Opinion by David Tyc
I remember in 1999 I went to a trade show in New York and the latest buzzword was ‘multichannel’. Multichannel was a very retail-centric model in that the retailer primarily had two channels to sell across: bricks and mortar and the web.
We found that it was a good way for the retailer to promote a consistent message about their brand and product information across those channels. The problem with multichannel is that it usually restricted the consumer to one channel.
In 2013, selling in multiple channels only is not enough. Retailers need to embrace a true multichannel solution and really allow their customers to interact seamlessly across all their channels and across different technologies.
We see ‘omnichannel’ as very customer-centric model, where retail channel is amalgamated into once consistent path to purchase for the consumer. That path can be accessed by various technologies: web, smartphones, tablets, PCs, social media.
This consistent customer engagement in the path to purchase allows the retailer to understand the customers a lot more and develop a tighter and more mutually beneficial relationship.
A true omnichannel solution promotes the brand as the focal point of the customer shopping experience instead of the respective retail channel. The shopping experience for the consumer should be channel agnostic.
This experience can be facilitated by a multitude of diverse devices and technologies. A consumer hears about a product on a retailer’s Facebook page, they go online to make sure it is in stock, they use their smartphone to check the location and business times of the store and then they arrive to buy it. In the past, this would be credited as a bricks and mortar sale, but it is actually an omnichannel sale.
The fastest growth has been in mobile devices, which means the consumers’ path to purchase can commence at home around the breakfast table, continue on the train to work and during their lunch hour and then be completed at night after dinner or by visiting their local store after work.
Bricks and mortar is not going the way of the dinosaur, however, they are still an integral part of the omnichannel solution. We may see traditional retailers focus on flagship stores, scaling down on smaller or non-performing stores and augmenting their strong bricks and mortar presence with a well-executed omnichannel strategy.
An example of this is the morphing of traditional online and offline transactions into one single process, for example Click and Collect and Reserve and Collect.
Pure play retailers also need to take heed. While they can offer convenience and price, they cannot offer the channel choice of a savvy omnichannel retailer.
It’s not what is actually in the store, but more about the customers’ journey to the store that is relevant. Retailers need to incentivise customers to engage with them.
If they don’t then their competitors will and once they have locked them in it may be difficult to get the customer back, irrespective of “what is in” their store.
David Tyc is the sales and marketing manager at Island Pacific.