Global IMPACT: Single view of everything

What does the future of omnichannel commerce hold? Karoline Lotz Jonassen went to London to gain inspiration on how retailers are meeting customers’ needs in Europe’s biggest shopping mecca.

This is the fourth article in a mini-series about the future of commerce. In this episode, she explores single view of almost everything. 

As a part of the next generation of customers I am most definitely always an omnichannel customer using numerous channels to gain inspiration, and research before I purchase – leading brands in London understand that.

Big data might just be the most important step towards true unified commerce. As creating a unified experience across channels is key to succeed in the future of commerce.

Brands and retailers can gain important knowledge from the leaders in London.

The benefit with single view

Since I visit Oxford street a post-corona day in September, there were not many people in the stores. It gives me the opportunity to talk to the store staff about their digital journey.

In Scandinavia, less than 30% of brands and retailers promote online in-store, according to IMPACT Omnichannel Index.

In London close to 100% of the stores I visit seem to understand the benefits of making customers loyal to more than one channel.

Unified commerce is building a seamless customer experience across all your channels and touchpoints.

An experience where your customers are provided with relevant information, personalized content and the opportunity to buy your product or service on the channel which they desire.

This is made possible by understanding your customers and then defining and connecting your processes, people, data and system

How to create unified commerce

While click-and-collect and reserve-at-store are important services, providing these features will not make you a true unified commerce company.

It is well known that brands take incremental steps towards unified commerce. But even so they are not meeting customers expectations 100%.

Only doing something half-heartedly you risk being caught in the middle, losing ground to your competitors and missing out on the customers’ attention (and their money).

It should not matter how I buy, where I buy or when I buy. I do not care where the products come from, I just care that I get them.

In some markets, Adidas is leading the way on these solutions.

As I visit their London flagship store, they even offer to send an in-store purchase to my home address.

As a customer, I want the companies I buy from to give me relevant and personalised information on all channels and throughout my journey.

Across Denmark we have entered the second corona lockdown and the authorities are encouraging us to shop online and limit the time we spend in retail stores.

The shift to digital puts the online warehouses under pressure both when it comes to handling orders in time but also when it comes to ensuring the needed stock level of products.

Let me give you an example from my life. As many others I have turned to DIY projects during lockdown. I have unfolded my questionable creative competencies within clay, painting, and pearls.

I started adding various tools, pendants, threads and pearls in all colors of the rainbow to my online basket. But some of my items are out of stock online.

The out of stock situation

Although in-store stock levels are shown on the site some of my items are out of stock in my local store as well.

Seeing my items available in stores far away from my home but not being able to purchase them is frustrating.

I even call my local store and ask if they can order the missing items from their sister store or from their supplier – but no luck there either.

What did that mean for the company? It meant they lost my order.

This pain could have been solved if the company had implemented split order or ship from store solutions and if they had an OMS system to handle and consolidate inventory across stores and warehouses.

Instead, they should inspire me on how to use the items, they should push relevant cross sales such as a chopping boards or a knife sharpener or even better four months from now they should offer me a knife sharpening service.

If the data was floating smoothly between channels the company would know not to target me with online remarketing once I have already bought the item in-store.

In a unified setup this would have been a better experience for me as a customer.

I am not the only one reacting positively to a personalised experience. 49% of buyers have made impulse purchases after receiving a more personalised experience.