E-commerce, Online marketplaces, mobile commerce, social media… In recent years, developments in technology have meant that companies have more ways of communicating with and transacting with their customers than ever before. If done correctly, multi-channel retailing can promote customer loyalty and drive increased sales, but there is a danger that confused or disappointing service may alienate users and prompt them to turn to competitors.
How important is multi-channel retailing post-recession?
It is now beyond important. Those who don’t offer a truly integrated multi-channel experience will miss out – there is sufficient research to prove the value of a cross channel customer vs. single channels. I am certain if Amazon also operated stores they would sell more! Some consumers simply enjoy the flexibility of multi-channel and will dedicate their share of wallet and loyalty to those retailers who offer them a comprehensive cross-channel shopping experience. In a time poor, information rich, online social world there is no excuse for every retailer, from single store independents to major multi-nationals NOT to offer, as a minimum, a multi-channel service experience. This is the new norm, customers expect it and are quite taken aback when retailers are unable to support it!
How much do you think retailers should be embracing new channels such as social marketing and mobile phone apps?
I don’t think they can afford not to! They have to be where their customers and potential customers are. Since consumers are so engaged by online social networks such as facebook and social media such as twitter it is inexcusable not to have a presence. At the very least monitoring consumer comment about their brand is critical for turning around unfavourable opinion! The early adopters of course will develop their own online communities – one leader in this sphere is T.M.Lewin with “Off the cuff” – a powerful community forum that really secures their customers’ loyalty by making them accessible and open online.
In terms of mobiles, with the increasing use of mobile devices retailers also need to be positioned to not only provide a mobile compatible front end to their web site but also engage with the increased use of mobiles for internet search as well. Consumers who are out and about and decide they have time for a bit of “retail therapy” may well use their mobiles to search for products in the area where they currently are – any retailer not considering mobile search marketing as part of their multi-channel strategy could be missing out on a considerable amount of incremental sales and footfall. Just because the mobile device is used to search online the consumer may well wish to visit a location. I think in the next 12-24 months retailers will need to really engage with local internet marketing techniques to capitalise on the increased use of mobiles. Essentially what they need to do is “multi-channel search marketing” – applying the logic of delivering a multichannel service experience to their online customer acquisition!
What investments do retailers need to make to ensure the smooth operation of multi-channel retailing?
This is a very wide area, from logistics infrastructure to integrated systems EPOS and online shops, customer loyalty data – so many ways that operations can be made more efficient. However, the most important fundamental feature is that in this online social world, where consumers can spread news of the good and bad experiences to literally millions of others within minutes, my top investment would be in ensuring that the service promise was clearly expressed at every touch point and that through all communication media the retailer ensured that their customer understood what to expect in terms of service experience. This investment in articulating the message will remove much of the noise around “poor” service, which typically has more to do with a consumer’s expectations not being matched by a retailer service delivery than necessarily the retailer having failed to deliver on their promises.
With the number of ways for retailers to interact with their customers increasing all the time, is it becoming more difficult to coordinate activities across channels to ensure a consistent customer experience?
Yes is the simple answer. And the ones who get it right will be the winners… There are tools available for businesses to monitor social media. Over time I anticipate that volume of contact will shift from some modes of engagement towards online and social media based engagement. It is unlikely the total number of interactions between consumers and the retailer would profoundly increase just because there is a greater variety of media by which they can make contact, so teams will need to be open to that and retrained accordingly. All this contact is a good thing for retailers as it brings them closer to the customer enabling them to be more responsive and better match their service proposition and promises to the customer expectations.
Context and content are absolutely important, but what the value here is in the customers\u2019 preferred channels of communication and engagement. Smartphones, the Internet, technology in general has changed how and how we are able to engage with society in general. And while the society we live is perceived as the now, Now, NOW nation, we as business people must remember to perform due diligence when coming up with our marketing programs. Who are our customers? How do they like to be reached? What do they do in their free time?
Indeed valid points – in fact exactly what I speak to retail clients about when wearing my hat of The Retail Champion. In my 10-steps to retail success methodology step 7 is “customer engagement” – pulls together everything from ideal customer, range, pricing, channels to the point when you communicate the brand offer to the “world” – I always ask businesses to step back and think clearly “who are my customers, where are my customers and how can I engage them?” – because for some the internet isn’t the answer, for others it’s social, for others search and increasingly for many it’s mobile – but until you’ve considered “where my customers are” you can’t make the next step and ensure that you’re “in the right place”!
Thanks for your comments – always welcomed
Clare
The ability to sell online or from bricks & mortar sites or telesales is no longer enough for the modern consumer, in summary multi-channel retailing is no longer the objective. In an online, social world it is the ability to sell cross-channel that is now the holy grail of modern retail practice.
As the multi-channel market has emerged and become accepted practice, the consumer demands have moved on, consumers want social media easily integrated into websites and email communication. To truly understand the customer, retailers must consolidate the information held on product, price, promotions, marketing and customers into a single repository to deliver a customer centric experience.
The customer wants to search online, research their product or service, select their product from their desired location in real time and then either, reserve & collect from a store, arrange delivery from their local store, or processed from a central despatch point. to sum up, to fully engage with the modern customer the answer is more than multi-channel it is a cross-channel solution with all areas of retail operation working in harmony and sharing information instead of managing individual siloes of data and attempting to consolidate a view later.