MULTICHANNEL Customers have come to expect this – they want
to be able to shop not only instore but online, on their mobiles and tablet devices. They also want our services to be consistent, convenient and flexible.” By way of example, for the five weeks to 28
December 2013, online sales for John Lewis were 22.6% up on last year, with
johnlewis.com accounting for 31.8% of the total John Lewis business during this period. ‘Click & collect’ orders were also 61.8% up on last year. At Argos meanwhile, sales originating online have
increased significantly over the past few years, now accounting for 46% of total sales. Mobile sales for the traditionally catalogue and store-based retailer now represent some 20% of total sales. But that does not mean however that the days
of the store are numbered – in fact the store is an integral part of one of the most popular emergent shopping services spanning multiple sales channels: click & collect. Sackman commented on the advantages for Argos:
“Check and reserve, which allows customers to check stock availability online and reserve for immediate collection at their local store, now accounts for 35% of total sales, up from 32% the year before. “And despite the growth in digital sales, 90%
of all transactions still currently touch a store and having a physical presence through traditional channels – our stores – is key to our strategy.” As well as the actual point of sale (PoS),
interactions with customers have changed. It is now normal for a customer to interact with a retailer through multiple channels in the course of one purchase cycle, which complicates issues further. Pepjin Richter, director of enterprise resource
Argos Check and Reserve is popular with customers
planning (ERP) product marketing at Microsoft, said: “The IT systems of most retailers are quite fragmented and they have tended to custom build their own systems over the whole vertical; from the supply chain right up to the front end. This is then crossed with the various channels and the end result is something that is very hard to read. This is only made harder when customers can cross channels within a single order cycle. Visibility is challenging.” Product visibility is also important. Sackman
added: “What’s become very clear to us is the need for channels to be underpinned by a single platform, which offers one central understanding of our stock position and availability, and can be presented to the customer irrespective of the channel they use.” Integrating both operational systems and data
then becomes a key requirement of omnichannel retailing, so that both customers and products can both be identified and seen no matter where they are within the retailer’s systems. In practice this means bringing data out of silos and sitting it on a single platform where it can be seen by all – from the front end right through to the back office. It can then be taken and used appropriately by the various operational components of the retailer. But the important thing is that everyone is seeing the same thing and has one single version of the truth. Having an integrated and transparent system also means that the customer experience can be enhanced and enriched – not merely supported. For example, customers tend to go into the store
much later in the sales process than ever before – if a sales rep can see a copy of what they have been looking at online, what preferences they have, what is on their wishlist, and then tailor service provision using so much more detail. It is not only a counter strategy to pureplay online stores, but it also helps to promote brand loyalty across channels though better customer service. Burnett commented: “Coupling new technology,
which is also evolving, with insight into the ways in which our customers choose to shop, we can better identify what customers want, when they want it and where they want it. Providing our partners with this insight helps strengthen the relationships they build with our customers and better serve their personal needs.”
Enhancing the customer experience was one of
the main reasons for US-based Ashley Furniture to upgrade its systems to a single scalable platform, due to go live in 2015. The single platform aims to
22 Spring/Summer 2014
www.retailtechnology.co.uk
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