New research from Accenture restates that shoppers want to move seamlessly across channels to fulfil a single shopping mission, expecting the same pricing, product assortment and promotions in all channels. However the consulting firm reveals that there’s still a significant gap between what most mainstream retailers do, and what they should be doing, to retain loyal customers.
Today’s non-stop shoppers expect to shop without barriers throughout a multichannel journey, one that is dynamic, open and continuous, according to Accenture’s Seamless Retail Global Customer Survey. As more and more shoppers consult their smartphones before making a purchase, traditional retailers need to raise their game – and fast.
Accenture’s survey evaluated 60 global retailers to understand how good they were at delivering against a consistent experience (regardless of channel), integrated merchandising (cross-channel), flexible fulfilment and returns (providing multiple options to the customer), and personalised interaction. Of these, only personalised interaction emerges as a real strength for retailers.
The findings reveal that it’s a lot harder for customers to find the same product assortment online as they do in-store (which 81% of consumers polled expected), or to provide a truly consistent experience across channels.
In order to address their customers’ demand for a seamless service, traditional retailers need to be seamless in terms of buying, placement and promotion of merchandise. That means having inventory visibility, as well as developing consistent pricing strategies across all channels.
Accenture’s research also reveals that 41% more customers than a year ago had showroomed – browsing at least once in-store before buying online in the six months prior to the survey. An even higher proportion of customers (88%) had ‘webroomed’ – browsing first online before making an in-store purchase. Accenture expects that well over half of retail sites will be influenced by online and mobile, regardless of where the ultimate purchase is made.
As consumers continue to use multiple channels to shop, seamless retailing is becoming a key attribute in today’s market for any retailer that wants to remain relevant. And according to Accenture, in tomorrow’s market it will be essential. Having complete visibility of and consistency into pricing, promotions and product assortment across all channels is critical in order to satisfy the multichannel shopper whose demands are set to intensify.
Profitero works with global retailers, providing visibility and transparency into the prices, product assortment and promotions of millions of products across thousands of retailers every day. To ensure you remain relevant to today’s shopper, email us at sales@profitero.com to discover how we can help you to deliver a seamless experience for your customers.
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About Profitero
Pricing intelligence company Profitero provides retailers with actionable price intelligence data, monitoring over 50 million products across 4,000 eCommerce retailers every day, observing pricing, promotions and stock availability. We work with the world’s leading retailers, enabling them to acquire new customers and grow profit margins by monitoring and responding to changes in competitor pricing and promotional activity as they happen. For more information on Profitero price intelligence and competitor monitoring, visit www.profitero.com or email sales@profitero.com