Omnichannel is clearly the retail industry’s “it” buzzword. At its best, it delivers the great promise of consumers moving fluidly between devices and shopping channels, with retailers in lockstep at all times. But, we’re just getting started. Each month, PYMNTS will bring you the Omnicommerce Tracker, a look at the moves that merchants are making as well as proprietary data and analysis from Vantiv, whose solutions help merchants more easily make that transition. Find out what this month’s Tracker reveals about how “omnireadi” merchants and consumers think each other are, and more.
In a retail environment where traditional consumer shopping norms and habits are being disrupted by the rapid adoption of new technologies, retailers are now, more than ever, looking for alternative strategies to ensure the future viability of their businesses. Some merchants are progressively adopting omnichannel solutions that create a seamless shopping experience for their customers, allowing them to shop for all products and services whenever and wherever they wish.
This report will, on a monthly basis, document the moves these progressive retailers are making to enable omnichannel across three critical lenses:
Engage the Customer: Strategies merchants are enacting to drive customers into their store or online including loyalty programs, contextually relevant offers, and leveraging data to make relevant product recommendations.
Enable the Customer: Tools merchants are deploying to arm customers with the ability to shop and buy whenever and wherever they want including apps, enabling payment within the app, location-based services, and the ability to shop and fulfill purchases regardless of channel.
Serve the Customer: Ways in which merchants are stepping out from behind the counter to deliver enhanced shopping experiences such as mobile-point-of-sale, ability to check inventory in real-time, etc.
The report will also feature industry-spanning statistics and factoids curated by Vantiv, whose solutions help merchants more easily make that transition. These statistics and factoids will help to arm retailers (and those who power them) with data to make smarter decisions when considering various options for enabling omnicommerce.
This month’s Tracker showed that we are clearly in the early stages of omnicommerce. Key insights from Vantiv indicate the following:
1) To engage customers, merchant interest in omnicommerce is high, perhaps due to the multichannel nature of these firms.
2) To enable customers, 85 percent of merchants see mobile-based POS payments coming to the U.S. within 5 years, and nearly as many hold this expectation for their customers.
3) To serve customers, smaller online retailers must follow suit of some larger retailers – they must realize the drawbacks, especially with pricing, that consumers experience with eCommerce.
While we are still in the early days of omnicommerce, some retailers have already gotten a jumpstart into fueling this new shopping experience:
1) To engage customers, Motorola introduced a new retail solution that offered customers a platform to have engaging, interactive, and personalized shopping experiences.
2) To enable customers, Toys “R” Us is focusing on mobile, having launched a new mobile app allowing parents to search for and buy products from the Babies “R” Us print catalog.
3) To serve customers, Men’s Wearhouse launched an innovative omnichannel inventory program for their employees to use through a mobile app called “Find-It.”
For more on the developments across the omnicommerce ecosystem, download the full version of this month’s report by clicking the button below.
