Ahead of NRF (National Retail Federation) 2023, Microsoft today announced several new Retail solutions including new features in Teams like improved Walkie Talkie mode, Viva, and other Microsoft apps that will help retail workers, new PromoteIQ capabilities, new Smart Store Analytics that brings retailers with e-commerce level shopper analytics for the physical space and Store Operations Assist solutions that enables retail associates to better serve and engage customers as part of Microsoft Cloud for Retail and more.
Here’s the summary of the announcements made by Microsoft.
- Updates to Microsoft Cloud for Retail include new offerings – Smart Store Analytics and Store Operations Assist.
-  Microsoft is helping to make autonomous stores more affordable and scalable with its partnership with AiFi and the creation of Smart Store Analytics, which provides retailers using AiFi’s technology with e-commerce-level shopper analytics for the physical, smart store space.
- Microsoft developed Store Operations Assist, to deliver data-driven tools to retailers to help store associates increase efficiency and improve customer experiences with access to all the operational day-to-day activities.
- Microsoft shared its vision to create the industry’s most complete omnichannel retail media stack, via Microsoft PromoteIQ, to support retailer evolution through retail media.
- PromoteIQ Onsite expanded its capabilities through the pilot release of the Microsoft Retail Advertising Network, designed to help retailers monetize more of their inventory.
- Is available in February, PromoteIQ Offsite will enable retailers to activate their first-party audience data to help brand partners reach shoppers using third party inventory across web and social.
- Microsoft completed a proof of concept for PromoteIQ In-Store to support retailers and hardware partners on in-store retail media activations.
- Microsoft is announcing a set of new features in Teams, Viva, and other Microsoft apps that will help frontline workers thrive in today’s digitally connected, distributed world of work.
- The Teams Shifts connector for UKG Dimensions, now generally available, provides frontline workers the ability to view and accept open shifts, request time off, clock in and out, and more.
- Microsoft’s shared device mode enables easy sign-in and sign-out for apps configured to support this feature. Outlook, Edge, Yammer, and Power Apps applications on Android as well as Microsoft Teams on iOS are now in preview.
- Two new features in Teams Walkie Talkie: prompt to join (generally available) and transmission usage report (rolling out February 2023) to help store associates stay connected, and automated workflows via Triggers and Actions with the Updates Power Automate Connector to help save time, generally available by February 2023.
- New capabilities in Microsoft Viva to transform the employee experience, such as Viva Connections pre-configuration for frontline workers, now in preview; Stories in Viva Engage, now in preview; and a new home page experience in the Viva Learning mobile app, now generally available.
You can learn more about these solutions from the link below.
