Here are the three must-have strategies to help you adopt omni-channel retailing:
- Customer-centric Approach
Building a sustainable relationship with customers is key to achieving omni-channel success. Retailers need to provide seamless access across web, mobile, and store channels for customers and convert these into richer engagement. To achieve this, retailers need to implement:
Personalized campaigns and promotions: Mere personalization is not a good-to-have strategy anymore; Relevance is the key to winning customer loyalty. To design and run personalized and relevant campaigns, retailers need to integrate structured and unstructured data, use advanced analytics to identify shopping preferences and buying behaviour. The predictive analytical capabilities enable retailers to launch personalized campaigns and promotions, resulting in improved loyalties.
Location-based customer engagement: New technologies such as NFC and iBeacon enable retailers to personalize customer engagement based on proximity. It allows advertisers to embed customer preferences and information with real-time context and send relevant notifications. Thus, location-based marketing connects the digital and physical marketing channels, and helps in deeply engaging mobile shoppers.
Social engagement: According to Hubspot, 71% consumers are likely to make a purchase decision based on social media referrals and as per SproutSocial 74% shoppers rely on social media networks to make purchase decisions. Social media marketing should be an integral part of retailers’ marketing strategy today. It provides an extensive platform to expand reach, connect with target audiences, and explore exponential growth. In addition to this, engaging with customers through social media channels not only provides an opportunity for social commerce, but also helps gain customer insights, by integrating customers’ social interactions.
Care everywhere: Retailers must care for customers across their journey – before shopping, during shopping, and post shopping through modern ways such as shopping assistance, one-touch support, recommendations, post-sales service, 24/7 helpdesk, and call centre support.
It is critical for retailers to stand out in the cluttered marketplace by effectively reaching out and engaging with their target audiences, while optimizing returns.
- Unified Commerce Platforms
A survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, Ecommerce Europe and Ecommerce Foundation, in partnership with Demandware early this year, indicates that a high percentage of respondents are in favour of a unified commerce platform. Out of approximately 300 U.S., Australian, and European retail business executives, 53% of respondents said that they were going to deploy a unified commerce platform, an increase of 50% from last year. Adopting the right technology platforms can help transform the business model, and establish a centralized system that enables consistent service delivery across channels. Leading unified commerce platforms offer highly scalable and integrated IT solutions from engagement to fulfilment. The flexible architecture of these platforms supports the integration of multiple data sources and augments surrounding technologies such as e-Commerce, mobility, and analytics. The major advantages of adopting unified commerce platforms are:
Single view of customers across channels: Provides 360 degree view of customers regardless of the channels that helps enhance analytical capabilities, augment actionable insights, and offer personalized experience.
Inventory visibility across channels: Provides real-time and holistic view of inventory, optimizing operations, and reducing out-of-stock scenarios.
Optimized cross-channel order management: The integrated order management system enables seamless order flow across channels.
Enhanced order fulfilment capabilities: These platforms can be easily extended to fulfil orders through multiple ways, like home deliveries, click and collect, and temporary pickup locations.
Integrations with social media and online marketplaces: These platforms are flexible to integrate with social media and online marketplaces, providing complete visibility into order and inventory data.
Scalability: The unified commerce platforms are highly scalable in nature and supports business growth seamlessly.
- Agile Work Environment
It is not enough to unify systems and build comprehensive consumer database spanning web, mobile, and store. To maximize potential, retailers need to eliminate the distinction between business units and reorganize team structures. For example, target and incentives should be re-designed to account for overall sales, than just measuring channel-specific performance. Agile work environment is about bringing people and processes in sync with technology to find the most appropriate and effective way of working collaboratively. To realize omni-channel imperative, businesses need to eliminate siloed work culture amongst channel-specific teams by creating cross-functional teams based on shared company goals.
Preparing for the Future of Retail
Achieving omni-channel excellence requires defining clear objectives and extensive executional, tactical, and strategic capabilities. Retailers who move away from siloed and legacy systems to modern unified solutions, offering highly-scalable unified platforms, have great potential to successfully adopt omni-channel strategies. Such platforms ensure successful integration of various touch points and offer great potential to retailers to gain competitive advantage.
Having said that, collaborating with strategic implementation partners with relevant industry-domain knowledge and experience will allow leveraging the partner’s expertise in implementing best-fit solutions and providing omni-channel retail services.
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The consumer need for product data
The consumers are interacting with their products and brands very differently than in the past. The convergence of online search and social media engagement has made consumers more connected than ever, and entirely comfortable interacting digitally with brands and retailers.
