Gaps Closing Between Cross-Channel Consumers and Retailers
As a follow-up to last week's multi-channel retailing blog post, I found a couple more Sterling Commerce surveys which show that while consumers are looking for seamless shopping experiences and want to get more value from retailers through multiple shopping channels, retailers are still working on closing the gap between these expectations and their abilities to deliver a great shopping experience.
For example, on the consumer side:
- 56% of US consumers want to be able to choose after purchasing an item online whether it will be delivered to their home or available for in-store pick-up
- More than 80% want to be able to return merchandise to a store even if it was purchased online or over the phone.
- 70% consider it important for store associates to be able to find an out-of-stock item at another store location or distribution center and arrange for the product to be held for customer pick-up or shipped to their home.
- Two-thirds want to be able to order an out-of-stock item at an in-store kiosk, over the phone or on a PC.
- European shoppers expressed an even higher demand for multichannel shopping features.
While 98% of polled retailers agree that "a retailer's inability to meet its customers' cross-channel expectations threatens customer loyalty and competitive advantage in the marketplace", only:
- 81% are fully or partially integrated across all of their sales channels (e.g., store, call center, Website, kiosk, catalog).
- 87% are or will be able to provide the ability to track order and shipment status in the next 12 months through the purchasing channel, and 77% will be able to provide that capability via any combination of channels.
- 43% have a process that allows customers to pick up their orders in the store regardless of the purchasing channel.
- 48% have an automated process that allows customers to return their orders to the store regardless of the channel through which it was purchased.
- Two-thirds will have in the next 12 months the ability to view on-hand, in-transit, and available-to-promise inventory at each location via a single mechanism.
- 60% will have in the next 12 months a process that enables store associates to find an out-of-stock item at another store location or distribution center and arrange for the product to be held for customer pick-up or shipped to their home.
Posted by Universal Ad
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