Whether an online order is fulfilled from a distribution center or store, customers expect a seamless experience.
Customers expect a seamless experience. Retailers fail to meet that challenge. In fact, JDA’s research (completed by PwC) indicates the challenge CEOs said would be most likely to impact them to a great extent (35 percent) was failing to meet customer expectations across channels. But why?
Having started an omni-channel customer experience at BestBuy.com over 10 years ago, it surprises me that retailers have not figured out how to satisfy their customer’s needs. I understand technology has given the customer considerable power, but retail technology has been around longer. Yantra, now IBM Sterling, a Warehouse Management and Order Management solution, started in 1995. The power of these two solutions has delivered results to many of the largest retailers for years. This leads to another confusing fact…
PwC also found that only 19 percent of the top 250 retailers (and only 16 percent of all respondents) say they can fulfill omni-channel demand profitably. So not only are retailers failing to meet customer expectations, they are losing money trying. And yet omni-channel provides many new opportunities to drive traffic to stores and sell more merchandise. But only if you have the systems in place to capitalize on those opportunities…
In order for retailers to meet the omni-channel customer experience and do it profitably, they must have a warehouse management and order management solution that are flexible enough to meet ever-changing customer requirements. These solutions are the “brains “ of omni-channel. Combined they deliver a way to source and fulfill the products the cheapest, most efficient way, while meeting the service levels customers demand.
At Bridge Solutions Group, we offer a point solution that can become the foundation for omni-channel. Click & Collect on the Cloud is designed to meet the customer’s in-store pickup expectation while keeping costs to a minimum. Driving traffic to the store, leveraging store inventory, and increasing the sale versus paying freight to ship web-based orders are all ways for these CEOs to begin an omni-channel transformation profitably.
To download details about the survey, see the link below. If you would like to hear more on what Bridge Solutions can do for you, please contact me.