December 1, 2023 • 35 mins
Ready to decode the retail revolution? Join us for a panel discussion with our industry experts Lisa Taylor, Scott Benedict, Ted McCaffrey & Brandon Rael as we navigate the dynamic world of Omnichannel. We promise a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities that this versatile approach presents, with a sharp focus on the significance of coordinated efforts across all touchpoints. With customers at the helm, we'll understand the critical role of digital and social selling, especially against the backdrop of the recent pandemic.
Ever wondered how retailers are adjusting to the changing consumer behavior? We pull back the curtain on this fascinating transition and the critical role of Omnichannel in it all. From seamless returns and reordering processes to personalization enhancing customer experience, we've got it all covered. Hear from our panelists as they discuss the potential of implementing RFID technology, peak season challenges, and the rising consumer expectations for a tailored shopping experience.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello and welcome to another RetailWireLir.
We have a roundtable of expertstalking about a theme's topic
of the day.
Today's topic is Omni Channel,and I have three experts here on
the stage.
A fourth may be joining us in afew minutes.
The topic is what lies aheadfor the future of Omni Channel.
(00:33):
A discussion has already beenstarted on RetailWirecom.
One of the facts I wanted tobring up from the article was
that Gartner estimated that 60%of B2C brands will move toward a
functional channel listorganizational approach by 2025.
This is another way of sayingOmni Channel channel list.
(00:56):
The fact still remains thatonly 11% of companies feel like
they have the technologyprepared to do so.
To kick us off, here we haveTed McAfrey.
Ted, what do you have to sayabout Omni Channel?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
If you looked at my Lake Dennis Omni Channel
champion, this is a game changerwhen physical retailers want to
compete with Amazon.
When I was at eBay Enterpriseor I sold Omni Channel to DSW,
abercrown, b&s and Payless, wegot to host data from over 45
different retailers, some of thebig store goods.
(01:36):
We ran the website, thefulfillment center and we ran
their Omni Channel.
We got to see the explosion indigital volume and then how it
was fulfilled.
What happened is the DCeventually would push more
fulfillment to the stores,especially during peak, and
that's where we saw the magichappen.
Lisa and I were just talkingabout this notion that Best Buy
(02:00):
40% of all their e-commerceorders are picked up in store.
That is where the magic reallyhappens.
Lisa, maybe you could talk tothat, since you came from Best
Buy.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I'm not going to speak to Best Buy specifically,
but we do working there.
I do know that it was veryimportant.
You saw what an excellent jobthey did when COVID hit and they
turned on their buy online pickup in store.
It was amazing.
Got great reviews from theircustomers I think we've seen.
Target was another one that wewere talking about too.
It's an excellent job with thebuy online pick up in store.
(02:32):
It's really seamless, helpingtheir customers get what they
need when they need it, how theyneed it.
If you have little kids, it's areally easy way to swing
through and pick some stuff up.
One of the things we talk aboutat our company, tpc, is we think
of Omni Channel as reallyalmost like a symphony.
You've got all the differentdepartments and players playing
(02:56):
their specific instrument.
Everybody knows their role andhow to play it.
Sometimes one comes to theforefront, sometimes something
falls to the back, depending onhow the customer wants.
It's all working together inconcert and that's what really
is a seamless Omni Channelexperience for customers.
(03:17):
Because if you don't have that,if no one knows what their role
is, and if they're working insilos individually, you cannot
create this seamless OmniChannel experience for customers
Really keen when you'rethinking about selling across,
because if you don't have that,they'll go somewhere that will.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Great points, lisa, and then Ted.
I completely agree with youabout the harmonization and just
coordinating with differentparts and pieces of an
organization.
I think it's been a challengethat in our increasingly digital
first world that retailers likeif you retail is in particular
a face with was A how to startand establish an e-commerce
presence and operating model,and B how to actually integrate
(03:58):
those two together with yourbrick and mortar strategy.
It's a seamless experienceacross channels.
Now, that's for the last fiveyears of the proliferation of
digital and social selling, livestreaming, retail media
networks you name it live videocommerce, live streaming and so
forth.
There's all these touch pointsnow that actually create so much
more complexity.
You said it really extendedbeyond what we know as Omni
(04:20):
Channel From a customerperspective.
I don't think average customerknow what the Omni Channel means
.
What they do know is what's agood experience, what's a bad
experience, whether it'sshopping, discovery, fulfillment
, product returns, those allworking harming, like you said,
lisa and Ted, and those.
There's data, alex, foundationthings behind it and the
ecosystems there.
I will go through and turn itthere that Michaels the cork is
(04:43):
talking about, my good friend.
It's a immersive commerce whichTranscends every channel, so
it's definitely a big evolutionwe're seeing and you know it's
all about the customer and allthe various touch points.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Really good point that you said the customer
doesn't even know what the wordomni channel means.
No, we have to go.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, it's done right .
Speaker 4 (05:02):
No, then there and we know, as a consumer, your your
strategy to hide off.
As a consumer, you go to astore, wherever that friction is
for counties are.
You can see the brokenprocesses.
A consumer, try to buy an orderout.
I return to a store.
You know the ones do it Well, Ibest buy target, have a QR code
seamlessly attached to your,you know, in your email or the
app.
(05:22):
Or there's curbside pickup.
This focus options.
All these are in theseharmonization.
We talked about Lisa and Ted.
So those who don't have that,they obviously don't have the
strategies in place, thoughthey're falling behind.
So I know Scott's here in thewing, so what they hear his
perspective is too.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
I gotta tell you it's it's it's been so fun for me to
Continue to have thisconversation about omni channel
because for those of us thatwere around in the late 90s into
the early 2000s, this is we'reseeing today, the things that we
thought e-commerce could evolveto at some point.
And it's it's humorous thatthere are videos out there
(06:01):
somewhere of me having thisconversation with somebody as
recently as you know, 2015,where there was still this
concept that felt like it was,it was out there in the future
but it hadn't yet happened.
And If there are some thingssilver lining in the horrible
events related to the pandemic,that it caused folks to have to
(06:25):
engage with a retailer digitallythat they were used to
reengaging with in physicalstores and that caused this
interconnection to be evenpossible.
Because Even if you shopped insomeone's store, if you shopped
at a best buy, lisa, or if youshopped in a Walmart or you take
the retailer, you didn't havetheir app, didn't have an online
(06:48):
account.
The pandemic probably causedyou to get one and to get those
signups where now, at least thatretailer had the opportunity To
engage you in multiple ways.
And then one of the things thatI've seen Well recently the
number of retailers have done isthat they've connected a
in-store purchase history and anonline purchase history in a
(07:12):
way that you know makes returnsseamless.
It makes Reorders or rebuyingsomething something more
seamless, particularly in a foodand beverage in the that weekly
grocery Trip.
They just made it that mucheasier now, and we even have to
Give Amazon props for using someof their physical store
(07:34):
partners Coles is a go-toexample for returns or the fact
that now you can walk into a UPSstore with a Amazon return and
it's very seamless in terms ofthat.
So all of those are our examplesof the things that we talked
about 20 years ago astheoretical constructs that have
(07:56):
now come to life, and theconsumer is showing us that what
we thought they might Think isneat about that, what might
cause them to embrace it.
In fact, it has has occurred,and that's the exciting thing.