Today’s consumers don’t care if they shop in a store, via a phone, or online. They want easy-to-use solutions that satisfy their lifestyle needs and preferences. As a result, industry has focused on providing them with a seamless shopping experience.
Moreover consumers have a more holistic view of retail options as a result of online reviews and social media – and they are quickly learning whom to trust. Therefore, Consumers are demanding more digital product information from a trusted source to be linked to the physical products they use and consume across multiple channels – anytime and anywhere. In addition, regulators are becoming advocates for the consumer – demanding greater disclosure and data accuracy.
A deluge of digital data
Data has never been easier to find. At the same time, it has never been as challenging to find accurate data consumers can trust. With this in mind, consumer trust and brand recognition is of utmost importance to businesses today.
To meet consumer expectations and help to connect them with the information that they are looking for, product data must be presented online in a consistent, searchable way that both humans – and machines – can understand and use. This in turn, will enable Retailers and brand owners to comply with emerging regulations for online information sharing.
Leveraging the power of data
If Retail community is to fully utilize the power of the Web and deliver value to their consumers, they must first agree on a standardised way to represent product data using global standards. Without this, brand owners and retailers will not be able to reap the benefits of optimized product visibility and searchability. Worse, search engines will continue struggling to understand and navigate the mountains of unstructured information that companies publish online every day.
To reach a global audience, retailers and brand owners need to agree that accurate and trusted data is essential. Questionable data will turn off potential customers and undermine brands.
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Asif Merchant, MD, Catwalk
B A Srinivasan, CEO & MD, Viveks Ltd
Balakrishnan, CEO, ABC Apparels Pvt Ltd (Venfield)
R Maheshwari, CEO, Texpert
Rachit Mathur, Principal, The Boston Consulting Group
Rafiq Sait, MD, Gatsby India Ltd
Subhash Chandra, MD, Sangeetha Mobiles
Sunil Sanklecha, Founder, Nuts & Spices
Vivek Mendonsa, Director – Marketing, Lawrence & Mayo
Amit Sarda, MD, Soul Flower
Moderator:Bijou Kurien
The five traits of enduring Family Businesses
How can multiple generations co-exist in a family business?
• The younger generation always infuses current perspectives into the business. This has helped us to move away from a “dukaandar” mindset into corporate set-ups.
• Letting-go is always difficult for older generations but prioritising growth is critical.
B A Srinivasan, CEO & MD, Viveks Ltd
• Multiple generations can co-exist by creating shared values and by gauging ability of family members objectively.
• Loyalty, integrity and honesty – these have been our driving principles for 137 years from one generation to the next.
• Family members’ strengths are gauged and they are allowed to choose portfolios that they are passionate about.
Vivek Mendonsa, Director – Marketing, Lawrence & Mayo
How do you train and retain people?
• Ownership values are the core of our business.
• We have build a family that has nothing to do with blood ties.
• This have enabled us to launch 377 points-of-sale in 10 years.
• We have learned from our mistakes and tweaked the business models several times.
• We have created entrepreneurs at every level, especially at the front end. We make our people dream like us.
Asif Merchant, MD, Catwalk
What are the strengths and challenges of a family-owned retail outlet?
• Once we get fundamentals right, scalability is a matter of time.
• We believe in hiring people at the bottom of the hierarchy and elevating them to managerial positions in 5 years. Thus we have grown from 57 lakh to 65 crore in 15 years.
Sunil Sanklecha, Founder, Nuts & Spices
• Money and material are available but manpower is a challenge. So we believe in cultivating our people and creating a sense of belonging.
• Although I allow my children to drive the business, I encourage them to have some principles of fairness and loyalty.
Rafiq Sait, MD, Gatsby India Ltd
How can a brand be built in the textile and apparel industry?
• We value the ideals of ownership and entrepreneurship. Brand values are an extension of this.
• These values have helped us to establish 166 stores across 19 states and 77 cities.
R Maheshwari, CEO, Texpert LTd
• We were pushed to start a brand because some of the leading brands in the market at that time refused to supply merchandise.
• Today, we are retailing across 28 stores and our products are sold at some of the leading multi-brand outlets in the country.
Balakrishnan, CEO, ABC Apparels Pvt Ltd (Venfield)
How do retail entrepreneurs in India perform vis-a-vis others in the world?
• Nine of the 25 richest people in the world are retailers. This demonstrates opportunity in the industry.
• Indian entrepreneurs seem to take longer to adjust their mind-set to evolve their business.
• South Asian markets have a lot to teach India about business aspects such as standardisation v/s customisation.
• Indian retail entrepreneurs are unparalleled in their knowledge and understanding of their local markets.
Rachit Mathur, Principal, The Boston Consulting Group
How do retail entrepreneurs plan expansions?
