Signing off from the retail Hangout On Air series

Posted by Meghdutt Brahmachari, Product Marketing Manager, Google Enterprise  If there’s one thing we discovered from our retail Hangout On Air series, it’s that there’s no shortage of innovative new ideas percolating in the retail industry. Retailers are using Google to improve how employees collaborate on projects, speed up customer searches for products, and uncover insights on consumer behavior. Here’s what our interviewees shared with us over the past month: Improve customer experience and engagement Speedway Motors, the world's largest manufacturer of hot-rodding and racing products, relies on Google Search Appliance to help shoppers quickly find parts and accessories. By improving their customer experience, Speedway increased conversions by 45% and search revenue by 116%. Create a stronger digital presence Ocado is using Google App Engine and Google Maps to build a stronger digital presence, including development of a customer-friendly “Where’s My Order?” feature, which uses maps to display the exact location of an order. Innovate and be more productive Ocado is innovating with Google App Engine to let employees build customized dashboards for monitoring business information unique to their jobs. Ahold, the global grocery retailer, cut costs by 75% and improved employee productivity by switching to Google Apps – plus, they benefited from a no-headaches implementation. Use data to drive strategy Big Data can help retailers decide on strategic direction: Interactions Marketing and Tableau Software used Google BigQuery to analyze massive data sets and uncover “unexpected insights,” such as predicting how many products will be sold at an event based on variables like the weather. If you missed any of these Hangouts, good news – you can watch the recorded versions below and discover new ways to build retail businesses that rely on new and collaborative technologies. How Ocado Innovates with Google How Speedway Motors revved up its site search with Google Search Appliance How Google helps retailers turn Big Data into big insights Learnings from a CIO