News

Report: Cross-channel integration a key 2011 retail priority

January 5, 2011

ChannelNet, a sponsor of the November 2010 Aberdeen Group study, "The Roadmap from Multi-Channel to Cross-Channel Retailing," says the report findings clearly reflect the pressures facing its retail clients to more aggressively adopt cross-channel strategies.

The Aberdeen Group study finds that in 2011, retail executives must provide customers with an integrated shopping experience across channels: in store, online, with a call center or on mobile devices. The report reveals that best-in-class retailers with integrated sales channels experience better customer satisfaction, better average sales and increased year-over-year revenue.

"Best-in-class retailers share several common characteristics," said Sahir Anand, vice president and principal analyst, Retail, Hospitality and Retail Banking at Aberdeen Group. "They analyze data on customers across channels, execute a common strategy before, during and after the sale, and have attained some form of cross-channel technology and business process integration."

Aberdeen finds that best-in-class retailers are 50 percent more likely than the industry average to create offers and provide services across channels, enabling brands to present customers with a unified look, feel, and shopping experience. Cross-channel technology solutions will complement the goals of brick and mortar channels. For example, improving mobile website load time ensures that prospective customers can look up store locations quickly. For retailers it has become more critical than ever to implement "buy anywhere, fulfill anywhere" methodologies for uniform customer fulfillment.