At the same time, I still thinkwe have plenty of headroom as
an industry to improve, andthere's they're still both
(08:20):
retailers that aren't doing aswell as they can, aspects of the
of the experience that are asButtoned up as they they should
be, and taking advantage of thatto use personalization to make
more personalized Promotions orrecommendations to a consumer
(08:41):
based on their prior Browsingand buying behavior.
There's still lots of head roomto improve, even though we
started to see this day that weall thought was possible, become
mainstream.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yet so, speaking to that friction, this is what I
noticed.
So we had at eBay.
We had about 45 differentretailers on our platform so
what I've got to see was howwell they fulfilled those items
from the stores and one retailer.
In the months of, just in themonths in November, december,
that was 40% of their on machinefor the year.
(09:15):
Everything was pushed that backin.
Ironically, the worst inventoryaccuracy happened in those last
parts of the year because theytake the physical inventory at
the first Part of the year.
So what we had, what we got tosee, is a thing called a pick
decline when you have anallocation list.
So someone like a Dick'sFlorida goods would fulfill four
to six hundred items a dayduring peak For hope for pickup
(09:39):
or ship from store.
They're picked declines inthose two months for over 50%,
meaning what they thought wasthere wasn't there.
So they cancel a lot of orders,they split ship the lot of
orders.
We had a woman that I workedwith the start since you had a
who had a little boy and sheordered 26 items on Baby Gap and
(10:01):
free shipping and she got it insix different packages from six
different locations.
So, figure $5 times theadditional five shipments and it
was free shipping, so just wentright against the margin.
So there's split shipments, theorder cancellations.
There are people running aroundlooking for items that aren't
there or, worse, they're thereand they can't sign them.
So that's where I'm shamelessto say it.
(10:24):
But RFID enables a retailer tobe able to scan their entire
stores once a week and knowwhat's there.
So it's available to promisefor omni-channel.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Right, yeah, and that's what I think is so
interesting.
So a lot of these.
Like Scott, you mentioned thewhole pandemic and what it's
done in getting customers,bringing them along to engage
with retailers in different waysbeyond the store.
And I think, as we get more andmore technology and it
progresses, I think it's reallybeholden to the retailers to
(10:56):
make sure they're embracing that, so they do get things like
RFID, things like integrating,planning and making sure all of
your systems are connected.
The whole idea of a singlecustomer record is really moving
towards have to have, not wantto have, or optional to have,
because customers really have anexpectation that you know them
(11:18):
and you know what they want.
Like we said, suggested thingsyou can.
There's so much that can bedone, but it's really critical
when you're, when you'reactually shopping across
different channels, that you aretalked to as that customer and
seen as that one customer tomaximize their sales as well as
to maximize the experience foryour consumers.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Yeah, indeed, and I still, Lisa.
I still get email and socialmedia promotions for things that
in no way would you logicallythink that I'm going to purchase
, and my children are both intheir 20s.
I still get advertisement forbaby stuff and that day's gone.
I think that either aredifferent clothes than I would
(12:07):
wear or items that I'd neverpurchase, and so it's just a
reminder that we as an industryhave an opportunity to continue
to do our assigned and usetechnology to improve the
customer experience, and I thinkyou know the early days of
personalization.
There was a concern hey, how doyou know that about me and why
are you promoting me to me?
(12:28):
Exactly this thing that I waslooking for on another website.
That was a little freaky.
Now I say that the consumers,at the point they give us
permission, as long as we usethat information well to make
their life easier, to serve thembetter, and to continue to get
emails for things that there isno reason I would ever buy, when
(12:50):
I know the technology is outthere that connects, is store
and online purchases and showsmy behavior over time and gives
me things that, logically, myprior behavior would tell you,
yeah, he's likely to buy that.
It is, I think, the still themissed opportunity among many
(13:11):
missed opportunities for us inthe industry to really take out
any channel to a whole otherlevel.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Great, point, and it's the rise of all the loyalty
programs.
They're literally saying here'smy information.
I love you, retailer, here itis.
You want to be seen.
You have that expectation.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
And great points, lisa and Scott.
I think the two front strategyhere it's not only providing the
consumer the choice, theoptions to see how they want the
products fulfilled and how theydiscover, so a lot of it
requires that perpetualinventory, real time
availability of inventory andavailable to promise
capabilities which, as the holygrail for retailers we've seen
(13:52):
best buy, walmart, target.
They provide and power consumersonline and they do to elapsed
the options of if you want totravel 125 miles away, you can
go pick up today in the store,or you can have that store
shipped to your home, or you canwhatever option you want.
But the democratization of thatprocess is really what's
powering on the channel and orimmersive commerce, or unified
(14:13):
commerce, whatever you want tocall it they want to make the
sale and while you're at thestore, if the Best Buy Associate
doesn't have the item in thestore in stock, or if it's in
Dick's Sporting, they canseamlessly go in their mobile
apps and they have thecapabilities and tools.
Say, the store 20 miles fromhere has this particular size
and product, we can fulfill ittoday, ship it to your home for
tomorrow, save the sale.
So, just as much you want toprovide an outstanding customer
(14:36):
experience.
You need to empower anoutstanding associate experience
with the tools and capabilitiesto keep up with that digital
first consumer comes to thestore and convert the sale.
Whether it's in store ordigital, it doesn't matter.
I mean it's going to be a sale.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
And Brad, would you agree that OmniChannel has
become the Amazon equalizer in asense for the physical stores,
in that Amazon Prime came outwith a two-day shipping where
the rest of the retail world wasfive to seven days, right.
So now you've got a local storethat's shipping it.
Now you can get within thosetwo days and then I say, lisa,
(15:11):
as they do, a Best Buy where 40%of all the e-commerce items are
picked up in the store.
That is where the magic happens.
That's where they one-up Amazon, in that you're not only going
to pick up that item, butthere's this thing called
attachment rate, where some ofthese people 30, 40% of people
who come in they buy more andthat is where the profits happen
.
So your inventory accuracybetter be right, especially with
(15:35):
BOPUS.
You can't get it wrong withBOPUS.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
You just have to point to the evolution of Best
Buy in particular.
I was rooting for them,especially in a seminar nine
years ago when they were in theverge of bankruptcy.
They were essentially cominginto an Amazon showroom.
You know, you go there it'shere and try the products and
they don't have it in stock.
They don't have the item, or itwasn't in petal-y price or you
didn't get the good associateexperience.
(15:58):
You end up buying on Amazon inthe store.
So they actually turn thatwhole narrative around and
you're going at Best Buy with apurpose and you actually
research it online or discoverit somewhere else, and they were
actually closed through apickup in store or a curbside
pickup.
So that's been the game changerfor them.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
And during the pandemic you know getting back
to that's no longer here butLululemon they opened their
stores just for the storemanagers to come in to fulfill
that extreme volume ofe-commerce orders that were
being fulfilled.
So it actually saved Lululemonin a lot of cases didn't save
them and it produced so wellthrough the years, but it really
(16:35):
helped them satisfy thecustomer like there's no
tomorrow, and so I think there'sgoing to come a time, right now
and again with RxID they'reusing these little handhelds
where they scan their storesonce a week and Macy's does it
once a month.
There's going to be a tighttime where they're going to want
something up in the ceilingthat reads it in real time so
(16:55):
that your both disorders youknow what's there.
