel commerce operations, and empowers retailers to respond with speed and agility to new market opportunities and continually evolving consumer expectations. For more information, visit www.demandware.com, call +1-888-553-9216 or email info@demandware.com.
1 “The Future Of Retail And Tomorrow’s Consumer,” Forrester Consulting commissioned by Demandware, June 2011
