Google Cloud for Retail: Helping retailers transform their businesses

This article contains excerpts from the Google Cloud blog.

The retail industry is going through a transformation driven by customers who expect a seamless experience between online and in store. These customers are looking for tools that can make recommendations or better help them find what they need. And they want the entire experience to be faster and more personalized than ever. As a result, many retailers are turning to cloud technologies to help meet these needs.

Google Cloud is already partnering with retailers across the globe to address these challenges. Brands including Bed Bath and Beyond, Carrefour, Designer Brands, IKEA, Kohl’s, Loblaw, METRO, Ocado, Shopify, Target, The Home Depot, Ulta, and many more are leveraging Google Cloud technologies in areas like eCommerce hosting, data analytics, machine learning and workforce transformation in order to better serve their customers.

Today, Google Cloud is announcing a number of new retail solutions, created in collaboration with its ecosystem of retail partners and designed to solve specific business challenges that retailers face across all parts of the value chain.

Supporting retailers through a robust set of partners

Leading technology and SI partners are working with Google Cloud to build solutions to help meet the needs of retailers. A few of them include:

Accenture: Accenture’s Hyper-Personalization solution enables retailers to turn data into business insights that can be applied to increase customer response rates, lifetime value and loyalty. Combined with real-time offer management, this solution extends the omni-channel experience to customer engagement.
Bluecore: Bluecore helps retailers uncover new revenue opportunities through highly personalized, relevant and ROI-focused customer experiences.
Capgemini: Capgemini has created the Smart Store Guide, a digital shopping assistant designed to provide seamless assistance through voice technology.
Deloitte: Deloitte’s solutions for the retail industry address consumer insights and marketing analytics and extend to a full suite of supply chain solutions including demand forecasting and budgeting, internal and external distribution, optimization, and benefit monitoring.
LumApps: LumApps leverages Google Cloud technology, including G Suite, to create a central hub for resources such as corporate news, social communities, employee directories, and go-to G Suite apps. This offers a rich experience for everyone in the retail organization, from headquarters to delivery centers to stores.
Publicis Sapient: Publicis Sapient helps retailers break down data silos in order to connect all the data points and paths of the customer journey, creating a holistic view of the customer and providing retailers the ability to turn insights into action.
Salesforce: Salesforce is partnering with Google Cloud to help transform the way retailers provide customer support. Salesforce Service Cloud will integrate with Google’s best-in-class speech recognition, synthesis, natural language understanding, and agent assist as part of our Contact Center AI partner program.
SAP: SAP is helping retailers deliver innovative experiences with insights into behavior and demand. Their Dynamic Assortment Planning solution uses Google Shopping reporting to give planners intelligent insights to enhance inventory, boost customer satisfaction, and increase profitability.
Tableau: Tableau is working with retailers to help them collect, transform, analyze, and visualize retail data across marketing, merchandising, supply chain, voice of the customer, and store operations.
Trax: Trax is working with retailers to improve the in-store experience by providing inventory insights with image recognition.
Tulip Retail: Tulip Retail has created solutions designed to improve store performance and sales associate effectiveness using machine learning and analytics.

Looking ahead

Today’s announcements are part of a growing set of solutions aimed to help retailers grow their businesses and offer unique customer experiences at every stage of the shopping journey. To read the full article, visit the Google Cloud blog.