Macy's had a problem where theyheld back, I think, $2 billion
worth of safety stock for AmitShale because they didn't feel
comfortable promising it.
Once they developed or deployedtheir RFID, they opened up all
that inventory for available topromise.
So that was a huge deal forMacy.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It just shows how important that back of house,
all of those processes acrossthe organization really have to
work, like I mentioned, inconcert with one another,
because if they're disjointed,the customer experience is going
to be totally disjointed.
So we really need to haveaccuracy, real-time information
and it all needs to beintegrated.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
Yeah, and that kind of brings to mind the fact that
so much of the discussion aboutinvestment in retail technology
has been always converted intowell, that's in purpose to the
website or to the mobile app.
And the fact is, what both youand Lisa are raising is you know
, some technology can be in theback office functions of you as
(17:58):
a retailer and or equipped yourstore's both kids with
information, the ability tosolve a problem for a customer.
We're not stocking this one,but I can have it shipped to
your home or our other locationacross town has got it.
Can I reserve it for you?
Those kind of scenarios arewhere I think a lot of the
(18:19):
investment in Amit Shale isheaded Is.
It's yes, you want to continueto refine your digital
experience, you want to continueto refine your in-store
experience, but in some cases,it's just the back office
functions where investments inthe next few years are going to
have to be made to bring aboutthis better omnichannel
(18:41):
experience, and in technologythat equips the store associate,
which is to your point, ted,earlier.
That's, the game changeragainst Amazon is if you have a
store and you have a storeassociate that can use
technology to solve a problemfor you as a consumer.
That's that's really set you upto be, to be differentiated as
(19:04):
a competitor in in theomnichannel space, going forward
right.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, yeah, nothing.
Exactly Because consumersreally see retailers as a brand.
They don't see you as target andtarget and target and you know
on Instagram or whatever, youknow who knows what channels
we're going to see for thefuture.
You know, talk a lot about.
You know Tiktok shop, right, isthat going to be the next thing
(19:31):
?
Oh, but we have to be ready forthese things and making sure we
know how consumers use thedifferent channels and how they
interact with the differentpoints, so then you can connect
the dots across and make sureit's a consistent experience.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
And then, yeah, it's increasingly important now with
the emergence of Tiktok shop andthe immersive commerce, video
commerce, live streaming.
We know Gen Z is there.
We know they're interactingwith videos.
There are 85% or 80 pluspercent content view of that
generation is video and it'sauthentic, it's storytelling.
It will lead to commerce, itwill lead to discovery.
(20:06):
You know they're going to lookat clicking on binocular
abilities within Tiktok orInstagram and it better lead to
a great experience.
But to 10th point earlier youknow RFID, real time and mentor
availability available promisethat'd be immediate and accurate
and light and speed and theproduct could be fulfilled.
You know I mean thoseexpectations.
But that's the future and whoknows what Gen Alpha is going to
(20:28):
do in the future.
You know whether it's metaverserelated, but it's not, in that
your ecosystem is not set up tohandle the scalability and
flexibility to fulfill orders,whether in store or digitally.
You're right behind the table.
We saw QR codes take off duringa pandemic.
I'm starting to see video,immersive commerce and live
streaming take off in the nextcouple of years.
(20:49):
I know Walmart is in that spacetoo.
You're in TikTok and they dolive streams as well.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
Right, what's interesting and I particularly
noticed this in the groceryspace that much of what we've
talked about and that we see asconsumers is providing a
seamless solution to a problemor a need a consumer already
knows that they have.
Where I think there'sopportunity is what those of us
(21:17):
who are raised in electronicswere taught is this concept of
solution selling, in other words, providing a solution or a
group of products, or a group ofproducts and services that
solve a need.
I still feel like that's anunderdeveloped promise of
Omni-Channel because and I'lltake the grocery space for
(21:37):
example yes, I know whatproducts I want to buy in my
grocery list.
Can you solve that for me?
Can you take my order?
Can you have it ready at thepark a lot when I want it?
Yes, I'm going to have peopleover for football game tomorrow
and I want to put together afood spread, one of the items I
want to prepare this healthydish for someone who's got
(21:59):
special dietary needs.
I think I see examples, but Idon't see the broad
implementation of Omni-Channelsolutions where you say here's
the problem or the occasion orthe issue that you're trying to
solve and here's all theproducts that support that.
Click here, one button goes toyour cart and now I can go pick
(22:23):
it up at my local store, whetherthat's a Best Buy store with a
technology solution or a grocerystore with an occasion solution
.
I still feel like that aspectof Omni-Channel is still.
While we're solving some ofthese core back office issues
and we need to, they'refoundational there's still
(22:44):
another level of performanceavailable on Omni-Channel when
you start proactively solvingthe customer's need, not just
reacting to the things that theyknow that they need.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Yeah, that sounds like we're talking about
Omni-Channel, enhanced withgeneral AI capabilities to
integrate all those greatinsights and data in there, to
provide those recommendationsand then, like you said, point
the consumer in the directionthey need to go to solve their
use case.
Like you said, if it's a partyor a simple party, or where it
may be, what are the things theyneed to do to solve that and
(23:19):
then connect to the retailers?
Speaker 3 (23:21):
The whole conversation reminded me of a
conversation I had with the datascientist on our team and we're
talking about Omni-Channel andhe said what I think would be
really cool.
Say, you're part of your localgrocery store's loyalty program
and they see that you'recontinually ordering the same
things every single week.
Why aren't they coming up withhey, we can just fulfill this
(23:42):
for you, tell us of these.
Here's what we think you want.
You check the box and it's justlike clockwork.
That's the next level of buyonline pickup in the store,
where they're just like doing itfor you.
I just show up, pick it up,we're good to go.
And then you can even expandfurther, increasing your list.
(24:02):
And oh well, you know what?
If you add these three things,you could make this recipe,
things like that.
You're really taking data anddoing it for them and really
building very strong brandloyalty.
I would be excited if somebodydoes that for me.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Big time, big time, If you think of you know, you've
heard of Scott Galloway I don'tknow if he's, I love him.
He talks about this notion ofA-commerce, algorithmic commerce
, and he said someday, someday,you're just going to get a tote
every day from Amazon that'sgoing to have the things they
think you want and the thingsthat you want, and then all you
(24:38):
do is whatever you don't want,you leave it there and they'll
pick it up the next day andyou'll get credited for whatever
you didn't pick up, Becausethey're going to send those
things to you knowing and that'swhat growth, that's what
physical stores should be ableto have the same data, and I
think that that would be that'swhat people wanted that type of
response from their retinas.
(24:59):
They want to be, they want youto know who they are and they
want to react in real time.
So that's kind of a coolconcept.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
That makes me think of the ease of returns, because
you know they in that case Ted,they'd pick it up.
But if something's shipped, alot of people are buying you
know 10 shirts online and thenknowing they'll just return nine
of them.
And so the ease of return.
It's like it does bring somechallenges, but it also brings
(25:33):
the customer into the store.
Is that opportunity beingleveraged right now in the way
that you think it could beleveraged?
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Well, from my standpoint, when we were working
with DSW, they actually likedthe returns because 60% no, 65%
of their e-commerce returns cameback to the stores local to the
customer, and that gave themanother opportunity to show your
products in their stores, andso for them, it was another
opportunity to interact with thecustomer.
