RISRIS THOUGHT Thought LEADERSHIP SERIES LeadershipXxx Xxx Series Post-Omnichannel Retail: The Seamless Customer Experience The majority of shoppers moved past the concept of separate retail “channels” quite a while ago. Today, they simply shop when, where and how it’s most convenient for them – at a store, online, through a mo- bile device or while interacting with their social networks. It’s retailers who have remained wedded to multi-channel concepts and structures, even as they have worked hard to make omnichannel retailing a reality for their customers. Now, retailers are seeking the flexibility of oper- INSIDE: ating in a post-omnichannel world, by creating the foundational in- 2 Omnichannel is the New Normal frastructure to deliver truly seamless shopping experiences. When this 4 Crucial Role of Data foundation is secure and back-end systems and databases have been Management centralized, retailers will be able to provide attractive functionalities 6 Analytics Support such as same-day pickup of online orders; cost-effectively use stores as Seamless Experience fulfillment centers; and create localized, personalized, relevant offers 8 Align IT and Marketing to Optimize Omnichannel for customers. Sponsored by RIS THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES Post-Omnichannel Retail: The Seamless Customer Experience What’s at Stake for Retailers The most recent Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) For the past several years, retailers have been facing up – some report, which surveyed the behavior of 1,000 U.S. consumers, grudgingly, some enthusiastically – to an unavoidable fact: for confirmed just how digitally influenced all retailing has become. the majority of shoppers, the concept of separate retail “chan- Nearly two-thirds (65%) of shoppers perform research online nels” has little or no relevance. Some basic physical and time prior to making store purchases, up from 57% who did so in last constraints notwithstanding, today’s customers shop when, year’s survey. (see Figure 1, page 3.) where and how it’s most convenient for them to do so. Among the entire group of shoppers, nearly eight in 10 (78%) The shopping can take place at a brick-and-mortar store but it use the Internet to research and purchase products and services can just as easily occur online, through a mobile device, or while at one time or another. There are also the one in 10 “uber digital” the consumer is interacting with one of their social networks. It consumers, who never shop without some kind of technology. can also happen at almost any location with a convergence of This group of digitally dependent consumers is likely to grow as consumer need and foot traffic. the first and second generations of digital natives age into their prime consumption years. Channel Conflict TAKEAWAY Consumers have effectively moved past channels; in general, it’s retailers who have remained wedded to multi-channel concepts Omnichannel is the New Normal: and structures, even as they have worked hard to make om- nichannel retailing a reality for their customers. This disconnect Nearly two-thirds of shoppers now has not been simply nostalgia or organizational inertia: retailers, research online prior to making particularly large companies, have invested considerable capital, time and manpower resources, real estate and technology into a store purchase, and 78% use the Web building and maintaining distinct, separate sales channels. to buy products and services. For those retailers that were operating at the dawn of the multi- channel era, this strategy made good business sense. When sell- ing products online consisted primarily of filling individual orders for drop shipment directly to customers, while store sales con- sisted of moving truckloads of carefully managed inventory to For example, last fall Internet grocer Peapod, following the lead hundreds of retail locations, it was logical to maintain separate of several international retailers, launched virtual grocery stores supply chains, inventory streams, merchandising, order manage- at more than 100 commuter train stations in the Northeast and ment and transactional systems for each separate channel. Chicago, featuring interactive displays of products bearing QR and barcodes that can be read by consumers’ smart mobile de- By the time multi-channel evolved into cross-channel, with in- vices. Customers download an app to do their virtual grocery creasing numbers of consumers researching products online but shopping while waiting for their train, with the order waiting for eventually purchasing them in-store (and occasionally vice versa), them at home by the time they arrive. integration of key back-end systems like order management and inventory seemed a logical way to bridge the channel gap. After In addition, Sears and Kmart have deployed mobile shopping walls all, it was the rare retail organization with e-commerce sales that with QR codes that allow customers to purchase items while they amounted to more than 10% of total sales. Digital channels, while are walking through airports, malls and movie theaters, and Kohl’s increasingly important, were still small and manageable enough has placed interactive kiosks in public places including airports. for retailers to build strategic interfaces, with the longer-term goal of integrating them more fully into enterprise-wide systems. Even when the shopping journey does culminate in a purchase taking place the “old-fashioned” way (i.e. with a trip to the store Today, cross-channel has evolved yet again, into omnichannel, or to buy an item off the shelf), it’s more than likely that said as some term it, “channel-agnostic” retailing. In fact, the industry journey began with virtual trips to another channel or channels. may be well on its way to a post-omnichannel era, when even RIS Thought Leadership Series I February 2013 I 2 RIS THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SERIES Post-Omnichannel Retail: The Seamless Customer Experience the most traditional retailers stop structuring their organizations around “channels” and instead structure them around “customers.” TAKEAWAY “Today’s retailers want the flexibility of operating in a post-om- nichannel world,” says Joe Skorupa, group editor-in-chief, RIS Offer Attractive Functionalities: News. “Right now they are playing ‘catch-up’ as they create the Buy online/pick up in-store, same-day foundational infrastructure to deliver truly seamless cross-chan- nel shopping experiences. delivery and more personalized marketing “When this foundation is secure, retailers will be able to offer offers are easier to manage with a post- services such as same-day pickup of orders placed online, cost- omnichannel organization. effectively use their stores as a network of fulfillment centers, and create far more localized, personalized offers to their cus- tomers,” Skorupa adds. Omnichannel’s Functional Impacts doesn’t mean retailers will need to abandon price optimiza- In order to create the truly seamless shopping experiences that tion altogether; rather, they should take a more targeted ap- customers will not only want but will soon come to expect, re- proach to pricing, gauging price sensitivity among specific tailers will need to examine how they handle a number of differ- customer groups and for particular product categories. The ent customer-facing functionalities. Some key areas will include: blunt instrument of channel-wide discounts will need to be replaced with more subtle, less visible adjustments. • Pricing: While retailers will be understandably reluctant to give up the benefits of channel-specific pricing and the op- • Loyalty and CRM programs: Shoppers’ patience with loyalty timization opportunities it provides, the rise of mobile tech- programs that don’t operate seamlessly across channels and nology, price comparison apps and showrooming are already touchpoints is already wearing thin. Customers will quickly making such tactics more difficult to use effectively. This come to expect that loyalty program points earned via their Figure 1 How Consumers Shop Today 57% Search on a PC before shopping in a store 65% 24% Search on mobile before purchasing in store 29% 38% Search in a store before purchasing online 40% 2011 2012 Source: Cisco IBSG “Catch and Keep Digital Shoppers” Study, January 2013 Nearly eight in 10 U.S. shoppers use the Internet to purchase products and services, and the percentage of all shoppers using digital devices as part of multi-point shopping journeys has continued to rise. RIS Thought Leadership Series I February 2013 I 3 INDUSTRY INSIGHT Effective Data Management Critical to Creating Seamless Customer Experiences Upen Varanasi, CEO, Riversand Technologies Q: As retailers move into a “post-omnichannel” operat- These challenges mean that retailers struggle to create the most ing environment, how important are centralized, enter- accurate, rich and relevant information for seamless customer ex- prise-wide databases in creating a seamless customer periences. It is quite important for retailers to visualize not only experience? product information supply and demand chains but also ways to optimize the flow and management of product information across UPEN VARANASI: To provide a seamless customer experience, these chains. PIM systems play a critical role in the enablement all enterprise systems need to follow a consistent definition of and management of Product Information across the supply and the key data elements such as Customer, Product, Inventory, etc. demand chains. They are very critical for providing the customer Having a consistent