Define Your Multichannel Customers Like Staples Does

Throughout this decade, giving customers the choice of shopping by catalog, retail or online has been the way to go for those catalogers that operate retail chains and e-commerce Web sites. How closely do you examine your customers’ buying habits to safely conclude your multichannel efforts make the most sense?

The office supplies multichannel retailer Staples sees multichannel as “the brilliance of the ‘and’ vs. the tyranny of the ‘or,’” said Kenneth Moore, director of business delivery information technology for Staples, during a session at last week’s eTail Conference in Palm Desert, Calif.

Moore laid out four types of Staples customers that have led the company to establish its various marketing channels appropriately.

1. Customers who want catalogs every month and like to order online.

2. Customers who use rich product content for product research then purchase wherever they choose.

3. Customers that like the power of online configurators. Customers who like the ability to create business cards online in their own offices, for example, may want the immediacy to pick up those cards the same day at a store.

4. Customers like having the toll-free number at their fingertips while they’re online or the ability to do live chat.