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Mastering Omnichannel Optimization at eTail Boston
This is the third of a three-part series of articles written by BrainTrust member Lisa Taylor, Director of Retail Consulting at Thought Provoking Consulting, about topics discussed during her time at eTail Boston 2023.
eTail Boston 2023 offered a captivating journey into the dynamic world of retail, where industry experts generously shared their insights and experiences. The event’s main theme this year revolved around the art of cultivating personalized customer relationships in an omnichannel landscape, shedding light on the strategies retailers employ to truly understand their customers, cater to their needs, and foster enduring loyalty while increasing sales.
I like to think of optimized omnichannel functioning as a symphony, where each channel plays a distinctive role, working harmoniously to deliver a consistent and memorable brand experience for the customer. In order to deliver on this experience, internal teams need to work together in a similar manner. Departments need to break down silos and collaborate with one another — otherwise, the external experience will be disjointed.
I recently had an omnichannel experience where the company clearly had many internal silos in place, which highlighted a need for internal collaboration and integration. It all began auspiciously with a smooth app-based purchase of two products, including delivery and installation. I received confirmation as well as a reminder the day prior to delivery via text. On the day of delivery, a phone call confirmed they were just 30 minutes away. Pretty seamless, right?
The harmony began to unravel when the delivery and installation team arrived. They thought they didn’t need to install my product, so I had to get the app out and show them that I’d paid for that service with my purchase. To make matters worse, one item was incorrect, prompting them to return it and assure me that someone else would follow up with a replacement.
Despite waiting patiently for a week, I received no communication via email, text, or phone. As a loyalty member, I reached out to the company’s dedicated line, only to find myself reiterating the entire ordeal. There was no record of my purchase history or any acknowledgment of my return request, despite the installers’ assurance that it had been processed. I was ultimately informed they couldn’t assist me and needed to transfer my call.
The cycle of repeating the same process twice more, spanning over an hour, was a far cry from a seamless experience. Instead, it highlighted their lack of a single customer record and siloed systems. When systems and teams are siloed, so are the customer-facing channels. Integration is paramount to creating a seamless and consistent brand experience.
The transformative potential of technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), is a recurring theme as it relates to achieving a seamless, personalized omnichannel experience — one where consumer insights are used to alleviate pain points, remove bias in obtaining insight, and connect to product development to deliver on customer needs. One where customers are recognized not just by name, but for their loyalty to the business.
Discussion Questions
How are you creating a harmonious omnichannel experience for your customers? Have you experienced a similar situation where a company lacked internal collaboration and integration in its omnichannel approach, and if so, what could it have done differently?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Ken Morris
Managing Partner Cambridge Retail Advisors
Janet Dorenkott
President, Jadeco
To enable true omnichannel capability, retailers need systems which are joined up and able to talk to each other. This avoids pitfalls like stores staff not being able to answer questions about online orders. On top of that, staff need to be trained and empowered to assist customers regardless of channel. Companies should be channel agnostic as far as customer service is concerned.
Silos are good on farms, not in omnichannel retail. In today’s omnichannel world, there is really no excuse for having systems that don’t talk to each other. Without connected systems, you can’t have useful KPIs or, most importantly, realtime inventory. And without realtime inventory, you’re always going to have stockout problems and substitution problems and, well, lots of problems.
The best omnichannel brands build their entire strategies around the customer. It’s the only way to build the big, magic machine that can satisfy customer needs wherever and whenever they want something. Same thing for returns. Why is it that most of these bad customer moments are around returns? My returns experience is fraught with challenges. Do you have a receipt? Does anyone? It’s almost like I’ll keep the receipt just to avoid these problems. Seamless returns, as well as other pain points, are where we need to focus.
No, omnichannel is not easy, but with a solid strategy and today’s amazing options for technology, it has to be done—and done right.
Are you telling this audience that we can spend $600 on a basketball shoe but “sneaker net” doesn’t work? Preposterous!
The question is for retailers but we panelists can answer (I am certain of this because I have faith in this panel, and the fact that we can formulate an opinion on where the sweetest watermelon grows (Romania)). Looking at the survey questions associated with the discussion, one could say that the first three choices weigh equally. No two are effective without the third. Silos and teams must be eliminated, but then the systems have to serve all and be cohesive and, if one does not understand one’s customers’ purchases journey, the tools won’t optimize the process, regardless of how integrated the systems may be.
Most backend systems, especially legacy ones, were designed with a very narrow focus. What functions to I perform, what data do I store, and how do processes need to work to support those functions with that data.
But omnichannel commerce doesn’t work that way, so whatever systems you’re using to orchestrate orders needs flexible workflows that can call out to other systems, consume data form those systems and use it in its orchestration logic, then trigger events in other systems, and notifications to staff who need to take action.
Modern tech needs to be flexible. Because every organization uses a different set of solutions to create their unique omnichannel experience, so whatever is managing your order orchestration needs the flexibility to work with all your other solutions.
Great omnichannel retail starts with a simple, easy to navigate website (with accurate inventory reflected on the site), connected to direct fulfillment location at the retailer. We already see this at our main grocery stores for their deli sandwiches, pizzas, canned goods, etc. Once the inventory is reflected at the online website ordering template, the fulfillment is easy and direct. Orders are printed out by department and category so that staff can easily fill them, time stamped, and then posted in a numbered cart waiting for the customer to contact the store to have the order placed in their car (usually in reserved spaces at the front of the parking lot). The customer has an email confirming that their order is ready and has a corresponding number for them to reference for the cart and a list of the goods in the cart for them to confirm once they arrive. Their return confirmation alerts the store to bring the cart out to the waiting car. Clear, direct, simple and efficient.
Talk about breaking down silos.
On Wednesday, we had an electrician to install a light fixture. But it was the wrong one. He said we could pick up the correct one at Home Depot, and he would be back on Friday.
I went to Home Depot. They didn’t have it in stock. The salesperson went to his mobile and looked it up. “You can pick it up in the store or have it delivered to your home on Tuesday,” I explained we needed it quicker. He said, “Go to Amazon; they carry it, and you can have it tomorrow.”
I agree completely. I think we’ve all had similar, frustrating experiences. There needs to be excellent communication.
The issue my company used to run into a lot was the lack of continuity between retail outlet and the e-commerce site. Although there were often inconsistencies, the one that was the most frustrating for both internal employees as well as customers was that the same products were often priced differently. This lead to a lack of trust on the customer’s part and a lot of internal arguing. Communication is key.
In most cases Delivery = 3rd Party Contractor. While large companies like JB Hunt & XPO Logistics are big players in last mile of delivery, it is dominated by small regional last mile of delivery shops. The likelihood of a true omnichannel customer experience with a large retail brand + a small regional last mile of delivery shop is low. Small businesses do not have the people, process, or technology to be seamlessly integrated with a complicated, siloed, & legacy retail brand. They will take care of the customer but it will more than likely be from the time they pick up the shipment to the time they drop it off at the Customer’s residence.