Article

Are you 1 of the 80 percent? 4 ways to avoid failing at multi-channel

Retailers must focus on customers' desires to get them to buy across channels.

January 23, 2012

Failure is around the corner for most of the multi-channel solutions retailers are currently implementing, according to a recent Gartner report. It predicts that by 2015, 80 percent of their solutions will fall flat because most retailers aren't prioritizing customers above their old-school product-centric strategies.

Successful retailers will not only offer customers a variety of buying channels — from brick-and-mortar and online to mobile and self-service channels — but they'll make them available based upon customer desire, said Mim Burt, a Gartner analyst.

"It's about trying to understand more about customer behavior," said Burt, who pointed out that customers, now more than ever, are telling retailers how they expect them to operate all their channels — old or new. Any company looking to profit must listen.

Here are four ways to ensure a successful multi-channel implementation.

1. Try new things

The biggest problem retailers face is themselves, according to Mike Wittenstein, a customer experience consultant specializing in branding and customer service. Company leaders often refuse to change strategies even when customers are demanding something different.

"Most (retailers) start with their business design and try to do things for customers while trying not to change anything, thinking they will save money or time," he said.

For example, just because a company doesn't have the know-how to allow customers to order via Facebook doesn't mean it should overlook that channel. If customers want it, make it happen.

2. Purge what's not working

"It's OK to let them go," Wittenstein said. "Find a new way."

For example, if research shows that hardly anyone is ordering via mobile and growth is stagnant, maybe company funds would be better spent on perfecting the more popular channels.

Abandoning the old way of doing things can be scary, but it's a necessity, according to Jeff Weidauer, vice president of marketing and strategy for Vestcom, a retail marketing company.

"Let the shopper's needs define the engagement type," he said. "Today we look at mobile and try to figure out how to use it. We should (instead) be looking at the shopper and how she is using mobile, and then figure out how to engage her there. The technology should be the solution to a marketing problem, not an add-on for its own sake."

3. Put the experience design ahead of the business design

The business process should always come second to the customer experience, according to Wittenstein, who said his CEO clients often drag their feet when he suggests changing business practices to better serve customers.

"I talk to them about my findings or experiences inside their stores and show them how to understand what the customers want, but they get so tied up in their own way of working that they can't even listen," Wittenstein said. "Putting the customer experience first is truly a gift."

For example, a retailer with existing brick-and-mortar stores with online ordering may want to expand his channels to include a mobile site. He may be tempted to simply shrink the existing website to fit the phone's screen — instead of paying to create a separate site geared toward mobile. In reality, this money-saving shortcut will probably cost the retailer more in the long run because mobile sites take too long to load if bogged down with large photos and the excess info websites contain. Customers could easily get annoyed and shop elsewhere.

The retailer is also missing out on an opportunity to offer customers the services unique to mobile platforms, such as geolocation or other creative apps.

"If you could tell how close your customer was to your store on the way to pick something up, you could walk the dry cleaning out to the curb," Wittenstein said.

4. Get connected

The key to creating a successful multi-channel solution — or, for that matter, any positive retail experience — is to delight the customer while maintaining a business model that's good for the bottom line.

"Much of what is being done today lacks cross-channel integration, either because the various channels don't communicate or because they have different goals," Weidauer said. "For example, many retailers still have their mobile marketing teams operating out of IT instead of marketing."

Wittenstein agreed, saying a retailer's downfall is "siloism," where silos/departments are competing with one another.

When one department does finally win, "it often creates unintended rigor mortis-like effects in other parts of the organization, making it harder for them to reach their targets and so on," he said.

A customer-centric approach to the customer-experience and business designs will stop that from happening.

"Keeping the focus on customer outcomes is what it takes to get everyone in the business aligned," Wittenstein said.

(Photo by edenpictures.)