Composable Commerce: how to help in-store sales associates find products easily by optimizing inventory management

In the previous blogs (on ecommerce product discovery and in-store kiosk and store locators), we covered how a Composable Commerce approach enabled you to leverage your product catalog to engage directly with shoppers. But shoppers are not the only audience that benefit from a seamless access to this catalog. Retail employees working in store or in customer care departments are often at the center of the most impactful interactions shoppers will have with your brand. Enabling your employees with advanced enterprise search applications to access your product catalog will ultimately benefit your shoppers.

Companion app 

App: Store Assistant mobile app / Companion app with Service Cloud and Voice Search integration for sales associates

Medium: In-store

Goal/problem solved:

• Support store sales associates by providing real time information about stock availability in-store, online, or at nearby locations

Main user:

• In-store sales associates

Ensure flawless in-store shopping experience by equipping sales associates with an Algolia store assistant app. One app combines in a single interface: POS (Place-of-sale), Stock App, and Clienteling Service Cloud App. Store sales associates don’t need to juggle multiple tools attempting to provide good customer service. Moreover, if the sales associates’ hands are full, they can simply use a voice search to find any product or customer related information they need on the fly, without the need to head to a static point of sale location. For example, saying “Find me a black overcoat size M in my store” will show a search result page of all the relevant items in stock in the current geographic location. The dataset is very dynamic and the inventory is constantly changing throughout the day, yet with a powerful search tool, the results returned are accurate and real-time updated.

Customers looking for help are always expecting accurate and reliable information about stock availability in-store, online, and at nearby locations for various items as well as smooth communication with sales associates and easy transaction process. Set up a high standard for your in-store customer service and eliminate mistakes and delays in customer care, encouraging customer loyalty.

Brands will be able to maintain high quality customer service not only by investing in customer supporting technology, but also by ensuring that their support associates are equipped with the best technology on their side as well. Ensuring that sales associates are equipped with a single, intuitive, and powerful app serving all their needs should be each retailer’s priority. Empowered store sales associates are more likely to provide more personalized customer experience, ensure higher customer satisfaction, and improve the brand image in the eyes of customers.

Inventory management, operations, and logistics

App: Algolia interaction with Service Cloud for Logistics Operations

Medium: Global operations

Goal/problem solved: 

• Improving operational efficiency and processes productivity

Main user: 

• Company employees

Large retail corporations need to ensure their global operation teams are equipped with top-notch technology tools in order to keep up with the fast pace of the industry. All the necessary materials should be easily accessible and searchable at a lightning fast speed. Integrating Algolia with Service Cloud providers helps empower the corporate employees by providing them with best in class operational tools, significantly improving employee performance and efficiency.

App: Image Search app (Optical Character Recognition/OCR) via integration of Algolia and Google Cloud Vision

Medium: In-store

Goal/problem solved:

• Logistics operations productivity

Main users:

• Store employees, warehouse employees, office employees

With the recent expansion of online shopping and the growing pressure on warehouses, optimizing logistics operations and productivity is vital for every retailer. Combining optical character recognition (OCR), Algolia search, and Slack notifications, lets warehouse employees scan a shipping label with a phone and send a Slack message to the recipient of the package. The label-scanning app combines optical character recognition (OCR), Algolia search, and Slack notifications.

https://github.com/algolia-samples/image-search-ocr-with-algolia-and-google-cloud-vision

App: Enterprise Search (GDrive, Confluence, Salesforce)

Medium: Global operations

Goal/problem solved: 

• Improving operational efficiency and processes productivity

Main user: 

• Company employees

Behind a successful retail brand stands a very efficient organization. To lead in the highly competitive retail market, companies must invest in improving their operational efficiency and processes productivity. To support these strategic efforts, Algolia offers an enterprise search tool, combining Lycos with Google Drive, Confluence, and Salesforce. All the essential elements of a highly efficient organization.