You just look for visits.
You want as many visits aspossible.
(26:03):
Think about calls.
Takes back Amazon's junk inorder to get visits.
You know what?
I hate to say it now, but theydo, and so the more you get
people to come back we havefocus via veterinary services at
Walmart, whatever it is themore you get them to come back,
the more you build your brand ifyou perform well.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
You know, getting your customer to go to the UPS
store or the post office doesnot help you.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
No, if you're Amazon, because if you've made it easy,
that's great, but if you'rethinking about on each channel
as a retailer, no, you want themto come and you want to tell us
.
Point, let me serve you in ourstore.
And oh, by the way, is thereanything else I can help you
with while you're here?
That's part of the promise ofon each channel, beyond the
(26:50):
individual transaction, that Ithink a lot of retailers are
just starting to unlock.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
That value, yeah, but I think that's also where the
humanization comes in.
That's coming in the store Fuckpeople.
Visual merchandising createsthat oh, I need to buy XYZ.
So it creates that wholedifferent experience that you
really can't get from Amazon.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
That's the differentiator.
If you are in capitalizing andgetting consumers back in your
store I mean Best Buy and Dix,four Nougurs and a few others do
this very well.
They make a.
We've seen this for you.
There's a dedicated area forboth this and returns right by
the front entrance.
So, a QR code enabled, you showyour phone.
You don't have to print in thealley anymore, you're just
(27:36):
showing emails and while you'rein the store usually it's a very
compelling offer In the frontof the store you might want to
buy something else.
So if you're a retailer andyou're in the game and you don't
have the capabilities toattract the consumer back to
your store where a frictionlessreturn to engage them and show
them new products and have morediscovery then you're failing
and you'll fall in the line.
(27:56):
The best breeder at now.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
Yeah, brandon, it feels like that.
So much of the evaluation onthe modeling channel in the
early days was a transactional,got-loved accountants View is
set of a lifetime value, of thecustomer view and the several of
those points a lot of retailersare now learning about.
(28:20):
The engagement I can tell younot confidential information
from my Walmart and Sam's Clubdays.
Both Walmart and Sam's we knewthat if a customer or a member
in the case of Sam's engaged usacross channels, there wasn't a
metric that that customer wasn'tmore valuable than one that
just engaged us in physicallocations or online, whether
(28:44):
it's frequency of shopping,average purchase, likelihood to,
in the case of Sam's, renewtheir membership.
Lifetime value and I thinkthat's the lens through which a
lot of retailers are nowstarting to look at on the
channel is, yes, thetransactions have to be
profitable.
Yes, we have to make sure thatwe're being good stewards of our
(29:06):
company's resources, but wealso have to look at it through
the lens of lifetime value ofthe customer retention, loyalty
all of those lenses as well astransactional.
Like a lot of us looked atPrime in the early days and
thought they've lost their mind.
There's no way they can make upenough on what they're losing,
(29:30):
or free shipping to justify that.
And we were all wrong.
Yes, as it turns out, they gota level of loyalty out of that,
and now, as you bring that intomore omni-channel retailers, the
math looks a whole lot betterwhen you consider lifetime value
, not just evaluating individualtransactions.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, and you know, when we were working with Dick
Sporting Goods, with eBay, andwe had, as I said, we had their
omni-channel, we had theirfulfillment.
I tested we just enabled themto have BOPUS and I tested it I
ordered something and I went tomy store.
I checked at the kiosk and Ijust happened to turn to this
person that had a littlewalkie-talkie on, a little
(30:14):
headset on, and he gave me alook and he knew it was me.
He walked up to me.
Can I help you?
I said, yes, you can.
So that, right, there is theepitome of being a customer that
look, you're a customer, you'revaluable and I'm going to take
care of you right now.
Now, it doesn't happen all thetime, but it just so happens
like, wow, it just felt.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
If it felt good, it just felt good as we talk about
you know, there's lessconversation about malls and our
malls remain relevant, thatsort of thing and that's where
omni-channel I think still has alot of opportunity, because the
physical desire of most mallsdates back to before e-commerce
and before that and a lot ofwell-meaning department store
(30:57):
chains have got, you know, storepickup opportunities out there
in the parking lot.
But it doesn't feel like mallsand mall-based retailers have
completely figured out how to doomni-channel right, whether in
the physical design, otherfacilities or the experience to
(31:18):
what you're talking about, andthey were known for a level of
service that that's what made orwill continue to make some
department stores relevant inthis century, but it's, you know
.
What I wonder about sometime isis will malls, in either
(31:38):
remodeling or any constructionof new malls, change their
design to make omni-channel moreeasily done the way that a lot
of the companies we've talkedabout, whether it's Dix or Best
Buy or Walmart or others?
They can change their ownstores pretty quickly, but malls
have not changed theirinfrastructure or their
(32:02):
experience in a way that reallyfits taking full advantage of
omni-channel.
In my view.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
I'm hearing that that push-pull between maybe when
omni-channel first started, itreally was let's make a fast
food lane and that's it.
And then there's.
And then they're thinking well,this is an opportunity.
They're in the store.
It costs us how much toadvertise to get them to walk
through our door where thisacquisition can be happening,
(32:29):
and we're missing that discoverypoint.
I think that Brandon was sayingso if you go too far into fast
food lanes, you're going to missthat other opportunity of
lifetime value.
And now, when I interviewed theCEO of Sweetwater, which is an
online retailer of musicinstruments, he said they had.
This was one example thatconnected the dots for me.
(32:50):
They had a customer calling whowas really mad about a product.
Something was broken and theyfound out later in the
conversation it wasn't evenpurchased at their store.
Well, they empower theiremployees to fix the problem
almost no matter what.
Right to a certain level ofpermission, right.
(33:10):
And so they just replaced thepart, and that was the first
room.
Does that right?
Speaker 2 (33:15):
they should do that you know they were.
They were really Legendaryabout that, I'm sorry.
So they're timeless.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
You mentioned Northstrom.
It's a timeless thing.
This is customer service 101.
And now it's just like you gothrough the the storm of new
technology and new Environment,new behaviors.
Oh wait, we're back at customerservice 101 again.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
Yeah, but now chase its customer service enabled by
technology, not supplanted bytechnology.
I think that's been the changein the narrative of the thinking
right.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Exactly I should.
So many good takeaways.
Any final thoughts on thisbefore we wrap up?
Speaker 4 (33:55):
I think everything has to be done in service of the
consumer.
Everything has to becustomer-centric, customer first
, and We've all all four of us,and I chase you to have been
talking about this extensivelyAbout technology for its purpose
driven, value driven, not onlyfor the customer but for the
associates, and then parables,just as critical.
So there are equal ground tofulfill it and and drive that
(34:19):
discovery process.
And, to Scott's earlier point,move from a Transactional let's
get the item in, out the doorthe customer and the door to a
relationship, to a lifelongvalue, across any channel.
The customer is channelists,the customer is always connected
.
There's no dial-up being there.
There's no thing to a motor.
Everyone has smart devices,will, or ten years now.
So the world, this is the worldwe live in now.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
So yeah and yeah.
Just to a quick the numbers.
A target fulfills 95.6 percentof the e-commerce volume with
store inventory.
