COMMENT


A YEAR FOR CONSISTENCY M


uch has already been written about the retail winners and losers during


the busy festive shopping period at the end of last year. So much so, the trends they revealed may already have been literally been washed away in this winter’s unprecedented wet weather in the UK and Europe and the ‘polar vortex’ sitting over North America. However, the evidence was clear


that those retailers who had invested in creating a consistent customer experience across multiple channels with high levels of customer service came out of 2013 in a superior position to those that did not. I still maintain retailers will not be


able to divorce themselves from the notion of separate customer-facing channels and touchpoints, if only for operational clarity, and so they will always have to maintain ‘multichannel’ operations. But the buzzword that has entered the retail IT lexicon, and which is likely to figure highly in new technology discussions throughout 2014, is ‘omnichannel’. Interestingly, there was some debate


over the meaning of this new buzzword during a B&Q presentation I attended at the Retail Big Show in New York (p8, Events), where Tom Scott, head of business solutions at the DIY giant’s


parent company Kingfisher set out a strategy for ongoing investment that aims to put the customer at the heart of its retail operations – or to present a single, consistent and channel-agnostic offering to the customer. “We’re aiming for a totally consistent


offer to the customer with the same information so they have the same experience whether they place an order instore, on the website, via one of the kiosks we’ve trialled, or if they call the contact centre,” said Scott. (NRF 2014: B&Q takes on omnichannel, RetailT


echnology There is already evidence to suggest


that such strategies, to implement click to buy or reserve online and collect instore, for example, are gaining traction, with the likes of John Lewis reporting it broke both ‘click & collect’ and mobile traffic records over Christmas. Business management software firm NetSuite argues the case for the both term and its deeper meaning, at both tactical and an operational levels in this year’s future- gazing ‘Horizons’ self-cover pull out supplement (p27-34). This also fits with technology adoption


trends evidenced by new technology development on the part of vendors and the relative resurgence of interest in


Editor Miya Knights e: miya@retailtechnology.co.uk t: 07810 648 706


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customer-facing store investments, whether that includes mobile queue-busting, self checkout, personalised or location-aware promotions communications or instore analytics. (As evidenced on the annual ‘Money’ feature, from p21.) Even a recent UK survey of 2,000 UK


.co.uk, 15 January 2013)


adults by supply chain standards body GS1 UK saw fit to draw a correlation with a consistent a view of inventory for retailers as the channels it presents to customers. Indeed, 42% said they had given up on an online purchase because of a lask of product information, while 24% said that they did not trust that the product information online is as accurate as product information available instore. “To provide an enriched omnichannel


consumer experience, retailers and brand owners need to ensure that product attributes are consistently defined across all channels – instore, online, and mobile – allowing consumers to interrogate and compare their choices,” David Smith, digital solutions manager GS1 UK. As consumers increasingly seek retail


product and service attributes instantly, wherever and however they choose to access them. It is now critical for retailers and brand owners to rise to this digital information challenge. Miya Knights,Editor


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