DIGITAL SOLUTIONS
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Leveraging Digital Strategies to Win the Omnichannel Shopper
As the path to purchase evolves and shopping experiences expand to include multiple channels, more and
more retailers are recognizing the need to support the shopper who is browsing, researching and making
purchases online. They also recognize that by supporting the shopper online, they also drive and support
in-store sales. A retailer’s strategy can no longer look at online and in-store as two separate channels or it
will face the likelihood of hindering the ability to create a seamless, end-to-end customer experience.
Omnichannel retailing can raise brand awareness and drive additional sales growth. In fact, retailers who meet expectations for omnichannel experiences are outperforming those that cannot.
Even in this increasingly digital world — where a growing number of shoppers purchase products via tablets and smartphones — the bulk of spending still happens at brick-and-mortar stores. If you aren’t investing in digital strategies to be where your shoppers are conducting their purchasing journey, you are most likely losing out on potential sales.
Omnichannel Shopper's Trusted Tech Tools
The omnichannel shopper’s path to purchase is complex. With consumers regularly switching between channels to carry out shopping needs, it’s imperative for retailers to maintain a seamless shopping experience from online to the store and easily toward a sale. With 38 percent of grocery purchases starting with online research, according to Boston Consulting Group, the digital experience needs to be engaging and product information must be compelling and accurate to convert browsers to buyers.
Consistent, Accurate Product Data
As digital drives traffic to stores, it is imperative all digital product content is kept updated and reflects an accurate digital representation of each product available for purchase. There’s a critical need for omnichannel coordination, so shoppers’ needs are met. The key is serving up experiences and content so rich, valuable and information-heavy that shopper loyalty is solidified and lifetime value increases.
Accurate, consistent and comprehensive digital product content is needed to fuel what you’re doing online and in-store, including personalized offers, shopping lists and online ordering. It is vitally important to ensure those products being promoted are the products that are available when they are placed in the customer’s shopping bag or delivery box.
Future Innovations Will Disrupt Retail
The Internet of Things (IoT) is no longer a buzzword analysts and industry leaders keep talking about. This network of connected devices, products or sensors is quickly revolutionizing industries, retail included. Recent Juniper Research predicts retailers will invest $2.5 billion in IoT over the next five years. Most of that investment will go toward beacons and RFID technology. Innovation will continue to drive more real-time interaction with shoppers both inside and outside the store and at home.
Embracing Technology to Enhance Loyalty
To drive sales growth online and instore, all areas of the company that are engaged with supporting a shopper’s path to purchase - from store operations and marketing and advertising, to digital commerce and supply chain - must work together to share a consistent source of product information to meet shopper needs. To market and sell products effectively in today’s digital age, retailers need a comprehensive and accurate representation of each item, including multiple images and detailed product attributes as well as access to rich content such as lifestyle images, spec sheets, videos or other marketing material.
It starts with looking internally at your business to identify and breakdown siloes and ensure that consistent experiences for shoppers are happening across channels and from online to in-store. Furthermore, it’s critical to build even closer collaborative relationships with your suppliers to ensure the traditional in-store experience seamlessly blends together with digital into a truly omnichannel shopper experience. It’s a strategic imperative for retailers to continue to invest in their digital strategies. Engaging with the shopper across multiple channels and on their terms drives both online and in-store sales.
This essay is an excerpt from a recently published whitepaper by Gladson. To read the entire whitepaper, visit https://www.gladson.com/Portals/0/GLD-Whitepaper_Digital%20Version.pdf
For more information about the company, visit www.gladson.com
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