I just saw that the numberswith Walmart 50% of the commerce
volume from store inventory.
There's a company calledzoomies, the clothing
fulfillment center 100% of thee-commerce volume from the 700
stores.
So stores have never been morevaluable because of on the
(35:04):
channel such a greatconversation.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
We'll do some more of these and I appreciate all of
your time being here.
You.
Hello and welcome to another RetailWireLir.
We have a roundtable of expertstalking about a theme's topic
of the day.
Today's topic is Omni Channel,and I have three experts here on
the stage.
A fourth may be joining us in afew minutes.
The topic is what lies aheadfor the future of Omni Channel.
(00:33):
A discussion has already beenstarted on RetailWirecom.
One of the facts I wanted tobring up from the article was
that Gartner estimated that 60%of B2C brands will move toward a
functional channel listorganizational approach by 2025.
This is another way of sayingOmni Channel channel list.
(00:56):
The fact still remains thatonly 11% of companies feel like
they have the technologyprepared to do so.
To kick us off, here we haveTed McAfrey.
Ted, what do you have to sayabout Omni Channel?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
If you looked at my Lake Dennis Omni Channel
champion, this is a game changerwhen physical retailers want to
compete with Amazon.
When I was at eBay Enterpriseor I sold Omni Channel to DSW,
abercrown, b&s and Payless, wegot to host data from over 45
different retailers, some of thebig store goods.
(01:36):
We ran the website, thefulfillment center and we ran
their Omni Channel.
We got to see the explosion indigital volume and then how it
was fulfilled.
What happened is the DCeventually would push more
fulfillment to the stores,especially during peak, and
that's where we saw the magichappen.
Lisa and I were just talkingabout this notion that Best Buy
(02:00):
40% of all their e-commerceorders are picked up in store.
That is where the magic reallyhappens.
Lisa, maybe you could talk tothat, since you came from Best
Buy.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I'm not going to speak to Best Buy specifically,
but we do working there.
I do know that it was veryimportant.
You saw what an excellent jobthey did when COVID hit and they
turned on their buy online pickup in store.
It was amazing.
Got great reviews from theircustomers I think we've seen.
Target was another one that wewere talking about too.
It's an excellent job with thebuy online pick up in store.
(02:32):
It's really seamless, helpingtheir customers get what they
need when they need it, how theyneed it.
If you have little kids, it's areally easy way to swing
through and pick some stuff up.
One of the things we talk aboutat our company, tpc, is we think
of Omni Channel as reallyalmost like a symphony.
You've got all the differentdepartments and players playing
(02:56):
their specific instrument.
Everybody knows their role andhow to play it.
Sometimes one comes to theforefront, sometimes something
falls to the back, depending onhow the customer wants.
It's all working together inconcert and that's what really
is a seamless Omni Channelexperience for customers.
(03:17):
Because if you don't have that,if no one knows what their role
is, and if they're working insilos individually, you cannot
create this seamless OmniChannel experience for customers
Really keen when you'rethinking about selling across,
because if you don't have that,they'll go somewhere that will.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
Great points, lisa, and then Ted.
I completely agree with youabout the harmonization and just
coordinating with differentparts and pieces of an
organization.
I think it's been a challengethat in our increasingly digital
first world that retailers likeif you retail is in particular
a face with was A how to startand establish an e-commerce
presence and operating model,and B how to actually integrate
(03:58):
those two together with yourbrick and mortar strategy.
It's a seamless experienceacross channels.
Now, that's for the last fiveyears of the proliferation of
digital and social selling, livestreaming, retail media
networks you name it live videocommerce, live streaming and so
forth.
There's all these touch pointsnow that actually create so much
more complexity.
You said it really extendedbeyond what we know as Omni
(04:20):
Channel From a customerperspective.
I don't think average customerknow what the Omni Channel means
.
What they do know is what's agood experience, what's a bad
experience, whether it'sshopping, discovery, fulfillment
, product returns, those allworking harming, like you said,
lisa and Ted, and those.
There's data, alex, foundationthings behind it and the
ecosystems there.
I will go through and turn itthere that Michaels the cork is
(04:43):
talking about, my good friend.
It's a immersive commerce whichTranscends every channel, so
it's definitely a big evolutionwe're seeing and you know it's
all about the customer and allthe various touch points.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Really good point that you said the customer
doesn't even know what the wordomni channel means.
No, we have to go.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Yeah, it's done right .
Speaker 4 (05:02):
No, then there and we know, as a consumer, your your
strategy to hide off.
As a consumer, you go to astore, wherever that friction is
for counties are.
You can see the brokenprocesses.
A consumer, try to buy an orderout.
I return to a store.
You know the ones do it Well, Ibest buy target, have a QR code
seamlessly attached to your,you know, in your email or the
app.
(05:22):
Or there's curbside pickup.
This focus options.
All these are in theseharmonization.
We talked about Lisa and Ted.
So those who don't have that,they obviously don't have the
strategies in place, thoughthey're falling behind.
So I know Scott's here in thewing, so what they hear his
perspective is too.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
I gotta tell you it's it's it's been so fun for me to
Continue to have thisconversation about omni channel
because for those of us thatwere around in the late 90s into
the early 2000s, this is we'reseeing today, the things that we
thought e-commerce could evolveto at some point.
And it's it's humorous thatthere are videos out there
(06:01):
somewhere of me having thisconversation with somebody as
recently as you know, 2015,where there was still this
concept that felt like it was,it was out there in the future
but it hadn't yet happened.
And If there are some thingssilver lining in the horrible
events related to the pandemic,that it caused folks to have to
(06:25):
engage with a retailer digitallythat they were used to
reengaging with in physicalstores and that caused this
interconnection to be evenpossible.
Because Even if you shopped insomeone's store, if you shopped
at a best buy, lisa, or if youshopped in a Walmart or you take
the retailer, you didn't havetheir app, didn't have an online
(06:48):
account.
The pandemic probably causedyou to get one and to get those
signups where now, at least thatretailer had the opportunity To
engage you in multiple ways.
And then one of the things thatI've seen Well recently the
number of retailers have done isthat they've connected a
in-store purchase history and anonline purchase history in a
(07:12):
way that you know makes returnsseamless.
It makes Reorders or rebuyingsomething something more
seamless, particularly in a foodand beverage in the that weekly
grocery Trip.
They just made it that mucheasier now, and we even have to
Give Amazon props for using someof their physical store
(07:34):
partners Coles is a go-toexample for returns or the fact
that now you can walk into a UPSstore with a Amazon return and
it's very seamless in terms ofthat.
So all of those are our examplesof the things that we talked
about 20 years ago astheoretical constructs that have
(07:56):
now come to life, and theconsumer is showing us that what
we thought they might Think isneat about that, what might
cause them to embrace it.
In fact, it has has occurred,and that's the exciting thing.
At the same time, I still thinkwe have plenty of headroom as
an industry to improve, andthere's they're still both
(08:20):
retailers that aren't doing aswell as they can, aspects of the
of the experience that are asButtoned up as they they should
be, and taking advantage of thatto use personalization to make
more personalized Promotions orrecommendations to a consumer
(08:41):
based on their prior Browsingand buying behavior.
There's still lots of head roomto improve, even though we
started to see this day that weall thought was possible, become
mainstream.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yet so, speaking to that friction, this is what I
noticed.
