Canadian Retailer - The Supply Chain & Logistics Issue - 22

SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY
3 APIs open doors to new ways to
connect with customers

Customers today are integrating the
retail brands they love into their everyday lives, through mobile, web, social,
apps, and in-person interactions. APIs
drive many of these interactions, making it increasingly critical for innovative retailers that want to reach customers in new ways to develop and execute
successful API strategies.
Scores of retailers have published
APIs so that developers and third parties can access and incorporate select
data into their applications and onto
their websites. This is how website referrals work. A retailer releases sales
and inventory data through an API and
lets web developers plug this data into
their website. The website helps drive
traffic to the retailer's homepage in exchange for a referral fee.
"An API adds value to the retailer. They
are a way to magnify the reach of their
brands," says Kelly Goetsch, Chief Product Officer at Commerce Tools. "APIs are
already out there. Publish them and see
them get used."

"AN API ADDS VALUE TO THE
RETAILER. THEY ARE A WAY TO
MAGNIFY THE REACH OF THEIR
BRANDS. APIS ARE ALREADY OUT
THERE. PUBLISH THEM AND SEE
THEM GET USED."

- KELLY GOETSCH
Commerce Tools

4 APIs minimize supply chain costs

The costs of transportation, storage,
and labour add up, and retailers know
they can reduce their costs if they minimize supply chain costs. APIs, because
they allow for real-time flow of data,
give retailers greater flexibility in how
they move products across the supply
chain, and greater intelligence about
their customers.
With APIs, retailers expose inventory in real time across the network and
make real-time calls to allocate inventory to satisfy customers. Retailers can
react to changes quickly, adjust inventories, and minimize movements and
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CANADIAN RETAILER

| THE SUPPLY CHAIN & LOGISTICS ISSUE

costs. If a product turns out to be an unexpected
hit, the supply chain will know and can work to
resupply the product before it runs out. Better
intelligence about customer behaviours and the
store's inventory can help retailers optimize their
offerings and reduce their carbon footprint.
5 APIs democratize information

Retail is a competitive business. The problem for
many retailers is intra-office turf wars-departments don't always share needed information
because it is their information. (And even if they
wanted to share the information, their databases
may be structured so differently that they'll have
to spend an inordinate amount of time integrating the databases so they can share intelligence.)
According to Albert Goodhue, a partner at GCL
Group, a consulting firm specializing in supply
chain logistics, APIs democratize information inside the retail business. They make the exchange of
data quick and easy so that every department can
access data when they need it to make decisions.
"APIs are a means of sharing information,"
says Goodhue. "More democratic sharing of information leads to more fluid management."
6 APIs give retailers access to other
people's data

Businesses have figured it out: More data = more
intelligence = better business decisions. Social
media companies, too, have made select sets of
data available to the public through APIs. (Advertisers can purchase access to the richer data
stores social media companies collect about their
users.) Retailers wanting to know more about
their market simply need to access the data
through APIs these organizations have published
to share their data.
7 APIs are secure

No system is perfectly secure. Given enough time,
hackers can break into nearly any system. Retailers who worry that APIs might put their data at
risk can rest easy-when you share the data on
purpose, nobody will hack a system to try to get it.
Some of the bigger hacks in retail history-like
the huge attack on Target in 2013-have happened
to businesses that had security features in place.
They had big walls. But big walls can't stop hackers if they get somebody behind that big wall.
"Now, with APIs, almost all data is exposed,"
Goestch explains.
The data retailers want to expose is available
to anybody who wants to access it, but-and this

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - The Supply Chain & Logistics Issue