As follow-up to the workshop session on "Real-time Retail: It's What Customers Demand” moderated by Ken Morris, principal at Boston Retail Partners, we summized topics discussed during this session. Whether you had the opportunity to attend this session, or not, I think will find the recap document to be insightful with interesting opportunities and perspectives of real-time retail. This workshop recap encapsulating the ideas and comments that retail industry leaders debated and discussed in this session, including: - Real-time Retail - Personalized Selling - Interactive CRM - Monitor & React - Task Management - Nimble Execution

1. Real-time Retail:
It’s What Customers Demand
Omnichannel Retail Executive Forum
Workshop Recap
July 16, 2014

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Retail
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Table of Contents
The Evolution of Retail Technology 3
Why Real-time Retail? 4
Industry Trends 5
Real-time Retail Platform 6
Real-time Retail Enablers 7
Workshop: Real-time Retail Opportunities:
Sales – Personalized Selling 8
Sales – Virtual Closet & Clienteling 9
Marketing – Interactive CRM 10
Marketing – Events 11
Operations – Monitor & React 12
Operations – Task Management 13
Merchandising – Nimble Execution 14
Finance – Loss Prevention 15
Supply Chain – Order Management 16
Wrap-Up 17
About BRP 18
Boston Retail Partners conducted the Real-time Retail: It’s What Customers
Demand workshop at the RetailConnections Omnichannel Retail Executive
Forum in New York on July 16, 2014. The workshop brought together more
than 25 retailers for a discussion on real-time retail. This document is a
recap of the workshop discussions.
2

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The Evolution of Retail Technology
How did we get here?
The evolution of retail technology
has taken more than 100 years and
evolved to where we are today
because of a lack of technology 45
years ago! Networks were not
evolved – they were unreliable,
slow and expensive – so a
decentralized store technology
model was created. Networks can
now support a centralized model to
enable real-time retail and
personalize the customer
experience.
Banking in the 90s
transformed itself
through networks –
ATMs were born.
Now it is the retail
industry’s turn…
advanced networks will
completely transform
retail as we know it!
3
Evolving networks

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Why Real-time Retail?
Today, the customer is the new focus in the
retail systems universe. We need to focus
on my daughter, not my mother... always
online, active on social media, and has an
app for everything.
We should be selling to the next generation
of customers with new technology and not
be handicapped by the past.
The Customer is the Center of the Universe
4

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Industry Trends
28%$
16%$
3%$
62%$
63%$
72%$
0%$ 20%$ 40%$ 60%$ 80%$ 100%$
Use$Mobile$Marke6ng$
Have$Real<6me$Retail$from$POS$
Iden6fy$Customers$Walking$in$Store$
Today$ Plan$in$5$Yrs$
Within 5 years, 75% of
retailers plan to identify
customers when they
walk in the store.
Know your customer:
The Personalized Shopping
Experience
5

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Real-Time Retail Platform
Most retailers have begun
the process of integrating
the components needed to
enable customers to find the
product they want instantly.
And retailers can deliver it in
a seamless, safe and
integrated solution…
leveraging real-time
analytics… leveraging a
real-time rules engine.
Real-time Retail Makes it Possible
6

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Real-Time Retail Enablers
Technology Enables Access to Customer Data
7
DRAFT
Today’s technology
enables retailers to access
data like never before.
Providing them unique
knowledge about each
customer, and their
shopping trends.

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Sales – Personalized Selling
Opportunities
8
Pairing the best
associate with
customers
coming through
the door
Matching
employees to
customers
based on fit
and specialty
“Create personas, or example users, as tools to
represent the needs, desires, skills and environment
of one or more classes of real users.”
It’s about context.
Not just knowing your
customer, but knowing
where they are and
what they are doing in
real-time and how that
impacts the retailer or
the sale.

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Sales – Virtual Closet & Clienteling
Opportunities
9
“A Virtual Closet is a deconstructed online
view of EVERYTHING you own.”
“Retailers are anticipating
when a customer’s baby is
ready for the next size of
diapers, and ready for
formula.” Customer
intimacy and real-time is
the key to the future.

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Marketing – Interactive CRM
Opportunities
10
“…the identification of the real-world geographic location of an
object, such as a mobile phone, tablet or an Internet-connected
computer terminal.”
Real-time data
gives us visibility
to cross channel
behaviors
Real-time
analytics are
becoming
essential
Real-time
promotions
triggered by
customers’
proximity to store
Geo-location

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Marketing – Events
Opportunities
11
Dynamic promotions
driven by events
(weather, holidays,
natural disasters, etc.)

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Operations – Monitor & React
Opportunities
12
Sensing what is
happening, and
reacting in real-time
Sale
$$
Adjusting product
availability and
variable prices at the
best possible time
for increased sales
to the right customer

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Operations – Task Management
Opportunities
13
A one-day sale at a
department store is more
than just one-day. There
are many key tasks with
dependencies
Utilizing big data, we
can simplify today’s
complex chain by
creating a one store
view to see the entire
enterprise all at once
(what was previously
invisible)
We need to automate
our workforce
management in real-
time, so we can see
the right levels as
variables fluctuate
Automated
workflow of
store
exceptions

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Merchandising – Nimble Execution
Opportunities
14
Real-time inventory coupled
with geo-location:
Know when your customer is
on the way, and have their
product picked and ready
Compelling customers
to compete against
themselves or others
for points and rewards
Today, we markdown all
items at once, but with
real-time merchandising,
we can trigger rules at a
much more granular
level (store, size or color
break)

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Finance – Loss Prevention
Opportunities
15
Real-time video
surveillance &
big data analytics
Catch theft as it
happens!
Monitoring
perpetual
inventory

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Supply Chain – Order Management
Opportunities
16
With real-time
demand sensing,
you can get the
right product to the
right place at the
right time!
Cross-channel
availability using
real-time visibility
Omni-channel
availability made
possible by
automated routing

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Wrap-up
17
Real-time retail changes everything and puts the customer at the
center of the universe, which means retailers need to sell to the next
generation of customers, not just today’s customer.
We are at a strategic inflection point where the network is taking
center stage. The network enables an integrated world where
consumers drive self-checkout on their smart phone, interact with
their friends in real-time on purchase decisions and receive discounts
and personalized pricing as they are shopping to create a cohesive
customer experience. Your brand is unique and your customer
experience should be tailored to your brand and the needs of your
customer.

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About BRP
18
§ Retail experts with retail backgrounds
§ Built with unique professional profile
u Managed by industry-recognized leaders
u Recruit experienced retail professionals with process, technology
and operations skills
u Recognized expertise in all facets of strategy, selection and
deployment of Customer Engagement/Point of Sale, Unified
Commerce, CRM/Loyalty, Order Management, Merchandising and
Supply Chain solutions
§ Trusted advisors of acknowledged industry leaders
" No exclusive partnerships or alliances with software or hardware
providers
Ken Morris
Principal
Boston Retail Partners
617.880.9355
kmorris@bostonretailpartners.com
www.bostonretailpartners.com
u Chanel
u TJ Maxx
u Family Dollar
u ABC Fine Wine & Spirits
u Sports Authority
u Coach
u Tire & Battery Corp
u Brooks Brothers
u Michaels Stores