Will e-commerce trump physical stores? Here are 5 steps that successful retailers have taken to integrate physical and digital store offerings, delivering omnichannel experiences, personalized content, and accurate geolocation of their locations.
Google conducted a study with Practicology, an e-commerce consulting firm, to evaluate the omnichannel customer experience of 223 retailers in ten European countries. The retailers were divided into four groups based on a1 score: leaders, followers, majority, and laggards.
In this way, new approaches and best practices could be identified. Here's what to learn from successful retailers:
1. Use technologies within your store and integrate the online experience with the offline experience
Best retailers are 3.5 times more likely to make new technologies available to customers in stores: barcodes, QR codes, NFC, beacons, and digital devices create a link between online and offline experiences. Customers can receive thanks to these new touch points more information, verifying the availability of products immediately.
2. Promote online proposals in stores with Click and Collect
Click and Collect is a proposal that has long been adopted by leading retailers, in 65 percent of cases they use physical stores to openly promote online stores offering more flexibility for their business and consumers.
Retailers see Click and Collect as a way to reduce shipping costs, increase customer interaction, and promote in-store sales growth as more products are often added to the shopping cart.
3. Use your website to promote in-store offers or events that attract customers to physical stores
Best retailers are 3.5 times more likely to promote in-store special offers or events on their website. In comparison, only 11 percent of other retailers effectively leverage the website to promote in-store offers or events. Provide the ability for the user to geolocate and easily locate the nearest physical store.
4. Remove any obstacles to allow customers to switch channels or devices smoothly
Leading retailers in Europe are 80% more likely tooffer gift cards that can be purchased and used both online and in-store. In addition, they are 60% more likely to offer wish lists based on the customer's account and synchable across multiple devices.
5. Offer one-day delivery option and communicate delivery or pickup times for online orders to customers
Retailers with the highest scores are 1.6 times more likely tooffer one-day delivery, for some online orders. It is also good to transparently communicate expected delivery or pickup times by indicating them on product detail pages.
You too create an omnichannel customer experience, engage teams to collaborate and achieve common goals.
1 Each retailer was evaluated on a list of 38 customer experience criteria, which can be traced to eight basic principles of omnichannel strategy, ranging from personalization of the experience across channels to flexibility in online ordering. Each criterion was assigned one of the following ratings: approved (2 points), partially approved (1 point) or not approved (0 points). The maximum score of 76 points accumulated in the 38 categories results in a customer experience-related score of 100%.