Retail is big business, but even companies that sell physical objects cannot resist the pull of modernisation and digitisation. This is particularly true since most sales today don’t occur in store. Instead, it’s all happening online.
You may be selling a physical product, but that doesn’t mean that your retail business isn’t digital at its core, and like any digital business needs to have the best and latest tools at its disposal to help boost ROI.
Retail businesses today must provide a seamless, personalized experience for their customers, especially their loyal ones. That’s a lot of real-time events to cover, and you need to respond in real-time to every single one.
That’s where event-driven architecture, otherwise known as EDA, comes into play.
EDA is a game changer. It can help you improve the way your entire retail business operates for the better.
Not sure what EDA is, or how, exactly, it can help your retail business? Read on, as this guide covers everything you need to know:
Quick-Run Down of Event-Driven Architecture
Event-driven architecture is a design framework that focuses on events. Events, in this case, meaning any occurrence that happens within your system. EDA works to publish, capture, process and then finally respond to the events in question in a way that improves your business goals.
In retail, for example, an event could be a purchase, inventory levels dropping below a set amount, social media mentions, and so on. The larger your business, the less you’ll be able to deal with these events individually, and will instead need a system that can respond automatically in real-time.
This is done by establishing event driven architecture patterns. An event happens, and your system automatically kicks into gear and accomplishes several tasks. This is critical to keep up with the near-instant responses that customers today expect, and works to keep your entire business moving fluidly from the factory floor all the way to your omnichannel marketing platforms.
How EDA Works
EDA is made up of several very important components. Understanding these components is key to helping you understand just how EDA fits into your retail business:
- Events: the raw data that are triggered as soon as change or action is made within your system, like a purchase or account sign-up.
- Event Producers: These are the systems that activated the event, like a POS system or your e-commerce platform.
- Event Consumers: These are the systems that are then set up to respond to that event. A customer purchases something online, then your inventory system is activated, your distribution centre is informed, and your marketing department sends out an automated order approved and update email.
- Event Channels: These are the bridges between the producers and consumers. It could be a messaging channel, a data stream, or an API. They’re what connect your systems and get them working together.
- Event Processing: In order to trigger all those steps, you need an event processing system. This is what takes in the event, understands what needs to be done, and then activates the responses. Most will be rule-based responses (whenever an order is confirmed, a confirmation email is sent out). With AI tools, however, event processing is just getting started. In the future more advanced processes may be taken. For example, a product purchase then updates all personalized marketing materials for that individual customer.
How Can an EDA Help Your Retail Business?
Now that you know more about what an EDA is and how it works, it’s time to dive into what an EDA can do for your retail business. Just remember that an EDA is only essential if you are dealing with massive volumes of events. A small business doesn’t need an EDA, but an enterprise does.
For enterprise-sized retail businesses, EDA can:
Provide Real-Time Responses
Instant responses are the name of the game in today’s digital world. You don’t want to waste a second of your customers’ time. This means offering instant order updates, shipping out products as quickly as possible, and keeping stocks supplied particularly during demand periods.
Some retail businesses may even dabble in the Internet of Things. For example, in the past Amazon created a button (Amazon Dash) that connects to WiFi and allows customers to order another round of that essential household product at a simple press. No order forms. No checkouts. You need to have a system that can handle button presses while also being smart enough to, for example, avoid batch-ordering or accidental ordering.
Real-time responses need to be immediate, but more importantly they need to be correct. With EDA, you can provide accurate responses instantly, even for a large customer base.
Make Your System Easily Scalable and Flexible
Most top-down systems can’t handle a sudden influx of customers, which hurts your business if a celebrity was just captured wearing your item and all of a sudden that product is the next hot ticket item. With EDA, you can handle all those additional events without bottlenecking your revenue.
Improve the Customer Experience
Customers may not think about needing things now, but they expect it. They want things to work as they should, as soon as they click a button or make a decision. If they have to wait too long, they will get anxious, or even frustrated. With EDA, you can automatically roll out all relevant responses to an event instantly. This means instant email confirmations, speedy dispatches, and well-timed follow-up emails. Combined, this will help customers feel confident in their purchase, and in your brand.
Boost Operational Efficiency
EDA takes the lead and automates many essential processes so your business can breathe easily. Focus on the events that need human intervention (like dispatching) and leave the event-response tasks to your EDA. This will speed up operations, take less manpower to handle, and helps you reduce your overhead. You’ll automatically be prepared for sudden inrushes of orders, and quiet periods, all without adjusting the size of your team or their work hours.
Offer Data-Driven Insights
Event driven architecture isn’t just responding to data. It’s generating data. You can then use all that information to extract actionable and data-driven insights from your data that help you respond swiftly to trends.
