The omnichannel approach to brick and mortar retail

Pros Vs Cons of Brick-and-Mortar Retail

What do brick-and-mortar stores still have to offer?

“In department stores, so much kitchen equipment is bought indiscriminately by people who just come in for men's underwear.” -  Julia Child

• The human factor: Interaction with staff and other customers, no matter how fleeting, enhances any experience. Community is an under-discussed element of retail and is often sorely missing from online retail, with many customers actually establishing communities themselves. This human interaction pays dividends, a third of consumers still say they don’t trust businesses that only have an online presence 

• Experience: There’s a reason major brands are putting an emphasis on using Augmented Reality to replicate seeing what a product looks like in person. 59% of customers still consider the ability to “feel, touch and try a product” the number one appeal of in-store retail. 

• Discoverability: Websites can suggest items based on previous customer purchases.  Sometimes this is effective and sometimes this means Amazon reminding you it’s been a week since you bought your last toaster before venturing that you might enjoy another one. Meanwhile, walking through a store exposes you to products you have never seen before, ones that you may not have even considered the shop sells. Online tends to be quite closely focused, even suggestions tend to offer variations of products the customer is already looking for. The shop floor, on the other hand, fosters much more curiosity.

• Immediacy: A close second to seeing a product in real life, customers have rated the ability to pick up an item and own it minutes later as the second most appealing thing about physical retail. 

• Delivery: Speaking of delivery, it may not be the default method of delivery for brick-and-mortar retail but many global brands like Ikea are expanding the storage of chain locations can actually result in speedier delivery than many online retailers. Walmart used this to its advantage by launching two hour home delivery in 2020.

What’s missing?

• History: One of the biggest issues with in-person retail is that every time you enter a store, you are effectively a stranger. Though you may be a fan of the brand, nothing reacts to your preferences or tailors the store experience for you. Context is only developed on the customer side. 

• Return on investment: The disconnect only gets more pronounced when you visit a store regularly. You may have learned where your favorite items are, when items are discounted and which self-checkout is always broken but the store has retained no information about you. A good loyalty program goes a long way in addressing this imbalance but even retaining information like shipping address, payment details and wishlists is far more intuitive online. 

• Context: In-person shopping can only provide so much detail about a product before it becomes unwieldy. You may be able to see it in real life but you often don’t get a whole lot else to go on. It’s possible to reach out to store staff but often they’re so busy they understandably can’t offer detailed advice. Customers are now so accustomed to the more informed experience of shopping online that 80% of people use their mobile phones inside of a stores to either look up product reviews and compare prices.

• ‍Convenience: Flawed as it can be, online shopping’s proposition of buying something at a store that never closes without ever leaving your house is hard to beat. It’s the main reason its popularity exploded in 2020. 

• Flexibility: Part of why chain retail is possible is down to rigidly standardized processes, often dictated by the demands of running a physical space. Online retailers can afford to let you pre-order an unreleased item or out-of-stock item and dispatch it to you immediately when they get it. They never close. They often let you pick your time and date for delivery, albeit usually for a fee. Logistically, this is impossible for most physical retail. 

• Dedicated Support: Increasing demands on in-store employees of businesses of all sizes means that it’s very difficult to get a query addressed in person. Often, customers have to move to a second channel online or on their phones to get support. Online retail usually has a lot more flexibility and is enhanced by chatbots. 

Omnichannel: The Global Cornershop

“ People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care” ― Theodore Roosevelt

Hyper-Personalization

The customer’s point of view

Experiential Rewards

Blending omnichannel and brick-and-mortar: the best of both worlds

• The Human Factor/Dedicated Support: A consistent omnichannel approach would give workers in-store instant access to a customer’s purchase and support history. Appointments could be automatically scheduled ahead of time. In-person support staff could be empowered to give personalized discounts to compensate for issues the customers encounter. Customers could even run through a preliminary support check with a chatbot beforehand so they could cut right to the chase and get the vital, in-person service they need. 

• Experience/Context: As mentioned, some companies like Kohl’s have put considerable work into digitally recreating the in-store experience of seeing what an item would look like in real life, with the added benefit of the easy-available online context. There is similar scope for adding context to the in-store experience of seeing a product. Augmented reality could allow a customer to scan a product and immediately see how many are in stock, how other customers have rated the item and even specially-tailored suggested pairings with other products. The vast majority of customers look at their phones while shopping in a store, if a brand can win back control of that context it will make it far less vulnerable to comparison shopping. In-app promotions only redeemable in-store would be a fantastic way to encourage customers in this direction. 

• Discoverability/Return On Investment: When wandering through a store, your phone could offer tips about where to go to find products that might interest you. If you tend to order a lot of a product, a personalized discount for buying in bulk and in-store would be a great way to avoid several rounds of shipping costs. All the information that the customer gives to the brand improves their experience while the brand can offer small incentives to improve operational efficiency.  

• Immediacy/Convenience: Knowing what’s in stock beforehand, having your order prepared for pick-up and choosing substitutions if necessary all combine the best of both worlds. When a customer has their core order organized ahead of time, even set to recur on a regular schedule, but walks through the store to collect it, they can browse stress-free. 

• Delivery/Flexibility: The location advantage of brick-and-mortar chains means delivery and distributions can happen a lot faster than relying on a third-party service. The flexibility of online lets you know what’s in stock, purchase whenever and even pick your time for delivery. Combine this, in-store pickup and a record of your preferred address, delivery options and time for delivery and you have a powerful combination of both value propositions. 

Reward everything with Talon.One’s Promotion Engine