Retailers who don’t allow shoppers to start a transaction via one channel and finish it in another are going to be increasingly in the minority, according to new research. Nearly 70% of all retailers say they either are, or will be able in 12 months, to allow cross-medium purchases.
The survey also found:
* 87% of retailers surveyed either are, or will be able to within 12 months, provide customers with order and shipment status;
* Within a year, 77% will be capable of allowing customers to track the status of their orders, regardless of the channels in which they were purchased;
* 46% either have, or will have, an automated process that allows customers to pick up their purchases within a retail outlet, regardless of the channel in which it was purchased.
* 80% will have the ability for store personnel to know what is being shipped to them from a distribution center before the shipment arrives at a given store;
* Retailers can access the shipment and delivery dates for 66% of the direct-to-consumer orders coming directly from suppliers;
* 80% view the security of the information transfer systems between their stores and the corporate office as highly secure and reliable, and another 10% say they are making improvements in that area.
Gaining a 360-degree view of shoppers may be a big deal for marketers, but consumers, quite frankly, couldn’t give a damn. “Shoppers see retailers holistically as a brand – they don’t think in terms of channels,” Jim Bengier, global retail industry executive for Sterling Commerce, said in a research report. Sterling Commerce co-sponsored the study with Direct Newsline’s sister publication Multichannel Merchant.
Bengier continued, “Whether they are interacting with a retailer in person at stores, online or via the call center and catalog, [consumers] have the same expectations. Shoppers don’t care how difficult or challenging it is for retailers to organize their companies to service them. They expect a unified customer experience whenever they see the retailer’s brand. And, they are growing increasingly impatient with imperfect execution.”
