Integrate all retail modes for festive success

Graham Jackson
December 07, 2012
Herald Sun

Retailers are moving online but with the pace of change continuing to accelerate, they need to focus on every channel.

AUSTRALIAN retailers are moving online but with the pace of change continuing to accelerate, they need to focus on every channel – catalogue, in store, online and mobile – to compete globally this Christmas.

Customers are adopting new technologies and applications to buy, enabling them to research and shop from anywhere, on any device, at any time.

This shift is being driven by a new shopper – one who demands that online encounters are as personalised and pleasurable as those offline.

Retailers need to cultivate rich online experiences that spark sustained conversations with shoppers to turn browsers into buyers. But, choosing the right tools and technology to execute a winning commerce strategy is not without its challenges.

The digital-savvy Australian customer is now highly connected, time-poor and inundated with retail options. Securing their business calls for equal parts art and science as well as a commitment to delivering a brand message that is consistent across every touch point.

The retail sector is doing it tough in Australia. The strong dollar and online competition, coupled with high rents and wages, has resulted in the closures of many well-known retailers such as Payless Shoes, Darrell Lea and the latest casualty Retail Adventures. To succeed in this new retail environment, it’s no longer about investing online; it’s about investing in every customer channel and ensuring they work together.

Despite concerns that Aussie online shoppers are spending their cash with retailers overseas, recent research from the Commonwealth Bank shows the domestic/offshore spending mix is now at 60/40 per cent compared with 55/45 per cent in 2011.

Australian shoppers want to buy locally if they can. They also want to be able to purchase online but pick the goods up at their local store, as well as be able to return goods they have bought online in-store. This is good news for the traditional retailer as “click-and-collect” provides a major competitive advantage over the online only stores. What retailer wouldn’t want a customer in their store to pick up an item given the range of extras that may go with that purchase?

The reality however is that click and collect is not so easy for a retailer to actually achieve as it typically requires complex integrations with systems that control inventory, pricing, and physical checkout.

One important factor that retailers have to consider is how they reward staff. If they are to make the most of every in-store and online opportunity, staff need to be given incentive to encourage a customer in the store to purchase an out-of-stock or unavailable item from the online store before they leave, using an in-store tablet or similar device.

THE mobile device has become crucial in terms of the way shoppers decide on what they want to buy. Today, retailers can expect 20 per cent of their traffic to come from a mobile device, so it’s important to not consider launching a new digital store without a mobile-optimised version.

While shoppers may not typically complete a purchase via their smartphone, they are certainly using them to do research, but the tablet device is different, with many shoppers quite happy to buy online using devices such as the iPad.

The early signs indicate that this Christmas is going to be another tough one for retailers, but they would have been buoyed by Tuesday’s interest rate cut.

But it seems Australian retailers need to work hard at getting consumers to part with their hard-earned cash, which is why it’s vital to integrate all channels and make it easier for the customer to buy.

Graham Jackson is managing director of Hybris Australia.