Top 5 Omnichannel Retailers
The word “omnichannel” in the retail industry is comparable to the words “big data” in the consumer goods industry. Neither party needs to be convinced of the value that these initiatives can deliver, but few have been able to wade through the hype to become true champions. Because we know it’s important to stay on top of your retail customer’s strengths and weaknesses, we’re bringing you new research findings from our sister publication, RIS News, which benchmarks the progress of omnichannel strategies in retail.In the October 2013 report, retail executives revealed which of their peer companies they considered to be true omnichannel enterprises. By RIS News’ definition, omnichannel retailing as the ability to deliver a seamless shopping experience to customers across all channels by synchronizing technologies, services and processes in a centralized, interoperable way.
Some of the industry’s most familiar names landed at the top of the list. Tied for first and chosen by 45.8 percent of retailers were perennial leaders Nordstrom and Apple. Macy’s tallied 37.5 percent of the vote, with Walmart trailing closely behind with 33.3 percent. Rounding out the best-in-class list were Target and
Best Buy with 20.8 percent apiece.
Interestingly, when RIS News asked survey respondents if they were truly omnichannel ready to satisfy the wants and needs of customers seamlessly across channels, guess what? No one checked the box. That’s right. No one said they have caught up with the omnichannel curve and are looking ahead to get in front of it. Rarely does a non-answer tell so much of a story, but in this case it does. Thus, the report explored what steps companies have taken or plan to take, while providing an eye-opening view of what’s at stake with omnichannel preparedness? Here is a summary of the findings:
- Survey respondents say they’re missing out on 6.5 percent of revenue as a result of not being an omnichannel retailer — which translates to $65 billion being left on the table.
- Data indicates that retailers have focused their initial efforts on updating the twin pillars of retail: merchandising and supply chain.
- Retailers’ top priority for the next 12 months is shifting to a single transaction platform that unifies point-of-sale, e-commerce and m-commerce, with 65.4 percent planning such an investment.
- The current lack of a true omnichannel transaction platform available on the market today is driving 53.8 percent of retailers to rely on a hybrid of many channel-specific platforms linked together.
- E-commerce edges out point of sale for the primary transaction platform of choice, with 23.1 percent of retailers preferring the former and 19.2 percent opting for the latter. Not surprising, half of retailers say e-commerce is the consumer touch point most fully integrated across channels.
- Price matching emerged as a significant trend, with 40 percent of retailers deploying the technology in their stores.
- Among omnichannel technologies that retailers are evaluating for future implementation, social shopper check-ins emerged as the top consideration for 50 percent of retailers.
To read “Omnichannel Readiness” in its entirety, visit www.RISNews.com.