Omni-Channels and the Omni-Opportunities.
Earlier in the year several major retailers announced their departure from the high street as the economy claimed yet more victims. However in the case of BlockBuster, HMV and Jessops, many experts dismissed the struggling economy and instead blamed their demise on a lack of evolutionary insight and a failure to embrace both multi-channel and omni-channel opportunities. But what does this really mean and what can other retailers do to survive?
Retail Then
Over the years retailers have successfully adapted their approach to selling in order to reflect the changes and availability of technology. Steering away from using the once compelling straplines such as, ‘London, Paris, New York’ and instead opting for ‘In-Store, Online & Mobile’ as a way of flexing their multi-channel muscles. However, we are seeing more and more evidence to suggest that making products available in both a virtual and physical world is still not enough for retailers to guarantee their survival, with many brands failing to effectively tie all channels together.
Retail Now
The popularity of online retailing has directly attributed to the declining numbers of shoppers on the high street and our past blogs have focused heavily on the challenges facing retail and the need to therefore bring the online experience into the physical store through the adoption of digital solutions such as self-service kiosks and browsing facilities. We now understand that it is not enough to simply make reference to technology in-store, instead consumers are yearning for an Omni approach, one that combines all channels together in a seamless manner.
The problem with multi-channel is that different channels are normally managed separately, promoted differently and often ran like individual businesses under the same brand. Customers are therefore presented with different items and different prices online compared to the items stocked in-store which can often be confusing and frustrating. The new challenge is the unification of these multi channels creating a seamless omni experience.
Omni-what?
Omni literally refers to ‘all’ or ‘every’ and in the context of retail this refers to all available sales channels. While most companies manage channel specific interactions well enough, the real challenge is in orchestrating customer interactions across channels to deliver a superior experience. We believe the success of achieving this superior experience is dependent on a seamless approach with interaction taking place across all channels.
According to an article in Forbes ‘The key to succeeding in omni-channel retailing is understanding the new role of the store: the central representation of your brand. This means that no matter which channel the customer is using to reach you — bricks and mortar, online, or mobile — your customers see your store as a single, transparent system rather than multiple channels with separate inventory, processing, and delivery systems.’ The full article can be read here.
Achieving Omni-Channel
Where I see Omni-Channel working most successfully is when a core product can be tailored, personalised or modified in some way like a car or tee-shirt or an appliance that you can add extras to. It would also work very well in fast food restaurants, coffee shops and other fast food establishments.
The retail process could then look like this:
1. You want to pick up your ‘must have’ cappuccino from your favourite coffee shop on the way to work
2. You use the app for the coffee shop to place your order and pay for it online
3. The app communicates with the store to place the order on the customers’ behalf
4. On arrival customer goes to collect point and hold their mobile phone next to the Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled digital display alerting the coffee shop staff that you have arrived to collect your order
5. Customer collects their freshly-made order, no payment or waiting required
6. Customer leaves and continues journey to work with little or not time wasted on getting a coffee.
Retail Future
As the implementation of Omni-Channel increases the function of the store will change completely becoming experience centres, a place where customers can go to ‘experience’ the product prior to purchasing it online. As the article in Forbes highlights the store now has to be the central representation of the brand and must therefore offer online experiences in-store.
According to a recent study 72% of consumers research products online prior to purchase. So why not make it really easy for them to spot your bargains, allowing them to order online and collect in-store (click and collect) or even make an appointment to view the product in store? It is no surprise that we would suggest adopting digital in-store.
Blogged by Sarah
