Omnichannel

The real challenge for retailers is in bridging the virtual world with the physical one, the digital/e-commerce world with brick-and-mortar shops. Their ability to connect these experiences and complete the consumer journey, thus successfully combating the “Amazon effect,” is essential in order to stay relevant to the modern, digitally enabled consumer.

The retail marketer's toolbox is filling up with new platforms, gadgets and slick technology faster than you can say "pin it." Over the last year, we've seen social and mobile grow in importance for retailers, leading to lots of questions, but also lots of room for creativity. And since May is Marketing Month, we wanted to get a chief marketing officer's perspective on where this social and mobile wave is taking us. We turned to Jay Dunn, chief marketing officer for Bare Necessities, to find out.

The hybris Multichannel Shopping Survey found that over 80 percent of U.S consumers said they're more likely to become loyal customers to retailers that provide an integrated shopping experience across channels. The study also found the importance of online and mobile strategies continues to increase, with more than a third of respondents (39 percent) saying that they make more purchases online than in-store.

CEM and other innovative business intelligence tools significantly contribute to what's now known as a brand’s “social influence.” This means that brands are no longer talking ‘at’ individual recipients, but instead disseminating information through interactive social media platforms.

In traditionally product-centric organizations, merchandising and marketing typically have the same goals, but different processes, applications and databases. This makes it nearly impossible for retailers to create and execute the kinds of multitouch campaigns needed to reach and influence consumers today.

The success of its online sales is inspiring Macy's Chief Executive Terry Lundgren to make some changes to the in-store shopping experience, according to a story from Reuters. Macy's hopes to make customers feel as comfortable and ready to buy in-store as they do online. Some ideas include in-store kiosks that allows customers to see reviews and pay on the spot. Another idea is an electronic concierge in the cosmetics section to recommend skin care products. A few Macy's locations are already testing Beauty Spot kiosks with more appearing in other locations in the coming years, Lundgren said.

Gucci has launched its own mobile point-of-sale program at select directly operated U.S., Europe and Asia stores. Gucci is leveraging technology to create a unique customer experience and to better serve clients when they're shopping in its stores. The pilot program launched at the Gucci flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City with additional trials at the Paramus, N.J. and Orlando, Fla. locations.

Findings from the e-tailing group's Annual Merchant Survey and a fourth-quarter study reveal a mixed bag of results in regard to cart abandonment tactics as a means of coaxing shoppers to come back to complete their purchases. Though shopping cart abandonment rates held steady, and 52 percent of the surveyed merchants said that a reminder email was sent to consumers who abandoned their cart, this runs somewhat contrary to the mystery shopping results, where a slight decline in the number of abandonment emails that were triggered was recorded: 20 percent for 2011 vs. 23 percent for 2010.

Sephora gave itself a digital makeover yesterday, as the global beauty chain launched iPads and iPods in its stores and integrated its website with the popular social networking platform Pinterest. The makeup chain looked to Apple's super successful retail stores as its model, said Julie Bornstein, senior vice president of Sephora Digital. All 305 Sephora makeup stores are equipped with iPod touches that provide a mobile point-of-sale option for customers, helping to mitigate the sometimes long lines that form in its stores.

The retail industry continues to evolve at a fast pace into something where brick-and-mortar stores no longer stand independently of digital, mobile and social technologies. Store retailers are losing sales as consumers use mobile devices and social networks while they're physically in-store to seek advice, reference product information and online reviews, and, ultimately, purchase products online or even at another store. Online retailers like Amazon.com and Zappos.com are taking advantage of this trend to lure consumers away from more traditional retailers.