In today’s world, a stellar customer experience (CX) isn’t just a nice perk with which to provide customers — it’s table stakes. Consumer expectations are at an all-time high, and retailers need to ‘wow’ customers at every single touch point or risk losing them.
Case in point: one study found that a staggering 76% of consumers will stop doing business with a company after just one poor experience. Retail companies need to get CX right the first time, and providing a seamless omnichannel experience that makes shopping easy and delightful across all sales channels — both online and offline — is crucial for winning and retaining customers. Every touch point, regardless of channel, is a direct reflection of the brand, and customers need to feel that brand promise as they bounce between the digital and the physical.
Achieving this is easier said than done: without data-centricity, enabling technologies and a digital-first company culture, creating a cohesive omnichannel experience is difficult (if not impossible). Let’s take a deeper look at common obstacles and how companies can overcome them.
The Importance of Data-Centricity
We’re all familiar with the critical role data plays in the success of every modern business. This is especially true for retail companies, which rely heavily on data to forecast demand, manage inventory and obtain a unified view of their customers across all channels. Access to timely, accurate data, often in near real-time, is at the core of building an effective omnichannel experience for customers.
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It’s one thing to have data, but leveraging it properly requires the right strategy. Retailers don’t want to throw mountains of data in front of employees and task them with deciphering it in real time; the right data needs to be at their fingertips so that it can be easily understood and applied appropriately. Raising the level of understanding of the use of data across the enterprise strengthens the retailer and allows it to pivot more quickly.
For instance, imagine a retail associate pulls up a customer’s profile at checkout and is automatically notified that it’s the shopper’s birthday so they can provide them with a special discount. Now, contrast that with looking up each individual customer’s birthday in a massive enterprise business intelligence (BI) platform in order to give them a discount — the former is infinitely simpler and more effective. Having the right data is vital, but retailers must have enabling technologies in place (more on this next) in order to get the most use from it.
Where Enabling Technologies Come in
Enabling technologies make the omnichannel experience faster, smoother and easier. Retailers need a base set of technologies that are all connected within the omnichannel ecosystem. This includes components like in-store mobile devices, chatbots or virtual assistants on their website, point of sale (POS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and more. A brand can have rock star employees and sales associates, but without the right technologies to empower them both behind the scenes and in their hands, they’ll invariably fall short. EX (employee experience) matters almost as much as CX!
That being said, retail companies need to be discerning about the technologies they adopt as part of their omnichannel ecosystem — it’s a jungle out there. Each technology retailers adopt must be easy to use and help employees make smarter decisions throughout their day. Don’t adopt new technologies for the sake of bringing on new tech; be intentional about each platform’s tangible benefits and how they power the larger omnichannel ecosystem — and ensure their deployment solves a specific set of agreed-upon business challenges.
How a Digital-First Company Culture Powers the Ideal Omnichannel Journey
Company culture plays a key role in developing the optimal omnichannel journey. It all starts with having a digital-first mindset that prioritizes using data and technology to try new things, solve problems and address change with an agile approach.
Like most tenets of company culture, a digital-first mindset starts at the top: Executives need to be bought into the mission, including the technologies that will be required to support it. Ideally, this will trickle down to the managers and eventually to all of the retail company’s employees, encouraging collaboration toward the shared goal. Embracing digital concepts like testing, incremental improvements, failing fast and measuring everything in the moment are key pillars for success.
From a cultural standpoint, it’s also important to have a good deal of empathy and understanding as new technologies and processes are rolled out to support the omnichannel experience. There will nearly always be a learning curve, and it’s critical that employees feel comfortable asking questions and voicing any concerns about the new dimensions of their roles in a quick-pivoting digitally focused company.
Building a seamless omnichannel experience isn’t without its challenges, but by heeding the advice above, retail companies can overcome common hurdles and be well on their way to reaping the benefits of a better overall CX. It’s a win-win: Retailers will boost sales and retain customers, and consumers will enjoy streamlined shopping experiences.
Jay Topper is head of Strategy and Innovation for fabric, Inc., a modern, modular and API-first enterprise ecommerce and omnichannel OMS platform company. Prior to fabric, he was the Chief Digital Officer of Chico’s FAS. While there, Topper oversaw the company’s Digital First strategy, end to end data and technology, customer service and the global supply chain. Prior to joining Chico’s FAS, Topper served as Chief Digital Officer at retailer FTD®, elevated from CIO and CTO.