So we had at eBay.
We had about 45 differentretailers on our platform so
what I've got to see was howwell they fulfilled those items
from the stores and one retailer.
In the months of, just in themonths in November, december,
that was 40% of their on machinefor the year.
(09:15):
Everything was pushed that backin.
Ironically, the worst inventoryaccuracy happened in those last
parts of the year because theytake the physical inventory at
the first Part of the year.
So what we had, what we got tosee, is a thing called a pick
decline when you have anallocation list.
So someone like a Dick'sFlorida goods would fulfill four
to six hundred items a dayduring peak For hope for pickup
(09:39):
or ship from store.
They're picked declines inthose two months for over 50%,
meaning what they thought wasthere wasn't there.
So they cancel a lot of orders,they split ship the lot of
orders.
We had a woman that I workedwith the start since you had a
who had a little boy and sheordered 26 items on Baby Gap and
(10:01):
free shipping and she got it insix different packages from six
different locations.
So, figure $5 times theadditional five shipments and it
was free shipping, so just wentright against the margin.
So there's split shipments, theorder cancellations.
There are people running aroundlooking for items that aren't
there or, worse, they're thereand they can't sign them.
So that's where I'm shamelessto say it.
(10:24):
But RFID enables a retailer tobe able to scan their entire
stores once a week and knowwhat's there.
So it's available to promisefor omni-channel.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
Right, yeah, and that's what I think is so
interesting.
So a lot of these.
Like Scott, you mentioned thewhole pandemic and what it's
done in getting customers,bringing them along to engage
with retailers in different waysbeyond the store.
And I think, as we get more andmore technology and it
progresses, I think it's reallybeholden to the retailers to
(10:56):
make sure they're embracing that, so they do get things like
RFID, things like integrating,planning and making sure all of
your systems are connected.
The whole idea of a singlecustomer record is really moving
towards have to have, not wantto have, or optional to have,
because customers really have anexpectation that you know them
(11:18):
and you know what they want.
Like we said, suggested thingsyou can.
There's so much that can bedone, but it's really critical
when you're, when you'reactually shopping across
different channels, that you aretalked to as that customer and
seen as that one customer tomaximize their sales as well as
to maximize the experience foryour consumers.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Yeah, indeed, and I still, Lisa.
I still get email and socialmedia promotions for things that
in no way would you logicallythink that I'm going to purchase
, and my children are both intheir 20s.
I still get advertisement forbaby stuff and that day's gone.
I think that either aredifferent clothes than I would
(12:07):
wear or items that I'd neverpurchase, and so it's just a
reminder that we as an industryhave an opportunity to continue
to do our assigned and usetechnology to improve the
customer experience, and I thinkyou know the early days of
personalization.
There was a concern hey, how doyou know that about me and why
are you promoting me to me?
(12:28):
Exactly this thing that I waslooking for on another website.
That was a little freaky.
Now I say that the consumers,at the point they give us
permission, as long as we usethat information well to make
their life easier, to serve thembetter, and to continue to get
emails for things that there isno reason I would ever buy, when
(12:50):
I know the technology is outthere that connects, is store
and online purchases and showsmy behavior over time and gives
me things that, logically, myprior behavior would tell you,
yeah, he's likely to buy that.
It is, I think, the still themissed opportunity among many
(13:11):
missed opportunities for us inthe industry to really take out
any channel to a whole otherlevel.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Great, point, and it's the rise of all the loyalty
programs.
They're literally saying here'smy information.
I love you, retailer, here itis.
You want to be seen.
You have that expectation.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
And great points, lisa and Scott.
I think the two front strategyhere it's not only providing the
consumer the choice, theoptions to see how they want the
products fulfilled and how theydiscover, so a lot of it
requires that perpetualinventory, real time
availability of inventory andavailable to promise
capabilities which, as the holygrail for retailers we've seen
(13:52):
best buy, walmart, target.
They provide and power consumersonline and they do to elapsed
the options of if you want totravel 125 miles away, you can
go pick up today in the store,or you can have that store
shipped to your home, or you canwhatever option you want.
But the democratization of thatprocess is really what's
powering on the channel and orimmersive commerce, or unified
(14:13):
commerce, whatever you want tocall it they want to make the
sale and while you're at thestore, if the Best Buy Associate
doesn't have the item in thestore in stock, or if it's in
Dick's Sporting, they canseamlessly go in their mobile
apps and they have thecapabilities and tools.
Say, the store 20 miles fromhere has this particular size
and product, we can fulfill ittoday, ship it to your home for
tomorrow, save the sale.
So, just as much you want toprovide an outstanding customer
(14:36):
experience.
You need to empower anoutstanding associate experience
with the tools and capabilitiesto keep up with that digital
first consumer comes to thestore and convert the sale.
Whether it's in store ordigital, it doesn't matter.
I mean it's going to be a sale.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
And Brad, would you agree that OmniChannel has
become the Amazon equalizer in asense for the physical stores,
in that Amazon Prime came outwith a two-day shipping where
the rest of the retail world wasfive to seven days, right.
So now you've got a local storethat's shipping it.
Now you can get within thosetwo days and then I say, lisa,
(15:11):
as they do, a Best Buy where 40%of all the e-commerce items are
picked up in the store.
That is where the magic happens.
That's where they one-up Amazon, in that you're not only going
to pick up that item, butthere's this thing called
attachment rate, where some ofthese people 30, 40% of people
who come in they buy more andthat is where the profits happen
.
So your inventory accuracybetter be right, especially with
(15:35):
BOPUS.
You can't get it wrong withBOPUS.
Speaker 4 (15:38):
You just have to point to the evolution of Best
Buy in particular.
I was rooting for them,especially in a seminar nine
years ago when they were in theverge of bankruptcy.
They were essentially cominginto an Amazon showroom.
You know, you go there it'shere and try the products and
they don't have it in stock.
They don't have the item, or itwasn't in petal-y price or you
didn't get the good associateexperience.
(15:58):
You end up buying on Amazon inthe store.
So they actually turn thatwhole narrative around and
you're going at Best Buy with apurpose and you actually
research it online or discoverit somewhere else, and they were
actually closed through apickup in store or a curbside
pickup.
So that's been the game changerfor them.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
And during the pandemic you know getting back
to that's no longer here butLululemon they opened their
stores just for the storemanagers to come in to fulfill
that extreme volume ofe-commerce orders that were
being fulfilled.
So it actually saved Lululemonin a lot of cases didn't save
them and it produced so wellthrough the years, but it really
(16:35):
helped them satisfy thecustomer like there's no
tomorrow, and so I think there'sgoing to come a time, right now
and again with RxID they'reusing these little handhelds
where they scan their storesonce a week and Macy's does it
once a month.
There's going to be a tighttime where they're going to want
something up in the ceilingthat reads it in real time so
(16:55):
that your both disorders youknow what's there.
Macy's had a problem where theyheld back, I think, $2 billion
worth of safety stock for AmitShale because they didn't feel
comfortable promising it.
Once they developed or deployedtheir RFID, they opened up all
that inventory for available topromise.
So that was a huge deal forMacy.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It just shows how important that back of house,
all of those processes acrossthe organization really have to
work, like I mentioned, inconcert with one another,
because if they're disjointed,the customer experience is going
to be totally disjointed.
