Microsoft has announced the private preview of its second vertical cloud offering: Microsoft Cloud for Retail.

This retail-specific cloud service is meant to connect experiences across the end-to-end shopper journey with integrated and intelligent capabilities.

“By bringing together disparate data sources across the retail value chain, we will enable retailers to realize the true value of their data by enriching core business processes and turning data into actionable insights,” said an official blog post.

Microsoft Cloud for Retail will focus around driving accelerated time to value by unlocking the power of Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Power Platform, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and Microsoft Advertising. The idea is to bring together disparate data sources using a common data model.

“’re designing Microsoft Cloud for Retail to give you the flexibility to adopt the capabilities you need to address your most pressing business needs be it better knowing your customers, empowering your employees, creating an intelligent supply chain, or reimagining your business model,” the post added.