What Customers Want From Their Omni-Channel Experience - Minutehack The days of the all-powerful retailer are well and truly over. No longer can retail brands determine when we shop, where we shop or how we shop. To a large extent, even how much we pay digital technology, which allows us to choose exact delivery slots, surf the aisles in the middle of the night and check comparison sites for the best prices. Technology has created a much more ferociously competitive buying battleground where retailers are not just competing with the store down the road, but also every store online, whether it is a big brand, a small niche outfit or a digital pure play. Today, the most successful retailers are not omnipotent; they are omni-channel. "Retailers need to aggressively restructure their business if the current model doesn’t work" The two main drivers forcing this revolution are the change in consumer behaviour and the speed at which technology is developing. What are consumers expecting from retailers? Convenience Excellent Customer Service Social Proof of Purchase
2015 Retail Trends Industry perspectives E-commerce is capturing almost all the gains in retail sales. Should you care? Since 2000, fully three-quarters of retail sales growth has occurred through online channels. Impressive, yes. Instead of sounding the death knell for bricks-and-mortar stores, the steady growth of online sales is breathing new life into the physical stores of some retailers. The steady growth of online sales is breathing new life into physical stores. Share this with your friends! From 2015 Retail TrendsThe steady growth of online sales is breathing new life into physical stores. A consumer browses Amazon’s website looking for a TV, relying heavily on user-generated reviews to make a choice. The ubiquitous consumer Viewed broadly, these anecdotes depict various activities of today’s global consumers, who want to move easily across channels, have many retail and product options at their fingertips, and demand full visibility into inventory and pricing. 1. 2. 3.
The future of shopping: Omnichannel commerce | The Future of Customer Engagement and Commerce By Randy Kohl Senior content strategist, Gorilla Group We get asked a lot about what the shopping experience of the (near) future will look like. While we’re not fortune tellers, it doesn’t take a futurist to see that traditional retail and e-commerce touchpoints are fragmenting and converging at the same time. This has led to what is being called omnichannel commerce. These changes, along with the inherent freedom of the digital space, has presented us with an opportunity to apply a human-centered approach to interactive design—implementing e-commerce solutions that have the potential to benefit consumers and merchants on each side of the digital experience. Direct, Direct Marketing – We still haven’t seen real, targeted, personal email marketing…yet. Predictive Search – You’re on a conference call with a client/prospect and the need to make a trip to Baltimore comes up. Wearable Tech – Google Glass may flop.
Key trends for retail technology in 2015: the rise of hyper-personalisation | World Of Tech News This year, customer experience management will be mostly focused on customer personas, rather than portfolios. It is increasingly critical for retailers to innovate in terms of customer experience to keep shoppers engaged. Only by serving the changing needs, preferences and behaviour of the customer, will retailers and brands be able to meet today's hyper-connected consumers on their terms, across all channels of interaction. The rise of hyper-personalisation Over the course of last year, we saw a spike in customer expectations for bespoke personalisation across all brand interactions. Real-time interaction with customers across omni-channel platforms signified another key milestone last year. Why customer management programmes are key Customers want this, too, because they can get better offers and more tailored recommendations to what they want, when they want it. How personalisation is influencing brands and retailers Graeme Collins is Head of Marketing of EMEA for RichRelevance
Retailers still not delivering omni-channel experience, says Accenture Retailers are still not delivering the cross-platform experience that most customers expect, according to research by Accenture. The survey found only 40% of customers feel it is easy to make purchases through mobile devices. But retailers aren’t hitting the mark in-store either, as 38% of customers feel shopping experiences in bricks and mortar locations are in need of an upgrade. “While physical and digital commerce is converging rapidly, UK retailers are still behind the curve in terms of their mobile and in-store offerings,” said Fiona O’Hara, managing director of Accenture’s UK Retail practice. “The fact that UK shoppers want to check inventory on their mobiles, order out-of-stock products and have promotions sent to them while in-store, suggests immense potential for retailers to enhance investments in mobile applications that bridge a customer’s online and offline experience seamlessly.” Read more about omni-channel retail
The Future of Retail: 10 Trends of Tomorrow | Planet Retail Retailing will become more personalised, collaborative and socially-influenced in the future, according to new research by Planet Retail. The report, titled The Future of Retail: 10 Trends of Tomorrow and featuring case studies from retailers around the globe, warns that retailers should begin preparing themselves for another few years of significant structural change. Natalie Berg, Retail Insights Director and author of the report, commented: “Retailing has undergone seismic shifts over the past five years and we believe that further fundamental changes are just around the corner. By 2020, we predict that shoppers will have to pay for home delivery, traditional points-based loyalty cards will become a thing of the past, pure-play retail will largely cease to exist and checkout-less stores will become a reality. “A key theme across the 10 future trends is the need for collaboration. Fulfilment “Click & collect will continue to bridge the gap between online and offline retailing. Loyalty 1.
Multichannel vs. Omnichannel and its Impact on Customer Experience | inContact Blog Monday, October 19th, 2015 If you are in the customer service industry you probably have heard the terms “multichannel” and “omnichannel”. Commonly used when discussing customer experience, these new buzzwords are often used interchangeably and can be confusing to organizations. Multichannel The term multichannel defines the various channels that are made available to connect with an organization. Multichannel is far from a new concept, however. Omnichannel The term omnichannel refers to a consistent relationship and message across all channels. Research done by the Aberdeen Group shows businesses that adopted an omnichannel strategy benefited with a 91% year-over-year increase in client retention rates compared to organizations that chose not to implement this type of interaction plan. Impact As consumers, we are more plugged-in and informed than previous decades due to technology and information availability. Conclusion Comments
What does 2015 hold for retail? – webchat roundup | Media Network Michael Kliger, vice president, international, eBay Enterprise Retailers need master mobile in 2015: This is less a technology-driven challenge and more a customer insight opportunity. While mobile usage is constantly on the rise, the work looking into the customer journey that eBay’s marketing team is conducting shows that the function of mobile will vary considerably across products, customers and purchase location. The challenge is therefore to offer a mobile experience that is attuned to these differences. Will showrooming be a help or hindrance? Ranjiv Dale, head of technology, GfK 2015 will be the year of the smartphone: The smartphone has been instrumental in bringing the online and offline experiences together. Tablets and phablet use is on the rise: We’ve seen some good activation around this idea from Burberry and M&S. Toby Abel, chief technology officer, Befittd What’s here to stay? Andreia Campos, managing director, Gleam Will wearables rule in 2015? More like this
John Lewis finds 2015 is the year of the ‘Master Shopper’ British shoppers are taking control of the omnichannel shopping environment, according to John Lewis’ third annual ‘Retail Report - How We Shop, Live and Look’, due to their ultra-flexible and ultra-confident approach to shopping. The department store is calling 2015 the year of the ‘Master Shopper,’ identifying that shoppers now use a combination of many research, browsing, purchase and collection methods to create a bespoke shopping experience - to ensure “they get what they want, in the way that they want it”. The ‘Master Shopper’ it claims moves “seamlessly” between their phone, tablet or PC, store or call centre to zero in on their purchase. Evidence of this is in the traffic to johnlewis.com from mobiles, which has increased to 60 percent and mobile revenue by 68 percent in the last twelve months. “2015 will become known as the year the master shopper came of age,” said John Lewis managing dDirector, Andy Street. Images: John Lewis