The Need for Recovery Action Planning in Retail

Founded in 2005, Confiz is global technology services and solution company with Fortune 100 companies as its clients. The company, a certified Microsoft Gold ERP Partner, employs more than 400 individuals worldwide and has its offices in North America, the Middle East, with Global Delivery Center in Pakistan. For details visit www.confiz.com

MOHAMMED REZA

Head of Business Development Confiz Limited

Mohammed Reza is the Head of Business Development and leads the enterprise applications business for Confiz Limited in the Middle East.

Retail brands across the world continue to experience decreased sales owing to the reduced traffic due to COVID-19. The businesses which in the pre-covid world used to strategize to increase profits are now forced to focus more on their cash reserves, managing liabilities and analysing liquidity ratios.

To make things worse, uncertainty regarding the future is exacerbating the struggle faced by retailers. Strategizing and planning is now supposed to be based on an altered consumer behaviour and the definition of the new ‘normal’ would not be clear until the customers are fully back in stores again. Given this fact, retail business owners have already started preparing for recovery action plans for multiple future scenarios but the ones who haven’t, it’s high time that they start doing that already.

The impact severity of the pandemic suggests that the retail space which we were present in before would not be the same in the short run. Exact forecasts of demand for brick-and-mortar stores might seem difficult to calculate at this point in time but what is more certain is the loss in consumer confidence. An example from China tells us that even if 90% of the apparel stores were re-opened, footfall and purchases had dropped by 50-60% from pre-corona levels.

While recovery is most likely to be gradual, another scenario could include a spike of demand as soon as the lockdown is completely lifted as buyers indulge in euphoric spending. Constant monitoring of incoming traffic in stores has now become crucial for decision making and adaptation. This is where the role of tech companies like Confiz comes into play.

At Confiz, we offer retailers customized services and solutions such as ERP and CRM solutions, real time in-store footfall analytics, industry benchmarking, and periodic measurement of performance metrics for their stores and staff, among many other.

With the pandemic changing how retailers operate, the need for IT solutions for managing their business functions showed a steep spike. Considering the needs of our potential and existing clients, during the days of smart lockdown, we offered them solutions tailored to their current needs through the provision of features like heat-mapping for their stores, optimal store placement, and measuring stores staff’s performance through our real-time data measurement tools.

Being certified Microsoft Dynamics 365 Gold Partner, we helped retailers in multiple regions across the globe (Middle East, North America and Pakistan) operating on legacy technologies or using technology at a minimal level, transform the way their businesses operate. For example, Confiz is relatively new in the Middle East region. However, in a short span of nine to eleven months, we helped companies like Bani Yas Cooperative Society and ADCOOP with the implementation of Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM solutions.

Although the adverse impact of Covid-19 has been contained with rigorous efforts of governments across the globe, but the pandemic has for sure altered the way we live our lives. With this changed consumer behaviour and shopping preferences, the businesses which will be quick to implement technology in the way they function would definitely have a better chance of survival and growth in the future.