Indian footwear retail chain Metro Shoes has tapped IBM Cloud for launching a digital commerce platform powered by Watson Customer Engagement.
Metro Shoes, which has 350 physical showrooms, will use IBM Watson Order Management and Commerce for digital engagement and drive better customer experiences and ensure efficiency in the supply chain.
Metro Shoes earlier faced challenges in managing orders from multiple online platforms due to unreliable software, leading to lack of visibility of real-time data of sales, inventory location and returns.
By deploying IBM’s Watson Customer engagement, Metro Shoes tried to improve online presence for some of their popular internal brands which were getting low visibility impacting overall sales — in addition to its inventory management challenges.
“Technology is redefining customer engagement and will be the key differentiator for retail brands. With IBM’s knowledge in the omni-channel commerce and retail space, these changes will accelerate the execution of our strategy and give us an edge over competition,” said Alisha Malik, vice president, Digital, Metro Shoes.
IBM Watson will support Metro Shoes to gain more customer insight in order to personalize the online experience for visitors as they navigate through the site.
Metro Shoes will be able to showcase all of its brands and recommend specific items based on insights shared by customers. This personalized experience will include new and convenient fulfillment options such as buy online, pick up in store, reserve in store and easy returns.
With IBM’s technology capabilities and CEBS expertise with marketplace integration, Metro Shoes as a brand/seller will also be able to integrate with more than 14 e-marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart and other leading portals with a centralized process and inventory engine to enable Metro to scale up.
IBM Cloud will help carry the ability to configure heavy workloads and thereby deliver performance required for peak usage during the shopping season.
“IBM is at the forefront of helping clients embrace newer ways to work and digitally transforming the way they engage with their end customers,” said Nishant Kalra, business unit leader – IBM Watson Customer Engagement – India/South Asia.
For Metro shoes, IBM Watson Order Management and Commerce solutions can pave way for IBM’s cognitive technologies to deliver insights that help them provide personalized recommendations and an enhanced user experience – from click to delivery.
“Our effective and flexible software solutions paired with IBM’s deep technology expertise will provide Metro Shoes a real-time, centralized system for customer management,” said Satish Swaroop, president, CEBS Worldwide.
IBM said it assists more 17,000 companies including Amadori Group, American Eagle Outfitters, Boots, Ermes, Luxottica, Moosejaw Mountaineering, Office Brands, and Performance Bicycle to infuse cognitive technologies into their marketing, commerce and supply chain capabilities.
