They Already Think Omnichannel
Most retailers have one or several omnichannel functions in place, we have chosen a few examples from England of how you could start, and some tips and ideas.
- Oasis
The British fashion chain Oasis has come a long way with omnichannel. The customers have the possibility to see products in the store and then buying them online and vice versa.
The staff in the store have tablets to use when customers want to pay or help them out with information about sizes, outfits, and availability. If a product isn’t available in the store, the staff can help ordering it online with the tablets.
They can also order sold-out products from another store and have them delivered directly to the customer’s door.
- McQ by Alexander McQueen
One example that we like when it comes to engaging customers in the store is McQ by Alexander McQueen’s flagship stores.
You can take pictures and share your outfit in a large digital mirror that otherwise show model images with the products.
They also have a large touch screen where you can view the content in catalogues and movie clips and share them directly on the screen.
Really nice ways to bring modern technology to the stores.
We will see more omnichannel functions at Swedish retailers, it will be interesting to follow.
What does it Take?
No one can call themselves an omnichannel company 100 %, several are not even half way, but if you have it in mind, you have come a long way.
But what does it take to succeed?
- Engaging the entire organization
We hear of more and more requitments for omnichannel managers, but wheather or not there is a manager with the right title, you need to engage the entire organization.
Have the different channels cooperating, they are not competitors, they all work to offer the customer a flexible solution.
Take advantage of each channel’s assets and strength. It is necessary to bring them closer together. A purchase is a purchase with sales to the company, no matter if it is directly online or from a tablet in the store.
- Master data
One of the corner stones to succeed with omnichannel is to have control of all data. You often have different data stored for the same thing. A customer can for example exist in the e-commerce system, in the business system, and in a member register, without knowing how the data is connected. We say that you should work with master data. Take control of all data so that every type of data is owned by one system, and spread it out to the other systems.
It is especially information about customers, products, warehouse, and offers that should be spread out to the different systems. You need to have uniform data that can be understood between the channels in order to link together different channels. If a customer should be able to see all purchases in all channels, the customer identity need to be the same. The same thing for products and campaigns where it is impossible to have channels in sync if the same basic data is used in the different channels.
- Integration
It is not likely that a company has a system that can read everything, it is more common with several system with best of breed.
It can be business systems, cashier systems, financial systems, logistics systems, web systems and more. The key to success is to have these system cooperating in a seamless way. To achieve this, effective integrations are necessary.
Try to build everything event controlled if possible, avoid large batch runs that creates delays between the systems.
Think Omnichannel
If you go back and think about what you want to be able to do if you were customers in your own store, you have a start, focus on the customer and build a seamless experience that fits your business.
Today we work helping our customers creating tomorrow’s shopping experience. Omnichannel is natural, and the effects are evident.
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And don’t forget – think omnichannel.
