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Retail apps: Social CRM

The Social CRM app idea book shows how retail managers can use Windows 8 apps to analyze market data, evaluate and monitor customer social activities, and provide direct engagement with customers. This enables the retail manager to promote a positive brand image.

You can gain inspiration for the design of your own retail app by reviewing the use cases in this topic and seeing how the Windows 8 Microsoft design language is utilized in the app.

Sample code available: To review the code for the retail app idea book, see Sample Retail App.

Retail app scenarios

The retail app described in this topic uses Microsoft design features to create a social customer relationship management (CRM) resource for retail managers.

Inform	Respond

Notify users and share information

You can use the Microsoft design language to draw users into your app using toast notifications. Users can respond to current activities by sharing information using the Share charm.

Matt, a regional manager for Contoso, begins his day by evaluating real-time sales data and social metrics for his company, a large consumer goods retailer.

image of a retail management app

He receives a toast notification and has the option to directly link to detailed activity that could result in negative impressions of Contoso.

image of a toast notification

Contoso uses social media and metrics as a critical component of their corporate strategy. Upon selecting the toast notification, Matt is concerned about the decline in the social media metrics. He also notices negative comments on Facebook that are associated with someone influential to their brand.

image of metric data in a retail app

Matt reviews the history of the loyalty customer, including purchase history, social media engagement, and reward activity. He decides that management must work with this influential person to address the decline in customer sentiment.

image of customer information in a retail app

Matt swipes from the right and selects Share to immediately inform the local store manager.

image of the share charm

Terry, a local store manager, receives the message from Matt. Terry reviews the customer details and elects to issue additional reward points as well as accelerate the delivery of coupons and specialty offers.

image of a retail app

Summary of notifications and sharing

In the first scenario, we see that...

Toast notifications deep link into your app and give the user an opportunity to re-engage with your content.
You can make your app into a Share source and send content, links, or any other type of structured data.

For information on toast notifications and Share, see the following:

For help choosing the best navigation pattern for your app, see Navigation patterns.

See the Flat navigation pattern in action as part of our App features, start to finish series.

Respond

You can use the Microsoft design language to provide display information that is relevant to the user on the Start menu.

Matt pins a live tile for the Sacramento store to his Start menu. The tile display real-time metrics. Logging in at a later date, Matt is pleased to see positive activity. He launches the Contoso CRM app directly from the live tile to gather more information.

image of a live tile

Matt continues his evaluation of regional and local store activity. He is encouraged by the positive change in customer sentiment and sales activity.

image of a retail app

Summary of respond

In the second scenario, we see that...

Live tiles draw display information that is relevant to the user enabling them to respond in a timely manner.

For information on live tiles, see the following:

Explore the possibilities

Windows 8 is full of new features that can make your app shine. For more information, see the Windows 8 Product Guide for Developers.