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to its record-breaking Christmas success. Helped in large part by the growing popularity of its ‘click & collect’ service, which grew 61.8% compared with the previous year, John Lewis total sales for the five weeks to 28 December 2013 were £734 million, 7.2% up compared with last year. Store sales for the period increased by 1.2%, while online sales were up 22.6%, with
johnlewis.com accounting for 31.8% of John Lewis’s total business during this period. The retailer also reported record levels of mobile traffic, which overtook PCs on Christmas Day. Malcolm Pinkerton, research director
responsible for e-commerce coverage at industry analyst Planet Retail, said the pressure to continuously transform retail businesses, cultures and systems in the quest to serve the new normal, and emulate the market leaders, can be mitigated by aligning investment priorities with an understanding the new ‘basic needs of shoppers’. He recently explained that Planet Retail undertook global consumer research to reveal, “what consumers want from retailers in achieving ‘omnichannel,’ or what they refer to as ‘shopping’.” An omnichannel view of the world is evolving
where customers see no difference between stores, online, call centres or even catalogues – they expect a consistent level of service, value and experience however they choose to shop. Planet Retail’s findings led Pinkerton to emphasise how the store has changed as part of the shopping journey. “Physical retailing has gone beyond the product; it is about hospitality, placing this front and centre through exceptional service, customer engagement and interaction, and then using the canvas of the store to create a compelling atmosphere in which to deliver it,” he stated.
Many of us planned ahead for our gift- buying and took advantage of retailers’ investment in services like ‘click & collect’
“When looking at using technology to
enhance instore experiences, Planet Retail found that 15% of consumers use instore kiosks, while the same percentage interact with staff equipped with a tablet computer. Over a third (37%) log into retailers’ free instore Wi-Fi. So technology should not be used for technology’s sake,” Pinkerton advised. “If there’s no ROI [return on investment] – not immediately, but eventually – or it doesn’t solve a pain point, the viability of implementing it should be considered. Retailers should arm staff with the required tools so they can deliver exceptional service and provide instore technology to enable ‘DIY’ [do-it- yourself] shopping.” Planet Retail’s research also found that 50% of
consumers wanted to be able to use their mobile devices to ‘showroom’ or compare prices while instore, while 37% wanted to use their tablets or smartphones to order out-of-stock items instore for home delivery and 42% wanted to receive real-time promotions when instore via their mobiles. With such demand, it is no surprise more retailers offer customers free store Wi-Fi. The trends of last year demonstrate that
on the one hand, retailers require IT systems that enable a strategy of complete visibility of pricing and product availability. On the other, this year they also need a view of customers that allows them to engage at the point of purchase, wherever that might be, with contextually relevant and personalised offers. Or, as Pinkerton concluded: “With the adoption of a customer- centric approach being integral to achieving this, retailers should move on from all the overused and under-defined buzzwords that are meaningless to shoppers and focus on making them actually happen.”
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www.retailtechnology.co.uk
Winter 2014
29
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