Customers’ preferences, lifestyle and the way they are engaging with brands have changed drastically, due to technology and innovation. Customers want their shopping experience to fit around their busy lifestyle, and buy products whenever and wherever they are. Retailers are changing slower than customers are adopting these new digital media. They’re dealing with traditional organisational structures, a fear of change and the challenge to gain buy-in from higher management.
A report by WBR Digital gives an insight on how far retailers are in rolling out an omni-channel strategy, the challenges they face along the way and the developments that will be extremely important in the near future.
Being ‘Omni-channel’ is a necessity- and a huge challenge. Respectively 36% of retailers day they have recently or will soon roll out their omni-channel strategy, 19% are not planning to do so in near future. “A huge part of building a strong brand perception is setting out and implementing a clear omni-channel strategy. Getting this right isn’t easy so I’m not really surprised that only 26% of retailers say they have achieved this.” says House of Fraser’s CIO Burnett.
Most retailers said in the survey they are interested in understanding different shopping behaviours and engagement through different channels. The majority of retailers agreed that digital investments will increasingly drive in-store sales in the next year to come. Integrating all your mobile channels with your brick- and- mortar store might be the hardest part.
Text and images: eTail Connected/ WBR Digital
