How to Successfully Execute Your Multichannel Strategy
“Today, consumers are zig-zagging across multiple channels (Web, catalog, phone, store) in order to make a purchase,” says Katie Kean, vice president of WebSphere Commerce and SWG Industry Solutions for IBM Software Group.”And what is important to note is that they may actually access all of these channels in a single purchase stream.” She adds that it’s critical to realize that customers don’t think about their research and purchases as having anything to do with multichannel marketing efforts, but rather as simply having many ways to shop the same brand.
And shop they will. A recent study by cataloger REI has shown that dual-channel shoppers spend 114 percent more than single-channel shoppers, and tri-channel shoppers spend an additional 48 percent more than dual-channel shoppers. With those numbers in mind, any sensible cataloger can see that you must engage in a comprehensive multi-channel marketing strategy. How do you do it? Here are a few guidelines to consider.
1. Have a vision. Developing a truly seamless multichannel strategy is hard, so it demands close monitoring and great leadership. Kean believes consensus on an executive level is an absolute must and requires a “JFK” kind of attitude. “Get to the moon; we don’t know how, but let’s do it,” notes Kean.
2. Open the doors of communication. Many merchants organize and run each of their channels like a separate business. “Break down the organizational silos within the company and view everything from a consumer’s perspective,” says Kean. Even though each channel may have developed on its own, it’s all part of the same company to the customer, and each channel needs to cooperate with the others. One of WebSphere’s clients, a clothing retailer, recently encouraged store associates to send customers to the Web site for extended sizing or special items not available in the store. Its profit was up 44 percent in the quarter following the start of that practice, so it’s a strategy that’s been working, continues Kean.
3. Offer convenience.”Today’s consumers are very demanding and have very high expectations of their buying experience,” says Kean. Ultimately, it’s about giving customers what they want. Seventy percent of consumers are researching online before they come into the store to buy. But only about 15 percent of retailers are offering the option to buy online and pick up in store, because it’s an incredibly complicated practice to do well. That added level of convenience, however, has the potential to be enormously successful.
4. Offer value. As part of the convenience factor, customers want you to know who they are and what they want. But they also want to know their information is safe. “In a recent IBM study that looked at what the retail industry might be like in 2010, one of the key mega trends was that consumers would become more guarded, i.e. they wouldn’t be as willing to provide things like their e-mail addresses unless they thought that retailer would provide them with information they felt was valuable to them,” Kean says. The key here is to provide an absolutely personalized experience that both provides value and makes the customer feel safe.
