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Zendor Advises Retailers on How to Achieve True Multi-Channel Integration

Press Release

By: Zendor
5 January 2005

The growth of the Internet has permanently altered the retailing landscape as more and more retailers are now choosing to develop a multi-channel business model. However, many retailers find it a challenge to adopt a truly integrated multi-channel approach and present a uniform, seamless face to the customer. The result - a confused and disloyal customer base, and potentially lost revenue. So, how can today’s multi-channel retailer achieve TRUE integration between shopping channels? Distance shopping specialist Zendor provides the following top tips:

Define the retail strategy - From the outset, identify what the retailer is trying to achieve by going multi-channel. For one retailer the objective may be to simply generate online revenue, for another improved customer service, for another maintaining market share. Whatever the objective, the retailer needs to determine how each channel fits into this overall strategy.

Determine a cross-channel branding approach - Once the retail strategy is clear, the retailer needs to identify how the brand values can be most effectively translated across the channels (store, web, catalogue, phone) and communicated to customers. A retailer’s brand encapsulates everything the company stands for in terms of type and quality of product, service and ethos.

Educate all employees - All employees from call centre staff through to couriers need to fully understand and ‘buy-in’ to the retailer’s multi-channel strategy. Therefore, teaching staff about what the retailer is trying to achieve with its multi-channel strategy and how one channel impacts on another is imperative. Staff across all channels and business units also need to be trained so that their actions and the messages they give out, for example, are consistent with the retailer&rsquo's brand values.

Ensure good communication across business units - Staff across all business functions need to ‘sing from the same hymn sheet’ for consistency. Good communication is especially important with multi-channel retail as any one element in the chain can impact customer service and hence, a customer’s view of the business as a whole.

Establish a suitable infrastructure - Successful multi-channel integration requires an appropriate, automated infrastructure that integrates the front-end channel interfaces, be it web, store or phone, with the back-end fulfilment systems. This enables the front and back-end to have access to the same information in ‘real time’, be it stock levels or customer data.

Delivering consistent customer service across all shopping channels is vital in today’s multi-channel world. Retailers that meet the challenge will enjoy numerous benefits including enhanced customer loyalty, promotion of the ‘halo effect’ (the term applied to the customers who shop across more than one channel and actually spend more), a wider geographic market for the retailer’s brand, a single customer view for targeted marketing and ultimately, increased profits.