Retail is a continually changing industry that relies on meeting the expectations of customer demands, while finding new ways to improve business operations. What retailers are trying to accomplish today is how they can do more with less, something cloud computing can offer businesses who are faced with the challenge of meeting demands, improving customer service, and connecting with consumers. Cloud servers give retailers the potential to house massive amounts of data in a cost-effective way that benefits their overall operations.
Cloud servers offer retailers a way to explore data and analytics to understand the needs of their customers. By analyzing information that could influence purchasing decisions, and even by understanding the way a customer stops at displays, cloud hosting offers businesses a way to upgrade technology that helps improve the effectiveness of merchandising. Any of these applications use huge amounts of information and data, which is where a cloud based solution would be economically feasible.
In the cloud, a server can hold massive amounts of data with the ability to expand data storage as needed. This is good for the retail industry because thousands of different applications/software are used for various business purposes, all of which can easily receive heavy use during peak times. For example, retail stores like Target utilize planogram software, which maps out item placement on shelves and is only used about once a month. Many companies order data storage capacity based on anticipated usage, but when applications, software, and data are all stored in the cloud, the company only pays for the space being used. The elasticity of cloud hosting is beneficial for retailers whose businesses are particularly seasonal, where paying for unused storage space is now unnecessary with the implementation of cloud servers.
To optimize the in-store experience, cloud hosting opens the door for businesses to use data to market to each customer, and to maximize the customer experience using information stored in the cloud. Retailers can create a new way to think about analytics and data storage while utilizing the innovation of cloud hosting.
Rather than storing data on a server that doesn’t have the ability to scale based on what you use, consider moving your data to the cloud today with a cloud server from Atlantic.Net. For a quote and a free consultation, contact us at 1-800-521-5881.