5 Tips to Grow Market Share in an Omnichannel Retail Environment

As the retail industry continues to evolve and consumers are presented with ever-increasing options to complete their shopping journey, retailers must understand shopper preferences to stay competitive. This year, we surveyed 2,500 shoppers in the United States and Canada to understand shopper preferences and expectations.

Where can retailers improve? Our results revealed that the basics still rule. In-store execution, favorable online shopping features, creating a shopping experience wherever the customer happens to be, and giving customers a personalized experience are most critical to consumers. In order to stay on top, here are some suggestions from our research.

1. It starts with pricing: Not surprisingly, a large factor impacting customers’ in-store purchases is price. As many as 55 percent of shoppers surveyed said if an in-store price seemed too high, they would leave the store and either look online or visit another store for the product. Before discounts and promotions even come into play, consumers want a fair, initial price. Customer retention depends on it.

2. In-store experience is critical: The in-store experience is critical for retaining customers at brick-and-mortar locations. Our findings emphasized that customers expect good customer service. Having knowledgeable and empowered associates with well-defined policies and procedures to complete a sale are key to creating satisfied customers. We asked shoppers to rate their top in-store frustrations, and their top complaint was products being out of stock. Additional comments were on prices not being clearly marked or retailers not matching online pricing. Being consistent and honest with consumers is essential when it comes to pricing and product availability. These may seem like basics, but getting the basics right is critical for an effective in-store experience.

3. Multichannel matters: Integration of brick-and-mortar stores, mobile and e-commerce, while maintaining brand representation through social media, is important for customer satisfaction. Shoppers rated cross-channel fulfillment as a key customer expectation. Retailers need to consider the bigger picture when it comes to their distribution channels for order online/pick up in-store. Given the substantial investment that's required, retailers should address associate training, store policies and inventory processes to scale operations as well as supply chain efficiencies.

4. Free shipping, anyone? Consumers today are comfortable shopping online; 43 percent of shoppers surveyed said they prefer mobile or online shopping to in-store. When deciding where to purchase online, shoppers reported they were most influenced by two factors: delivery cost and pricing (which included markdowns, discounts and promotions). Retailers looking to maintain their market share should consider the competitive advantages afforded by things such as free shipping and free returns, as well as online sales.

5. Personalization preferred: When it comes to tracking shopping habits, loyalty numbers was the method most preferred by consumers, with use of credit card numbers and cookies on computers the least preferred.

Moving Forward
Most retailer investments over the past few years has been on technology. Technology will continue to have a huge impact on the shopper experience, however, retailers can't afford to forget about the basics. Consumers want personalized service, fair and consistent pricing, and products to be in stock when they go to purchase them. The key for retailers to maintain their market share will be to continue listening to and understanding their customers, leveraging technology wisely, and focusing on improving the customer's multichannel shopping experience.

The mantra of "enabling retail without boundaries" must be the mind-set for retail marketers and merchants. Consumers expect all retail capabilities (e.g., pricing, promotions, product information, customer service, inventory and order transparency) to be delivered to them regardless of their physical location. Retailers must prepare to deliver this experience.

Steven Skinner is senior vice president, retail and consumer goods consulting, at Cognizant, a provider of IT, business consulting, enterprise applications and business process services.