Shoe Retailer Improves Sales With Ship-From-Store

Retailers looking to grow their online sales and offer customers more variety may need to look no further than their own brick-and-mortar stores. With the rise of eCommerce, customers are demanding more from merchants in terms of selection. Shoe retailer Mephisto is solving that problem with a ship-from-store initiative from Kibo that has boosted online sales 40 percent.

Mephisto, which specializes in comfortable shoes that promote healthy walking, sells shoes in 80 countries around the world, both at its own branded stores and at third-party retailers, such as Macy’s and Nordstorm. Using eCommerce and order management solutions from Kibo, Mephisto integrated its own stores’ inventory to expand the variety of products available on its website. The result was an increase in online sales.

“We are delighted with the 40 percent+ increase in online sales from this initiative,” said Mephisto Chief Operating Officer Ken Davis. “Our stores are very important to us, and exposing store inventory has grown our online sales, improved store inventory turns and has engaged store associates in online selling.”

According to Gregg Ames, senior vice president of Sales at Kibo, which offers a unified, cloud-based commerce platform, ship-from-store initiatives are a great way to drive more customers to buy online.

“Our branded manufacturer customers have seen an immediate lift to online conversion rates when the wide array of store inventory is released to online shoppers,” Ames said. “Store networks can act as mini distributions centers. With Kibo’s advanced order management system running behind the scenes, out-of-stock situations can be avoided, and orders can be fulfilled by the entire inventory network and routed to a store closest to the consumer for rapid delivery.”

In addition to increased eCommerce sales, retailers can see other benefits as well. Using retail stores to fulfill online orders can reduce carrying costs, allow slow-moving stores to turn around inventory more quickly and reduce the number of purchases that are abandoned due to inventory being out of stock online. The solution gives customers more options from which to choose.

“Retail stores can carry a broad array of sizes and colors that are not available from a warehouse,” Ames said. “By integrating stores’ inventory into the Kibo platform, this allows our customers to present a broader array of product to online shoppers.”

According to Ames, omnichannel fulfillment strategies are an important way to keep up with the way more customers want to shop.

“Consumers expect the option of buying online and shipping to stores,” Ames said. “In fact, consumer research by Kibo found that 60 percent of consumers will go to another retailer if their preferred fulfillment method isn’t available.”

When it comes to giving customers what they want, where they want it, omnichannel commerce programs just may be the key to success in the future.

“The demands and expectations of consumers continue to grow, and omnichannel initiatives, like ship-from-store or buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS), are proving to be critical for retailers’ growth,” Ames said. “When sellers can adapt their offerings based on customer behavior with the click of a button, they will outpace the competition every time.”