So we really need to haveaccuracy, real-time information
and it all needs to beintegrated.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
Yeah, and that kind of brings to mind the fact that
so much of the discussion aboutinvestment in retail technology
has been always converted intowell, that's in purpose to the
website or to the mobile app.
And the fact is, what both youand Lisa are raising is you know
, some technology can be in theback office functions of you as
(17:58):
a retailer and or equipped yourstore's both kids with
information, the ability tosolve a problem for a customer.
We're not stocking this one,but I can have it shipped to
your home or our other locationacross town has got it.
Can I reserve it for you?
Those kind of scenarios arewhere I think a lot of the
(18:19):
investment in Amit Shale isheaded Is.
It's yes, you want to continueto refine your digital
experience, you want to continueto refine your in-store
experience, but in some cases,it's just the back office
functions where investments inthe next few years are going to
have to be made to bring aboutthis better omnichannel
(18:41):
experience, and in technologythat equips the store associate,
which is to your point, ted,earlier.
That's, the game changeragainst Amazon is if you have a
store and you have a storeassociate that can use
technology to solve a problemfor you as a consumer.
That's that's really set you upto be, to be differentiated as
(19:04):
a competitor in in theomnichannel space, going forward
right.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Yeah, yeah, nothing.
Exactly Because consumersreally see retailers as a brand.
They don't see you as target andtarget and target and you know
on Instagram or whatever, youknow who knows what channels
we're going to see for thefuture.
You know, talk a lot about.
You know Tiktok shop, right, isthat going to be the next thing
(19:31):
?
Oh, but we have to be ready forthese things and making sure we
know how consumers use thedifferent channels and how they
interact with the differentpoints, so then you can connect
the dots across and make sureit's a consistent experience.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
And then, yeah, it's increasingly important now with
the emergence of Tiktok shop andthe immersive commerce, video
commerce, live streaming.
We know Gen Z is there.
We know they're interactingwith videos.
There are 85% or 80 pluspercent content view of that
generation is video and it'sauthentic, it's storytelling.
It will lead to commerce, itwill lead to discovery.
(20:06):
You know they're going to lookat clicking on binocular
abilities within Tiktok orInstagram and it better lead to
a great experience.
But to 10th point earlier youknow RFID, real time and mentor
availability available promisethat'd be immediate and accurate
and light and speed and theproduct could be fulfilled.
You know I mean thoseexpectations.
But that's the future and whoknows what Gen Alpha is going to
(20:28):
do in the future.
You know whether it's metaverserelated, but it's not, in that
your ecosystem is not set up tohandle the scalability and
flexibility to fulfill orders,whether in store or digitally.
You're right behind the table.
We saw QR codes take off duringa pandemic.
I'm starting to see video,immersive commerce and live
streaming take off in the nextcouple of years.
(20:49):
I know Walmart is in that spacetoo.
You're in TikTok and they dolive streams as well.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
Right, what's interesting and I particularly
noticed this in the groceryspace that much of what we've
talked about and that we see asconsumers is providing a
seamless solution to a problemor a need a consumer already
knows that they have.
Where I think there'sopportunity is what those of us
(21:17):
who are raised in electronicswere taught is this concept of
solution selling, in other words, providing a solution or a
group of products, or a group ofproducts and services that
solve a need.
I still feel like that's anunderdeveloped promise of
Omni-Channel because and I'lltake the grocery space for
(21:37):
example yes, I know whatproducts I want to buy in my
grocery list.
Can you solve that for me?
Can you take my order?
Can you have it ready at thepark a lot when I want it?
Yes, I'm going to have peopleover for football game tomorrow
and I want to put together afood spread, one of the items I
want to prepare this healthydish for someone who's got
(21:59):
special dietary needs.
I think I see examples, but Idon't see the broad
implementation of Omni-Channelsolutions where you say here's
the problem or the occasion orthe issue that you're trying to
solve and here's all theproducts that support that.
Click here, one button goes toyour cart and now I can go pick
(22:23):
it up at my local store, whetherthat's a Best Buy store with a
technology solution or a grocerystore with an occasion solution
.
I still feel like that aspectof Omni-Channel is still.
While we're solving some ofthese core back office issues
and we need to, they'refoundational there's still
(22:44):
another level of performanceavailable on Omni-Channel when
you start proactively solvingthe customer's need, not just
reacting to the things that theyknow that they need.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Yeah, that sounds like we're talking about
Omni-Channel, enhanced withgeneral AI capabilities to
integrate all those greatinsights and data in there, to
provide those recommendationsand then, like you said, point
the consumer in the directionthey need to go to solve their
use case.
Like you said, if it's a partyor a simple party, or where it
may be, what are the things theyneed to do to solve that and
(23:19):
then connect to the retailers?
Speaker 3 (23:21):
The whole conversation reminded me of a
conversation I had with the datascientist on our team and we're
talking about Omni-Channel andhe said what I think would be
really cool.
Say, you're part of your localgrocery store's loyalty program
and they see that you'recontinually ordering the same
things every single week.
Why aren't they coming up withhey, we can just fulfill this
(23:42):
for you, tell us of these.
Here's what we think you want.
You check the box and it's justlike clockwork.
That's the next level of buyonline pickup in the store,
where they're just like doing itfor you.
I just show up, pick it up,we're good to go.
And then you can even expandfurther, increasing your list.
(24:02):
And oh well, you know what?
If you add these three things,you could make this recipe,
things like that.
You're really taking data anddoing it for them and really
building very strong brandloyalty.
I would be excited if somebodydoes that for me.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Big time, big time, If you think of you know, you've
heard of Scott Galloway I don'tknow if he's, I love him.
He talks about this notion ofA-commerce, algorithmic commerce
, and he said someday, someday,you're just going to get a tote
every day from Amazon that'sgoing to have the things they
think you want and the thingsthat you want, and then all you
(24:38):
do is whatever you don't want,you leave it there and they'll
pick it up the next day andyou'll get credited for whatever
you didn't pick up, Becausethey're going to send those
things to you knowing and that'swhat growth, that's what
physical stores should be ableto have the same data, and I
think that that would be that'swhat people wanted that type of
response from their retinas.
(24:59):
They want to be, they want youto know who they are and they
want to react in real time.
So that's kind of a coolconcept.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
That makes me think of the ease of returns, because
you know they in that case Ted,they'd pick it up.
But if something's shipped, alot of people are buying you
know 10 shirts online and thenknowing they'll just return nine
of them.
And so the ease of return.
It's like it does bring somechallenges, but it also brings
(25:33):
the customer into the store.
Is that opportunity beingleveraged right now in the way
that you think it could beleveraged?
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Well, from my standpoint, when we were working
with DSW, they actually likedthe returns because 60% no, 65%
of their e-commerce returns cameback to the stores local to the
customer, and that gave themanother opportunity to show your
products in their stores, andso for them, it was another
opportunity to interact with thecustomer.
You just look for visits.
You want as many visits aspossible.
(26:03):
Think about calls.
Takes back Amazon's junk inorder to get visits.
You know what?
I hate to say it now, but theydo, and so the more you get
people to come back we havefocus via veterinary services at
Walmart, whatever it is themore you get them to come back,
the more you build your brand ifyou perform well.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
You know, getting your customer to go to the UPS
store or the post office doesnot help you.
