Harmonize Your Sales Strategies

By Noelle Buoncristiano

Four tactics for multichannel success.

Today's multichannel merchants continually are searching for viable channel-integration solutions — a seamless blend across the key points of customer interaction, including catalogs, Web sites, retail stores and kiosks.

"Providing seamless integration communicates a consistent message to consumers and results in higher transaction values," note the authors of the LakeWest Group's Fifth Annual POS Benchmarking Survey 2004.

But as most catalogers will tell you, achieving that seamless blend across all sales channels is more difficult than it appears to be. Following are a few tactics that can help you make the most of all of your channel-integration intiatives.

1. Take advantage of low-cost marketing.

While e-mail marketing can be a strong tool used to integrate marketing efforts, it needs to enhance your organization's overall sales goals in order to be effective, says Sandra Matika, senior vice president at Mokrynski & Associates, a list brokerage and management firm based in Hackensack, NJ.

"Create every opportunity to collect e-mail addresses," she says. "Use vehicles such as order forms, call center representatives, Web site registration and retail store associates."

That's just the tactic used at HoneyBaked Ham Co., a multichannel food merchant based in Atlanta. Tim Kiss, manager of enterprise direct marketing, says reps use every point of contact to ask customers for e-mail addresses. The company then integrates its e-mail campaigns with catalog drops and retail sales — specifically to promote holiday reminders and last-minute discounts, showcase new products, and utilize cross-sell opportunities.

The merchant sends about 18 e-mail campaigns to a database of 100,000 catalog customers per year. "Timing varies," says Kiss. "We may have a concentration of two to three drops up to once a week around key holidays."

Such a strategy has so far been successful for HoneyBaked Ham: E-mail campaign revenue has been 15 percent above plan, and growth was 98 percent over prior year sales. However, aggressive database growth led to an increase in broadcast fees that put expenses slightly over budget, says Kiss.

Although e-mail marketing can produce strong results, it should be merely a component of a merchant's overall marketing mix, cautions Kiss. Matika agrees: "You need to look at e-mail marketing as part of a medium of the whole organization," she says. "It really isn't standalone."

Takeaway tip: Choose tools that make e-mail marketing easier in the long run, not just those that are quick to get such campaigns running the first time around, says Maureen Ryan, business consultant for Natick, MA-based CommercialWare, a software solutions provider. (For more on e-mail marketing software, see "Multichannel Technologies to Try," below.)

2. A team-based approach is best.

To seamlessly tie together all sales channels, first involve several — if not all — departments within your company.

Successful channel integration isn't just a marketing project, says Debra Ellis, president of Wilson & Ellis Consulting, a marketing and operations consultancy based in Barnardsville, NC. "While the impact on marketing is significant," she notes, "tying all channels together is a corporate-wide project."

Indeed, for channel integration to succeed, there must be team members from each department — "ones who will work together and inspire the rest of the company to follow," Ellis says.

Linda Severson, senior director of business systems at Lands' End, emphasizes the importance of a relationship between business and information systems departments. When Lands' End created its product attribute database, for example, the information systems department partnered with the company's merchandisers and others within Lands' End, Severson said during her keynote address at the eCSForum in March.

Takeaway tip: All employees are responsible for seeking and contributing to growth opportunities within every corner of your operation, says Ellis. Such a mentality must start at the top and infiltrate down into every level.

3. Draw customers to your store.

Your Web site also can be a vehicle to drive traffic to your retail stores. Many catalogers offer customers the option of buying an item online and picking it up at nearby retail locations. This allows customers to compare prices and features online, and then easily pick up the items, thus avoiding shipping charges and possible untimely deliveries.

Catalogers such as REI and Crate & Barrel have begun this process, joining retail giants Sears and Circuit City, two of the first to implement in-store pickup.

REI introduced the concept last July and found that 36 percent of customers bought additional items when they arrived to pick up their purchases. And 40 percent of all Sears' online customers ask for in-store pickup around the holidays.

Similarly, many online shoppers enjoy the convenience of returning products to nearby retail locations.

"Merchants should be thinking about more innovative ways to bring customers back to the store in hopes that they take the time to browse — and buy," says Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, an e-commerce consulting firm in Chicago. A study by the e-tailing group stresses that merchants should take advantage of these retail visits to increase customer revenues while simultaneously reinforcing their brands.

Takeaway tip: To draw more multichannel shoppers to your retail stores, offer both in-store pickup and returns of online-ordered merchandise.

4. Understand that print catalogs drive retail and online sales.

When Holiday Diver, a niche water sports cataloger based in Deerfield Beach, FL, mails its catalog, Web site traffic skyrockets, says Chuck Whiteman, CIO and executive vice president of marketing. While customers are online, employees use this opportunity to ask for their e-mail address for future e-mail marketing.

Lands' End's Web sales also are driven by catalog mailings. "They're tied very closely together," says Severson.

Williams-Sonoma's catalogs drive 15 percent of store purchases, said Jodi Watson, director of direct marketing services, at a recent industry conference. The company's retail stores report a 25 percent to 30 percent lift in sales when catalogs drop.

Takeaway tip: Place URLs on every printed piece — from catalogs to ads, says Ellis.

Conclusion

Using some of these tactics may help you to successfully integrate your sales channels — as well as consistently brand your product line — to achieve multichannel success.

Multichannel Technologies to Try

RightNow Technologies' Right-Now Service assists both your customers and customer service reps by integrating a single knowledge base across multiple channels (e.g., phone, e-mail, Web, chat). Universal case management allows you to manage all customer interactions and history in one central application. And customer inquiries are directed toward less expensive channels such as Web or voice self-service. Visit: www.rightnow.com.

CommercialWare's CWLocate, provides a real-time view of available inventory across all sales channels. This enables you to reduce lost sales and improve customer service by implementing other purchasing options (e.g., direct shipment, in-store pickup, store shipments). Additionally, by using CW-Locate's statistical data, you can optimize inventory disbursement to ensure appropriate stock levels in each location. CWLocate can be deployed as a standalone solution or integrated with other CommercialWare products. Visit: www.commercialware.com.

Witness Systems' eQuality Office allows CSRs to share call recordings and performance analyses with other departments to get a better idea of how back-office processes are affecting customer service. It aims to identify problems such as data-entry errors, compliance breakdowns and ineffective processes that result in excess contact center traffic. Visit: www.witness.com.

Mach2K added to its product line Mach2KWeb Informer, a browser-based, Web-enabled software tool to quickly display data. It enables you to drill down into related tables, sort lists by various fields and interface with applications such as Microsoft Excel, Word and Outlook. Visit: www.mach2k.com.

4S Software Solution, developed by Four Seasons Software expressly for small- to medium-sized catalogers, offers real-time customer, order and inventory information for contact center reps and online customers. It allows you to create various pricing and special promotions; has an advanced user interface to minimize training time; provides inventory management (e.g., customizable pack lists/ invoices); and offers integrated e-mail and faxing to customers and vendors. Visit: www.fourseasonssoftware.com.