So That Was 2012!
With 2013 still only a month old, it's a good time to take a step back and reflect on just how much the cross-channel retail industry changed last year. As expected, 2012 was the year when cross-channel consolidated its status as the default retail operating model and continued its fast-paced evolution towards a more mature model — omnichannel.
Omnichannel and Beyond
Today's connected consumers have so many choices about what to buy and when and where to buy it. In the battle to gain and retain the attention and loyalty of consumers, we saw retailers shift their focus to the next big challenge: no longer is it enough just to be present in multiple channels, it's about how you exploit a truly integrated cross-channel strategy. This requires new, more sophisticated merchandising models.
As a result, the balance in 2012 shifted from a focus on providing consistent data across channels to one that was more about improving our understanding of customer behavior and trying to capitalize on it — e.g., what do they buy and from which channels, which channels do they use to select their products, and how do they interact with social networks during this process?
Last year also saw the emergence of new store formats that deliver an exciting experiential role for consumers and bring digital channels into the physical store.
The Reinvention of the Brick-and-Mortar Store
Last year saw retailers starting to change the role of the brick-and-mortar store and, in particular, the in-store shopping experience. Leading innovators developed true omnichannel experiences where boundaries between channels disappeared.
Retailers like Marks & Spencer, for example, brought the web into the store and gave customers instant access to its full range, both online and offline. The innovation didn't end there, however, as retailers began exploiting recognition technologies to generate a more interactive and value-add shopping experience. Consumers can now tag products in-store and add these to their Facebook page, create wish lists on the move and more.
2012 also saw the arrival of "magic mirrors," which allow shoppers to virtually try on outfits, take an instant snapshot and post the image to their Facebook page to check out what their friends think before adding items to their virtual shopping cart.
This trend is set to continue as the impact of digital technologies in-store continues to drive big changes in the way people shop. The merging of digital and traditional sales channels will only gain further momentum in 2013.
POS Goes Mobile
One exponent of the merger of all channels was the arrival of the first real mobile point-of-sale systems based on e-commerce technology.
Retailers like Nordstrom rolled out mobile POS devices throughout their full-line stores, allowing employees to "swipe and check out" customers from anywhere in the store and gain access to the company's entire inventory without needing a register to look up that information.
While mobile POS is a positive step forward for many, it still can't handle cash or some of the other functions handled by traditional POS systems (e.g., staff tracking and merchandising), so it will be a while yet before we see it used by all retailers.
What's in Store for 2013?
It will be interesting to see how the second wave of omnichannel evolves, especially in terms of how the offline and social worlds will merge. Retailers are already making it possible for shoppers to identify and share the products they'd like to collect or buy in a social setting, and I expect to see more devices arriving in-store that make this possible.
A huge amount of innovation in the area of "headless commerce" is also taking place. Pretty soon your fridge will be able to order goods for you automatically, while your coffee maker will notify you when it needs new pods and order these online so you'll never run out. Meanwhile, your e-book reading device will deliver recommendations when you finish a book or automatically download a choice of reading options based on your previous reading patterns. All this will be accomplished without any human interaction whatsoever.
In a world where big data, rapid change and real time has become the norm, the best advice I can give retailers is to ensure that your commerce platform is engineered for customer centricity … it's the future.
Kees de Vos is the vice president of business consulting at Hybris.
