Elly Yates-Roberts |
Microsoft has introduced new capabilities in Dynamics 365 to help retailers engage with customers and personalise experiences across digital and physical channels.
Alysa Taylor, corporate vice president of business applications and industry at Microsoft, says that the new e-commerce functionality makes Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce “the optimal solution for B2B and B2C e-commerce on a single, holistic retail and commerce platform”.
The additional consumer capabilities allow businesses to “deliver consistent, personalised, and user-friendly purchasing options for all their customers,” says Taylor. Other Dynamics 365 services, such as Sales and Customer Service, will work alongside the new functionalities to enable retailers to give customers self-service options and relevant offers.
At NRF 2021, Microsoft highlighted several organisations that have been using Dynamics 365 to “build resilience, increase agility, and ultimately accelerate business outcomes”.
Columbia Sportswear, for example, leveraged the service to begin shipping from stores to meet customer demand and deliver mobile point of sale solutions and contactless payment options. “With Dynamics 365 Commerce we have realised that technology does not need to move as slowly as we previously thought it did, it can move faster,” said Russel Anderson, senior director of retail operations at the sportswear retailer.
Microsoft has also introduced the new Cloud for Retail platform at NRF 2021.