Does the question sound to you: how do I adapt my company to the digital era so as not to lose competitive advantage? If the answer is yes and your sector is retail, calm down because you are taking an important first step. Among all the resources that must be used to achieve this, the digital signature occupies a prominent position. We tell you how these solutions help leading companies in the sector to take another step in their digital transformation.
The authentication methods defined by the digital signature help retail companies to be more agile in their business processes, as well as to provide a new layer of security and privacy to them.
As proof of this, we will bring you 3 use cases, but not before doing a brief review of the situation of Spanish retail and its status in terms of digital transformation.
The retail sector in Spain
Currently, the Spanish retail sector is in good health, enjoying also hopeful prospects for the future.
To confirm this, we can turn to the study on the sector carried out by Growth for Knowledge. This report reflects that for 2019 a 2.4% increase in business volume is expected, which is added to the 2% growth experienced in 2018.
The main reasons that explain this increase, according to Growth for Knowledge, is the 22% increase of minimum wage at the beginning of the year, to which we must add the slight increase in the inflation rate to 1.2%. This combination should provide a boost for the increase in retail turnover.
The digitization of Spanish retail
Digitizing the retail sector is key to strengthen this growing trend. That is why it is our obligation to analyze, in general terms, where this change is.
To do this, we will first resort to the diagnostic study of Retail Digitization in Spain, prepared by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Tourism. From here we can draw the following conclusions of interest:
- The levels of penetration of e-commerce are below average in small commerce, while in large competitors it is above.
- Since 2015, small businesses have been closing this gap with larger competitors.
- Most companies outsource their digital transformation processes, since they do not have their own specialists.
- Most companies use some sort of management software.
- Entrepreneurs think they have a degree of digitization that matches their competitors.
- Regarding sales levels, traditional sales are sill over e-commerce, mostly from the business website itself, and not on external platforms.
- The main obstacles perceived are the lack of economic resources and the low digital qualification of the staff.
As a second source we can make use of the OpenText and IDC report entitled The omniexperience challenge and customer intelligence in the digitization of Retail of the future. It is concluded that only 9.9% of the companies’ surveyed claim to be in an initial phase of digital transformation, while 11.9% consider being at the most advanced level of the process.
Among all the digitization measures from this study, we can highlight the investment in cybersecurity actions, especially in relation to the privacy of its customers. All this is largely encouraged by the GDPR Regulation.
How the digital signature in retail is applied
The digital signature fits perfectly with most parts of the business involved in retail. To verify this, we can briefly review the main business sections.
From a commercial perspective, it allows speeding up sales and billing contracts; in human resources it speeds up the hiring and document management, such as payroll, leave and other procedures; for logistics, it makes the reception and delivery of goods more fluid.
This superficial look is enough for us to get an idea of the importance of the digital signature as a development and improvement tool for retail. Thanks to it, we achieve processes with more legal guarantees and that eliminate barriers such as those related to geographical aspects.
3 use cases of the digital signature in retail
At Viafirma we offer our digital signature solutions to important companies in the Spanish retail sector. Next we will talk about some of them and how Viafirma’s tools have optimized the business processes of each one of them.
Heineken
The Heineken Spanish group is a leader in the national beer sector, also being in a prominent position among the food and beverage companies, with profits that exceeded 70 million euros last 2018.
Heineken Spain uses Viafirma Documents in cloud, integrating the mobile CRM that its sellers carry on a corporate iPad and incorporating biometric signature in contracts signed with their customers. Hesafirma, the personalized app, is integrated into the company’s internal app suite.
The integration and distribution project is carried out with our partner Guadaltech, a Sevillian technology consultant and responsible for the development of the Heineken iPad CRM.
Mediamarkt
This multinational benchmark in the marketing of electronic products, appliances and computer equipment, billed in 2018 more than 2,000 million euros in Spain.
Mediamarkt Spain works with Viafirma Documents, thus incorporating the advanced biometric or digitized signature into the signing of contracts with end customers, and can be done directly in the store.
The project has the integration of its systems through the Sevillian consulting firm S-DOS, Viafirma partner.
MAS supermarkets
Grupo Hermanos Martín is a family business and clearly Andalusian with over 40 years of experience in the food distribution sector. Supermarkets MAS is its main brand, with more than 100 establishments in Seville, Huelva, Malaga, Granada and Cádiz.
Supermarkets MAS has Viafirma Documents in its SaaS (Software as a Service) mode. The Andalusian firm in strong territorial expansion uses Viafirma Documents to expedite the process of signing labor documentation, such as communications or contracts, among others.
As we have seen, the digital signature in retail is an important contribution in its digital growth, obtaining benefits that, in one way or another, will have an impact on the well-being and satisfaction of the final consumer.