Maximize Key Cost Levers and Boost Growth in Today’s Retail Landscape

The retail industry today is undergoing a massive transformation as consumer expectations, preferences, and behaviors change rapidly. Retailers face increasing pressure to deliver exceptional omnichannel customer experiences and reimagine their operations and supply chains, all while improving their profitability and sustainability. To achieve these goals, retailers must adopt innovative, cost-effective technology solutions that can help them maximize operational efficiency and enhance their customer loyalty while driving growth.

Minimizing Retail Shrinkage, Controlling Inventory Costs and Improving Supply Chains

Retailers need to understand their customers’ needs, preferences, and behaviors to deliver relevant and timely products and services that can create value and loyalty. Customers now have more choices, channels, and information than ever before, and they expect personalized and seamless shopping experiences across all touchpoints.

Meanwhile, retail shrinkage continues to be a major source of revenue loss for retailers. According to the National Research Federation (NRF) 2023 Retail Security Survey, retailers incurred $112.1 billion in losses in fiscal year 2022, where the average shrink rate as a percentage of total retail sales increased year-over-year to 1.6% from 1.4%.¹ Therefore, retailers increasingly look to use next-generation data analytics and business intelligence to minimize losses and drive retail success by enabling them to:

• Monitor and control the movement, storage and condition of products and materials across the supply chain network more effectively and efficiently
• Reduce inventory costs and risks by optimizing inventory levels and replenishment cycles
• Act on learnings from the data collected on inventory, transactions, customers, employees and incidents that may cause or indicate shrinkage and theft

Capturing the Right Data for Success

Central among the key trends shaping the future of retail today is data. Capturing and using the right data to fuel growth and profitability is a key challenge for retailers.² Data helps retailers understand their customers and employees better, improve their decision-making and performance, create value and build competitive advantages.

However, data alone is not enough, as retailers also need to have the right technology, tools and skills to effectively act on data. By capturing and leveraging the right data, retailers can:

• Enhance customer engagement and loyalty by creating personalized, seamless and omnichannel shopping experiences
• Improve operational efficiency and productivity by optimizing various tasks and workflows informed by market conditions, demand patterns, and cost factors
• Innovate and differentiate by launching new products, services and business models

Powering the Next Generation of Retail with AI

The next generation of retail will largely be powered by by AI-enabled data analytics and business intelligence. These advanced technologies can provide retailers with more accurate, timely, and actionable insights and intelligence to help them innovate while creating competitive advantages and differentiation. AI is transforming and enhancing every aspect of the retail industry, from product development and supply chain management to marketing, customer engagement and sales.³

Additionally, physical stores remain an important and preferred channel for many customers, especially for categories such as fashion, beauty, and groceries. Reinventing and revitalizing physical stores can help retailers adapt to changing customer expectations and preferences and offer more than just products.⁴ Making them more experiential, interactive, and media-rich destinations can help retailers better attract and engage customers to maximize growth. Here, generative AI-powered tools can help create personalized digital experiences and deeper levels of customer service for shoppers. Generative AI can help retailers create customized and engaging digital experiences and interactions for their customers, such as personalized product recommendations, dynamic pricing and chatbot assistance.

Leverage Lumen Expertise to Drive Better Cost Outcomes and Maximize ROI

Deploying new technologies and solutions to enhance customer experiences and operational efficiency can be costly and complex. Retailers need to balance their IT budgets with their strategic goals, enabling the best ROI from their technology spending.

Realize the full potential of your retail operations with Lumen network, collaboration, cloud and security solutions. Lumen helps meet the unique needs of today’s retailers by creating a hyperconnected ecosystem—leveraging advanced cloud, edge and other advanced technologies to help ensure fast, reliable, and secure connectivity. As you connect with customers across new channels, we can help enable seamless, homogenous experiences by combining physical, digital and third-party services at scale.

We empower retailers to maximize operational efficiencies while keeping costs in check—helping you realize the full potential of data analytics and BI capabilities and achieve your strategic objectives. Lumen is a trusted partner that can help you minimize costs, unlock new efficiencies and gain a competitive edge.

Ready to maximize operational efficiency, enhance customer loyalty and drive growth?

¹NRF, National Retail Security Survey 2023, September 2023.
²NRF, Capturing the right data to fuel retail success, February 2024.
³NRF, Retailers go beyond the buzz to explore AI’s potential, February 2024.
⁴NRF, Future trends that will shape consumer behavior and retail operations, February 2024.

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