Speaker 5 (26:29):
No, if you're Amazon, because if you've made it easy,
that's great, but if you'rethinking about on each channel
as a retailer, no, you want themto come and you want to tell us
.
Point, let me serve you in ourstore.
And oh, by the way, is thereanything else I can help you
with while you're here?
That's part of the promise ofon each channel, beyond the
(26:50):
individual transaction, that Ithink a lot of retailers are
just starting to unlock.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
That value, yeah, but I think that's also where the
humanization comes in.
That's coming in the store Fuckpeople.
Visual merchandising createsthat oh, I need to buy XYZ.
So it creates that wholedifferent experience that you
really can't get from Amazon.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
That's the differentiator.
If you are in capitalizing andgetting consumers back in your
store I mean Best Buy and Dix,four Nougurs and a few others do
this very well.
They make a.
We've seen this for you.
There's a dedicated area forboth this and returns right by
the front entrance.
So, a QR code enabled, you showyour phone.
You don't have to print in thealley anymore, you're just
(27:36):
showing emails and while you'rein the store usually it's a very
compelling offer In the frontof the store you might want to
buy something else.
So if you're a retailer andyou're in the game and you don't
have the capabilities toattract the consumer back to
your store where a frictionlessreturn to engage them and show
them new products and have morediscovery then you're failing
and you'll fall in the line.
(27:56):
The best breeder at now.
Speaker 5 (27:58):
Yeah, brandon, it feels like that.
So much of the evaluation onthe modeling channel in the
early days was a transactional,got-loved accountants View is
set of a lifetime value, of thecustomer view and the several of
those points a lot of retailersare now learning about.
(28:20):
The engagement I can tell younot confidential information
from my Walmart and Sam's Clubdays.
Both Walmart and Sam's we knewthat if a customer or a member
in the case of Sam's engaged usacross channels, there wasn't a
metric that that customer wasn'tmore valuable than one that
just engaged us in physicallocations or online, whether
(28:44):
it's frequency of shopping,average purchase, likelihood to,
in the case of Sam's, renewtheir membership.
Lifetime value and I thinkthat's the lens through which a
lot of retailers are nowstarting to look at on the
channel is, yes, thetransactions have to be
profitable.
Yes, we have to make sure thatwe're being good stewards of our
(29:06):
company's resources, but wealso have to look at it through
the lens of lifetime value ofthe customer retention, loyalty
all of those lenses as well astransactional.
Like a lot of us looked atPrime in the early days and
thought they've lost their mind.
There's no way they can make upenough on what they're losing,
(29:30):
or free shipping to justify that.
And we were all wrong.
Yes, as it turns out, they gota level of loyalty out of that,
and now, as you bring that intomore omni-channel retailers, the
math looks a whole lot betterwhen you consider lifetime value
, not just evaluating individualtransactions.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, and you know, when we were working with Dick
Sporting Goods, with eBay, andwe had, as I said, we had their
omni-channel, we had theirfulfillment.
I tested we just enabled themto have BOPUS and I tested it I
ordered something and I went tomy store.
I checked at the kiosk and Ijust happened to turn to this
person that had a littlewalkie-talkie on, a little
(30:14):
headset on, and he gave me alook and he knew it was me.
He walked up to me.
Can I help you?
I said, yes, you can.
So that, right, there is theepitome of being a customer that
look, you're a customer, you'revaluable and I'm going to take
care of you right now.
Now, it doesn't happen all thetime, but it just so happens
like, wow, it just felt.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
If it felt good, it just felt good as we talk about
you know, there's lessconversation about malls and our
malls remain relevant, thatsort of thing and that's where
omni-channel I think still has alot of opportunity, because the
physical desire of most mallsdates back to before e-commerce
and before that and a lot ofwell-meaning department store
(30:57):
chains have got, you know, storepickup opportunities out there
in the parking lot.
But it doesn't feel like mallsand mall-based retailers have
completely figured out how to doomni-channel right, whether in
the physical design, otherfacilities or the experience to
(31:18):
what you're talking about, andthey were known for a level of
service that that's what made orwill continue to make some
department stores relevant inthis century, but it's, you know
.
What I wonder about sometime isis will malls, in either
(31:38):
remodeling or any constructionof new malls, change their
design to make omni-channel moreeasily done the way that a lot
of the companies we've talkedabout, whether it's Dix or Best
Buy or Walmart or others?
They can change their ownstores pretty quickly, but malls
have not changed theirinfrastructure or their
(32:02):
experience in a way that reallyfits taking full advantage of
omni-channel.
In my view.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
I'm hearing that that push-pull between maybe when
omni-channel first started, itreally was let's make a fast
food lane and that's it.
And then there's.
And then they're thinking well,this is an opportunity.
They're in the store.
It costs us how much toadvertise to get them to walk
through our door where thisacquisition can be happening,
(32:29):
and we're missing that discoverypoint.
I think that Brandon was sayingso if you go too far into fast
food lanes, you're going to missthat other opportunity of
lifetime value.
And now, when I interviewed theCEO of Sweetwater, which is an
online retailer of musicinstruments, he said they had.
This was one example thatconnected the dots for me.
(32:50):
They had a customer calling whowas really mad about a product.
Something was broken and theyfound out later in the
conversation it wasn't evenpurchased at their store.
Well, they empower theiremployees to fix the problem
almost no matter what.
Right to a certain level ofpermission, right.
(33:10):
And so they just replaced thepart, and that was the first
room.
Does that right?
Speaker 2 (33:15):
they should do that you know they were.
They were really Legendaryabout that, I'm sorry.
So they're timeless.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
You mentioned Northstrom.
It's a timeless thing.
This is customer service 101.
And now it's just like you gothrough the the storm of new
technology and new Environment,new behaviors.
Oh wait, we're back at customerservice 101 again.
Speaker 5 (33:37):
Yeah, but now chase its customer service enabled by
technology, not supplanted bytechnology.
I think that's been the changein the narrative of the thinking
right.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Exactly I should.
So many good takeaways.
Any final thoughts on thisbefore we wrap up?
Speaker 4 (33:55):
I think everything has to be done in service of the
consumer.
Everything has to becustomer-centric, customer first
, and We've all all four of us,and I chase you to have been
talking about this extensivelyAbout technology for its purpose
driven, value driven, not onlyfor the customer but for the
associates, and then parables,just as critical.
So there are equal ground tofulfill it and and drive that
(34:19):
discovery process.
And, to Scott's earlier point,move from a Transactional let's
get the item in, out the doorthe customer and the door to a
relationship, to a lifelongvalue, across any channel.
The customer is channelists,the customer is always connected
.
There's no dial-up being there.
There's no thing to a motor.
Everyone has smart devices,will, or ten years now.
So the world, this is the worldwe live in now.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
So yeah and yeah.
Just to a quick the numbers.
A target fulfills 95.6 percentof the e-commerce volume with
store inventory.
I just saw that the numberswith Walmart 50% of the commerce
volume from store inventory.
There's a company calledzoomies, the clothing
fulfillment center 100% of thee-commerce volume from the 700
stores.
So stores have never been morevaluable because of on the
(35:04):
channel such a greatconversation.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
We'll do some more of these and I appreciate all of
your time being here.
You.
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