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Putting the Customer First: Building a Profitable Online Presence

They say you can never go back. Nowhere is that more true than the retail market, which has seen a fundamental shift among consumers in the wake of the pandemic. Online is now the preferred method of shopping. The question is: are retailers ready to handle it? This article examines how application programming interfaces (APIs) and customer identity and access management (CIAM) technologies are assisting retailers in building a more engaging, efficient and profitable future with their online presence.

The pandemic has transformed how consumers behave by accelerating their embrace of digital commerce, and the changes are likely to prove permanent, according to businesses studying and adapting to the changes. A recent survey by McKinsey & Co. found that nearly 70% of consumers intend to continue buying online for store pickup. The survey also highlighted that three out of four people have tried a new shopping method due to the pandemic, and that more than half of all shoppers aim to continue using curbside pickup and grocery delivery services.

Not only has the pandemic changed the way we shop; it also has altered the way we pay for things. Consumers are turning away from cash for a number of reasons, including convenience and a desire to avoid bills and coins as potential sources of virus transmission. Within this context, traditional brick-and-mortar stores have had to quickly shift and adapt to a strong online presence and customer program.

The shift in buying behavior has in turn created a need for retailers to adopt a digital infrastructure, and build a culture of customer trust to compete for consumers’ business and loyalty. Technologies for identity management, authentication, APIs and application integration are helping retail businesses navigate this mode of operations. While retailers made it through in 2020 with online sales up 44% overall, there were hiccups, frustrations and sleepless nights all throughout. Looking ahead, now is the time to build an online presence that will set businesses up for success in the upcoming 2021 holiday season and beyond.

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Integrating Applications and Programs

Retailers are increasingly leveraging digital mediums to provide necessary products and services to consumers. Global ecommerce sales are expected to top more than $6.5 trillion by 2023, up from $4.2 trillion in 2020, as explained in an article by ecommerce giant Shopify.

APIs allow for the integration of various software programs to provide a comprehensive view of data. It is this unified view that allows retailers to have greater insight into operations as well as the ability to streamline and automate processes. APIs are one method that retailers are seizing upon to build a more engaging, efficient and profitable future. 

When retailers incorporate APIs, they can easily connect systems such as backend inventory management, online sales platforms and supply chain solutions to quickly scale and ensure resources do not crash during peaks in online shopper activity. APIs also provide data and actionable insights on customers and their habits — such as where customers are located and how they’re accessing these products (e.g. mobile, web, social applications or in-person) — so retailers can increase engagement and integration.

Moreover, modern products often connect with other products and services to form and participate in an ecosystem. For example, when you buy a TV, it now comes with a number of subscriptions to third-party streaming applications. Similarly, APIs (as products) connect and collaborate with an API ecosystem to deliver a superior experience to consumers. Once a retail organization starts sharing business capabilities internally and externally via APIs, the advantages become readily apparent — for example, being able to confirm availability of an item, provide delivery updates or add a special offer with a purchase, to name a few.

Recently, we helped a leading online luxury fashion retailer enhance connections between brands, boutiques, partners and end consumers. The new API-driven architecture allowed the company to set up a central back office, helping them to configure, manage and monitor the system. This has enabled them to anticipate and communicate any problem that they encounter to their partners, thereby ensuring the smooth day-to-day management of their functions — something the team values greatly given the continued growth of their business.

Securing Customer Identities for Positive Experiences

Online consumer use spiked tremendously due to the pandemic, social distancing guidelines and quarantines. Whether it was holiday shopping, ordering groceries or scheduling services, it was done online. However, this increase is also leading to more cyberattacks and fraud.

According to a Signifyd study, 62% of consumers lack confidence around the security of their data. Among them, approximately 25% said they knew their data was not safe, and 37% were not sure. Such security concerns are driving retailers to put a priority on providing a safe and efficient shopping experience to consumers.

A strong security and customer identity and access management (CIAM) strategy is essential for giving consumers confidence in their online interactions with retailers, and ensuring that information remains protected against outside threats. By adopting secure access and authentication mechanisms, such as passwordless and adaptive authentication, businesses can ensure customers have a positive and secure experience.

A pertinent example can be found in the example of a leading Scandinavia-based fashion chain. The firm has 470 stores and 5,000 employees across the UK, Europe and Middle East. The chain wanted to enhance its digital services by exposing APIs over an existing monolithic architecture and build an omnichannel application to give users a hassle-free experience, with product information, prices and promotions being shared between the app, website and stores. With the new API and CIAM design in place, the company now offers a modern, enhanced and secure shopping experience for its customers.

COVID-19 rapidly pushed retailers to offer goods and services online and adopt digital strategies to survive. However, this has also opened up entirely new opportunities. Where retailers once mainly maintained transactional relationships with customers, they can now start to use knowledge about customer identities to build customer profiles, new partnerships and new services that drive longer-term and higher-value relationships for them and their customers alike.


As Chief Technology Evangelist at WSO2, Asanka Abeysinghe drives efforts to create, refine and enhance WSO2’s corporate reference architecture and spearheads the thought leadership outlook defining the company’s corporate reference methodology for development, customer success and implementation. He has over 20 years of industry experience, which includes designing and implementing highly scalable distributed systems, SOAs and microservices architectures. Abeysinghe is on the committee of the Apache Software Foundation and has a BSc in MIS from National University of Ireland.

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