• From one store in 1974 to 2002, we have opened 100 stores until today.
• We corporatized the company nearly two years back. However, family members maintain a hands-on approach.
• We have introduced many value-added services to drive sales, such as insurance, service home-delivery and two-year warranty.
• Constant innovation has enabled us to avoid dilution of equity.
• Being a South-based company we have now ventured into Delhi and Chandigarh on a franchise basis.
• Our expansion model was driven by the boom in telecom sector.
Subhash Chandra, MD, Sangeetha Mobiles
What are the pros and cons of the franchising model?
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are what separate a owner-managed outlet from a franchise-holder.
• As an owner, one has the freedom of not following SOP. However, franchises have to follow SOP to maintain brand identity.
Balakrishnan, CEO, ABC Apparels Pvt Ltd (Venfield)
• I established Soul Flower with the singular concept of introducing India to aromas and essential oils.
• Creativity is the key to our business.
• Franchising, for us is about scale.
Amit Sarda, MD, Soulflower
From Left To Right:
Deepa Thomas, Head Corporate Communications & eCommerce Evangelist, eBay India; Madan Mohapatra, Head Media Marketing, Future Group; Deepshikha Surendran, Head Marketing, Infiniti Retail Ltd.; Uma Talreja, Head Marketing Westside, Trent Ltd; Puneet Varma, GM & Head Marketing & Corporate Communication, Inorbit Malls (India) Pvt.Ltd; Rajiv Nair, CEO, Celio Future Fashion Limited; Ashish Jalani, , eTailing India; Rachna Nath, ED, PWC; Abhishek Gupta, Head Marketing The Mobile Store Ltd; Anaggh Desai, Co Founder, Chlorophyll Experience Consulting; Jasmeet Singth Gulati, Co-Founder & CEO, NowFloats; Vikas Choudhary, COO AIMIA;
Moderat
or:
Vinay Bhatia, Sr. VP. Marketing & Loyalty,
Shoppers Stop Ltd
How to win new consumers?
“Winning a customer and building up a relation with customers is important. ” – Madan Mohapatra, Future Group
• We developed new events around regional customs like “jamai sashthi” in Kolkata,
• To enhance reach beyond the 90 cities that Big Bazaar operates in – introduced a loyalty programme
• The program merges online with human interfaces – by using franchisees to deliver last mile connectivity.
How do you win customers
“Despite the importance of data driven marketing we think product is the core that wins customers” –
Rajiv Nair, Celio Future Fashion Limited
We do a year worth of work that actually reaches to customers. The same product which are sold in France are available here in India too except some seasonal offerings. Indian customers are value conscious and we too don’t belong to ultra premium category
We have a socially integrated loyalty programme on mobile platform to know more about customers. The program connects customers across the world who are talking about the brand, Celio rewards the customer for being social – consumers can accumulate points.
Social as a platform to win customers
“The advantage of social – is it gives the retailer opportunity to get to know your customers, and to profile them” –
Uma Talreja, Trent Ltd
Social programs in Retail companies need the product and marketing teams to work together to drive success.
Social can drive traffic to the store – provided it’s supported by location and in-store experience.
Finally, the tone of voice on Social – can help attract customers to the brand and store experience.
Social media to win consumers
“I rather like to see facebook as a means to engage customers rather than win a customer” – Abhishek Gupta, The Mobile Store Ltd
Effective use of Facebook can lead you to hear the voice of the customers, be it for a new product launch or making a crucial business decision
Relevance of Social Media
“Social media is now a part and parcel of brand communications to target young consumers.” – Anaggh Desai, Chlorophyll Experience Consulting
It’s important to have a mechanism to accurate measure voice and velocity on social media.
That framework allows brands to decide on the ROI of spend on social
E-commerce scenario
“Last December 89 million of Indian came online to shop out of which 40 million bought. Ecommerce is here to stay embrace the channel and have a presence.” – Deepa Thomas, eBay India
Ebay sells products of big retailers as well as very small retailers who employ 2-3 persons. They all reach out to the 4306 cities where we have consumers in India as well as exports in 201 countries around the globe.
Ecommerce as a channel?
“Ecommerce has to be considered as a new channel and for which a new marketing strategy has to be adopted and adapted to. ” – Deepshikha Surendran, Infiniti Retail Ltd.
The importance lies in pushing the brand thoughts across the channels as a seamless exercise so that the brand is appreciated as the most preferred brand amongst the customers. That should be the core of the strategy.
Role of Technology
“Technology is moving very fast so ecommerce has to be a part of the strategy.. ” –
Jasmeet Singth Gulati, NowFloats