Why is the Cloud a Better Choice for the Retail Sector Right Now?

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Things are moving towards reopening, as vaccination of the masses is taking place at a decent pace. Alongside this, we are also witnessing a softening of the restrictions in place to curtail the spread of Covid-19.

As these developments take place on one end, the retail sector is also gearing up for a return of customers to physical stores in huge numbers. The bulk of consumer demand during the pandemic was mainly driven just by items of dire need.

Now, as the economy reopens and job creation is also on the rise, we are also witnessing an improving purchasing power again. Consumers are feeling more confident while spending when they have a pay check rolling in every week or month.

A Paradigm Shift in Consumer Preferences

During the past few months, we have witnessed a paradigm shift in consumer preferences. Now, retail consumers desire a highly personalized shopping experience at the retail store which they frequent for their recurring needs.

This sort of a personalized experience was previously associated only with the high end retail brands, which also charged a hefty premium for offering this level of personalization. Now however, every retail customer expects to be treated special.

So, how can the retail sector fulfill this emerging desire of consumers? The foremost response to this major shift lies in a data driven approach, where retail brands will have to keep track of the preferences of each individual customer, big or small.

Where Does the Cloud Fit?

The next question to address on the part of all major retailers is to choose a technology platform that can handle both the storage and processing of this huge volumes of consumer related data.

Well, this is one area where the infrastructure of Cloud Service Providers (CSP) like dinCloud offers the perfect balance between functionality, flexibility and cost. The immensely capable data centers of leading CSPs like dinCloud can handle the retail sector’s needs.

Regardless of whether its storage, data processing or analytics, the cloud has your retail brand covered, at a fraction of the cost of on-premise hardware environments. Another key advantage is the ready accessibility and high availability of the cloud infrastructure.

This capability of the Cloud, when combined with on the fly scalability, results in an infrastructure that is key to the agility that modern retailers require. Then, there is the immense processing muscle of the Cloud, ready for you to tap into.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Driven Retail

The cloud also puts you in a commanding position to leverage technologies such as AI to reach out to consumers with interesting product offerings. Lets explain this with the help of a simple example of a retail consumer.

During the last summer, one of your regular retail customers showed interest in a lawn mower. Now, summer is just around the corner and your cloud powered AI tool could make this customer an attractive offer of a lawn mower for the upcoming summer season.

Regardless of whether the customer buys the mower or not, how delighted and properly treated would such a customer feel just by receiving such an offer at the right price and perhaps, the right time as well.

Conclusion

The Cloud offers immense potential to the retail sector that it can leverage to its fullest advantage. Emerging technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) capable devices and edge computing solutions seem a bit too premature and costly right now.

Further, the requisite infrastructure on the part of service providers and massive investments required by retailers in IoT devices are expected to take some more time to materialize. Till such time, the Cloud offers itself as a very capable technology platform.

If you are in the retail sector and looking to elevate the consumer experience to new heights, feel free to avail dinCloud’s capable solutions for your existing as well as future needs.