Making It Real – A Better Customer Experience

People, Processes and Technologies Must Evolve

As we all know by now, the pandemic accelerated many trends that were nascent – clearly on the horizon, but still “out there” somewhere. Chief among those trends is what we used to call Omnichannel retailing (I honestly still have no better term). This retail process integrates inventory, labor, and shopping across the retailer’s entire ecosystem in a way that makes it more convenient for shoppers to order online and pick up at curb or in-store and makes it easier for employees to serve them however they choose to be served.

During the pandemic, with social distancing, these functions skyrocketed, returning to earth a bit as the pandemic subsided. People like going to stores, though browsing is often easier and more fun online.

The problem is, it doesn’t seem that we’ve knocked down the costs or raised the customer experience yet. We know a far higher percentage of apparel is returned when sold online (yes, Virginia, the fitting room really does serve a purpose), and retailers spend more time trying to figure out how to reduce that percentage, or otherwise make the customer pay for returning items than just streamlining the process. I have to be completely honest with everyone…. returns of DTC sales are pretty intractable. I’ve been at this a while, since the old catalog days, and if you get to a 25% return rate on apparel, consider yourselves lucky.

So, indulge me for a moment, and let’s put the return rate on hold, and talk about efficiencies all through the omnichannel selling process, particularly buying online and picking up the product either at the curb or in the store.

As always, the secret lies in updated and empowered people, processes, and technology.

People

For as long as I’ve been researching successful (and not-so-successful) retail, one theme has been echoed loudly and often: empowered employees are key to in-store retailing success. This theme remained consistent through RSR’s 2022 report on the state of the store. It has reached a point where consumers would rather interact with their phones in the store than with employees…. yet our technology really hasn’t reached a point where it can replace employees for cross-sells, up-sells, and general encouragement to shoppers. What’s most important is for these employees to have the tools to help shoppers. The data tells us those tools are still lacking.

It will be hard to attract, train and retain employees without the right tools. Unemployment is low, and the pandemic clearly changed workers’ attitudes about their job. The recognition that life is short hit everyone, and no one wants to do busy work or feel ignorant in front of a customer.

Processes

We can say that we’ve altered our processes to support the various forms of order delivery to shoppers, and in fact, the same 2022 study reported that the basics are in place for many retailers. Recent experience at a “very good” retailer told a different story. Sixty-six percent of retailers in our study reported satisfactory reserved pick-up locations at the store. I can tell you from my experience that there was none, and I had to drive around a parking garage until we found a place where the store associate (who was trying really hard) could find me.

Clearly, a system is in place to let someone know I’d arrived. I pushed a button on my phone, and someone clearly answered. That’s when the dance began. It probably took a half hour to complete the pickup. There were just a lot of holes in the process. I strongly recommend that every retailer take another look at their processes to see if they a) can scale up and down and b) that they’re both customer- and employee-friendly.

Technology

There’s no denying that the rise of omnichannel, especially buy-online, pick up at curb was stunningly quick. The pandemic acted as the great accelerant. It was also not a great time to buy or build new technologies, so most retailers strung together temporary measures. For some who’d had the foresight to buy in advance, earnings were strong. For others, not so much.

Sixty-one percent of retailers acknowledged that the role of the store has changed significantly since the pandemic…but has the technology kept up? Can associates easily see what and where inventory is in a store? Can they see orders in time to pack them up and prepare them for shoppers? One COO told me that when he arrived at his company, invariably, the person would arrive at the store to pick up an ordered product ten minutes before the product had even been picked. This was a technology problem. The store wasn’t informed about the extant order. He fixed that, but there was more to be done.

At the end of the day, if we’re going to preserve the store model in its current form, a technology refresh is imperative. Technologies like gStore, which bring all store functions under one umbrella, tied to, but separate from the mothership Home Office technology, is imperative for maximum effectiveness and satisfaction for employees and customers alike. Technology is not a silver bullet, but it does support people and processes.

It's worth noting that I put technology last because if you haven’t got the right people, and if your processes are a patchwork of multi-generational workarounds, new technologies simply won’t help. But if you find a coalition of willing store personnel, develop the “will be” process, while unraveling the “what is” process, technology will make a huge difference.

The Bottom Line

Retailers tend to look for a silver bullet, something that will solve their most obvious problems. That’s, no doubt, the logic around continuing to tackle omni-returns. It’s just not. There is other, lower-hanging fruit that retailers can pick before they go after a problem that’s close to intractable.

There is no silver bullet. What there is, is opportunity. Opportunity to work with people, processes and technology to cut the costs and time associated with Omnichannel retail. This will require work and dollars, but I really can’t see any way around it. The time to grow and change is now.