Before a company decides whether to use the Retail and Commerce functionality in Dynamics 365 SCM, there needs to be a basic understanding of what it can do. This blog will give a high level overview of what the module does to help companies increase their functionality using the ERP ecosystem.
Features
Dynamics 365 Retail and Commerce extends functionality around sales order processing to better serve customers. The functionality outlined below can be used in multiple sales order processing scenarios including:
Brick and Mortar locations (Point of Sale)
Back office call-in orders (Call Center)
On the web (Ecommerce)
Advanced Pricing
Dynamics 365 Sales and Marketing supports the concept of a trade agreement which can set prices and simple discounts at the line label. Retail and Commerce extends this concept to support the following types of discounts:
Simple discounts such as discount percentages, dollars off, and specific prices for items or groups of items.
Quantity-based discounts such as buy X quantity and receive a percentage/dollar off/specific price for an item or group of items.
Threshold-based discounts at the order value level. This can be indicated by requirements such as needing to buy a certain dollar amount of goods to qualify for a discounted price (percentage/dollar off/specific price) for an item or group of items.
Mix and Match discounts can vary greatly, but include concepts such as BOGO (buy one get one) style discounts, buy X get Y discounts, bundle pricing (buy these 5 items and get them for a special price or discount), and so on.
Shipping threshold discounts such as getting free or discounted shipping when an order is over a certain dollar amount.
Tender-specific discounts such as getting 5% off an order when paid for with cash or any other specified tender.
Payment Functionality
Standard Sales and Marketing payment processing occurs, for the most part, after an order has been invoiced through the use of a payment journal. Retail and Commerce allows the facilitation of receipt of payment prior to an order being taken. For example, an order placed through any retail channel can be configured to receive a credit card authorization prior to the order being shipped. It then automatically charges the credit card and captures funds at the time of invoice. This streamlines the process of collections an AR team may face at the time of invoicing orders in D365.
Price Control
Retail and Commerce offers the ability to:
Control who can change prices
Determine how much the price changes compared to the originating price
Provide context for the change in price (such as customer satisfaction or incorrect price on an original order)
This helps keep margins on revenue secure while protecting customers from clerical errors that can occur at order entry.
Fraud Protection
Retail and Commerce functionality includes two different types of fraud protection:
Configurable fraud rules that will stop transaction entry based on predefined logic such as email address or order level details
AI driven fraud protection through Microsoft Fraud Protection
These configurations can help companies prevent losses due to fraudulent transactions, securing more true revenue.
Store Reconciliation
Brick and mortar locations that accept cash must be able to reconcile that cash on a periodic basis. Using the Retail POS, a built-in statement process streamlines the payment settlement process to efficiently close stores. The process of statement calculation and posting allows store users to easily complete daily cash reconciliation and true up inventory levels to ensure effective store operations.
Optimized Order Management
Through use of the Retail and Commerce module, companies can utilize a multi-rule system of identifying the best warehouse to ship an order from to reduce costs and increase revenue. This Distributed Order Management profiling function also reduces costs to customers in the form of lower shipping, resulting in higher customer satisfaction.
Loyalty
The Retail and Commerce module offers a points-based loyalty system that can be configured for customers to earn points for transactions and even redeem points as a tender. The rules can be tiered to allow for high spend/high transaction volume customers to earn more points than an average customer, incentivizing customers to shop with your company.
Point of Sale
Through Retail and Commerce a highly responsive retail Point of Sale (POS) system can be configured to:
Allow store associates to perform sales transactions
Create ship-to-customer sales
Utilize inventory transactions such as stock counts and adjustments
Manage non-transactional tasks
In addition to the above, the system can be configured for a plethora of other operations all from within a single application.
Ecommerce
Dynamics Ecommerce uses all of the same functions as POS and back office sales order processing to ensure customers have a pleasant, unified experience when shopping on a company's website. The site can be configured to follow all the same rules as another channel, but can also have its own unique pricing and discount structure to drive traffic. Pages are configurable for any company's preference and allow for deals integration with the ERP system for unified order tracking.
Omni-channel Operations
Since all channels are configured in the same ecosystem, communication within a company becomes possible. This includes Buy Online, Pickup In Store (BOPIS), Buy Online, Return In Store (BORIS), intercompany inventory lookups, and many other cross-channel functions that can be expected from a modern retailer.
Conclusion
This is just a small taste of what the Retail and Commerce module can help companies achieve. Future blogs will dive deeper into the features and functions that the module leverages to help companies ensure customer satisfaction, increase profits, and improve the sales process for all.
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