The Store That Sports Omnichannel

Sporting goods chain Dick’s has discovered that its brick-and-mortar stores aren’t competing with its eCommerce effort — they’re boosting it. ECommerce grew to almost 15 percent of the 640-store chain’s total sales in Q4 2014 after a new in-store mobile-device push, according to Mobile Commerce Daily.

And the sales boost goes both ways. ECommerce sales now run 50 percent higher in areas that also have a brick-and-mortar Dick’s store, the retailer has discovered. And omnichannel customers spend roughly three times what bricks-and-mortar-only customers spend.

“Enhancing our mobile capabilities is a significant part of our omnichannel strategy both for consumers and Dick’s associates,” Dick’s technology VP Rafeh Masood told Mobile Commerce Daily. “For our store associates, next-generation mobile devices provide a consumer-grade experience. The device can be used to enhance store operations and as a customer assistance tool, providing an ‘endless aisle’ and additional product info.”

Those aren’t groundbreaking capabilities, but Dick’s fearlessness about using using eCommerce tools on in-store customers has made a significant difference. Along with a “buy online-pick up in-store” option, sales associates are equipped with mobile devices to push an “endless aisle” approach, so a customer can order any item online if the store doesn’t have the item in stock in the desired size, style and color.

While many retailers have used kiosks to let customers do that kind of ordering (or left them to do it on their own smartphones), Dick’s in-store associates are actually selling the online merchandise, which can then be delivered directly to the customer’s home, Masood said.

Dick’s has also updated its mobile app with a more user-friendly interface, added geofencing to deliver local store ads and offers, and improved access to the chain’s Scorecard loyalty program, letting customers redeem loyalty points directly from their phones.

But even that relatively common mobile-app improvement feeds into Dick’s strengths. Dick’s customers are already rated among the most loyal in retail, due in large part to the carefully curated collections of merchandise customers can peruse in-store. That makes mobile access to the loyalty program, like the endless-aisle omnichannel sales drive, a way of blurring — or even eliminating — the in-store/online division.