What are you doing? Your guide to the right solution.

MULTI-CHANNELEFFICIENCY

What are you doing?In a rapidly changing and merging market place, UK retailers are facing their biggest ever operational challenge and risk to customer engagement.

The multi-channel millennial shopper is pushing to remove boundaries between physical and online channels and demanding a true omni-channel experience.

UK retailers are faced with both a tremendous opportunity and a massive threat to their sales, customer loyalty and brand.

At the core is your IT system’s capability to cope sufficiently and deliver the accuracy, speed and visibility both your business and customer demands in 2016 and beyond.

Silos of legacy systems are the biggest hurdle to the multi-channel customer experience and an enormous profit black hole for many retailers with no central intelligent core to streamline data to all points.

Perceived or real, system integration and migration complications, IT resource, training and cost are the internal debates hindering many UK retailers faced with the enormous task of streamlining platforms and systems for critical commercial survival.

This short guide is designed to help you to consider:

Are your central software systems an opportunity or a threat?

Opportunities to increase profit and sales and reduce risk

Core concerns and priorities for UK retailers

Overcoming the online and instore convergence IT challenge

Your options to unify your business processes, customer needs and IT infrastructure

Single, cloud platform approaches to unify sales and service points, mobile, warehousing, inventory, merchandising, pricing, ecommerce, eBay and delivery

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Meeting multi-channel demands and establishing the omni-channel customer experience

Merging the digital and instore experience

Bricks and mortar sales sustainability

Mobile device integration and security

Fulfilment/merchandising/delivery complications and profit loss

Top 5 challenges

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Your customer no longer distinguishes between which channel they buy from. In their view they are just buying from one brand, one retailer and expect one united experience.

But in far too many cases, multi-channel retailers still operate on divided legacy software platforms creating confusion, poor customer experience and revenue loss.

Rapidly changing and demanding consumer expectations and a converging digital and physical retail world, are causing acute retailer operational and financial stress, with 84% citing they could not fulfil omni-channel demand profitably with many suffering spiralling customer service issues.

To compete in this ever-changing, fierce and fast pace retail game, many brands are responding swiftly to deploying a unified platform approach to address the critical need for flexibility, accuracy, speed and 360 degree visibility across all channels, from any place and at any time.

Where do your concerns lie?

No.1 concern and priority for 35% of retailersis meeting omni-channel demands. Is it yours?

75% of consumers say they will stop doing business with a company following a bad experience

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Timeline:2000 Argos launch Click-and-Collect

2009 iPhone 3G launches

2010 iPad launches

2013 Argos and eBay join forces for

Click-and-Collect

2014 Pop-Up shops become fastest

growing UK business sector

2015 Apple Pay launches

2016 Pokemon Go launches and

accelerates instore AR plans

Tomorrow’s high street will be more about entertainment and experience. No matter how technology changes consumer behaviour, the social aspect of shopping, the buzz, personal experiences and just having fun with friends will always be there.

Whilst many high street retailers have been threatened by the profit squeeze from online retailers, most purchases are still made in shops for many product types.

But the lines between instore and online are blurring at a faster pace than many retailers would like and for the majority, their IT infrastructure is simply not sufficient (and never will be) to cope with the new demand causing confusion, lost profit, customer satisfaction issues and brand damage. Unless they can establish an intelligent data hub to feed every aspect of the business with live accurate information the problem will remain.

How can your business ensure every touchpoint in the multi-channel system is joined up through the entire customer journey?

Merging the digital and physical retail world

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The lucrative Pop-Up shop opportunity has been enabled through:

Online retailers are already entering into the physical retail space to

not only capture new local customers from traditional bricks and

mortar competitors but to extend their brand and customer

engagement through low cost, instant outlets set up in temporary

empty units and spaces.

Global retailers often need a wider reaching Pop-Up presence, for

instance sailing clothing brand Musto partners with the Volvo Ocean

Race to run temporary stores across the world, and without a flexible

cloud retail technology solution with live online and off line EPoS

facilities this type of complex operation simply isn’t viable.

Rise of the Pop-Up shop

8.4% growth and £2.1billion – Pop-Up shops fastest growing UK business sector

Cloud-based, one platform retail solutions giving live visibility on all critical customer and business data across all ecommerce, instore, mobile and mail order channels through to back office divisions of warehousing, delivery and returns

Mobile PoS and e-Receipts

Tablet “show rooming” for extended product display and search

Secure mobile payment Apps

Mobile loyalty cards for any channel use

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And it’s not just online retailers applying Pop-Up shops to their brand,

engagement and sales strategies. Instore and online brands such as

Neil’s Yard Remedies have used Pop-Up shops at Google HQ

expanding the product display with tablet show rooming and

payment through to setting up shops and workshops at festivals.

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Click-and-CollectInspired by Argos back in 2000, Click-and-Collect is now used by 72%

of UK shoppers and is proving to be a major boost to multi-channel

sales conversions.

However, while convenience and free delivery were the top

motivators for consumers using Click-and-Collect services (75% and

74% respectively); delays when collecting goods from the

pick-up-point in the store itself were disappointing customers.

32% said they had experienced long queues at collection points, and

a further 32% endured long waits while store associates tried to find

their parcel in the stock room.

Ensuring the experience of Click-and-Collect is seamless once the

customer steps into the store is a fundamental requirement not

delivered by many retailers.

Key to achieving this depends on stock room organisation, product

movement tracking and location throughout the retailer

cross-channel operation made possible by a holistic, live retail

platform available at any touch point and at any location.

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Are you challenged by real time multi-channel management and price optimisation?

Increasingly, large retailers are utilising eBay and Amazon as a

highly effective channel to re-sell returned mail order and

ecommerce stock, achieve optimal prices for clearance products and

cost effectively manage multiple geographic warehouse stock and

delivery.

Smaller retailers and online stores have successfully increased

sales through eBay and Amazon to expand their customer base and

achieve a much lower cost per customer acquisition.

How successful your eBay or Amazon channel is, is determined by

the strength and unification of your systems to integrate easily into

both eBay or Amazon’s own platform.

eBay and Amazon price optimisationAs part of your multi-channel strategy, attaining real time multi-way

channel management to control channel stock allocation, regional

prioritisation and price is key. Considerations and challenges of

achieving 100% visibility and synchronisation within your back office

is becoming more and more essential but remains one of the biggest

hurdles to overcome.

By combining eBay’s and Amazon’s buy it now and auction

functions with a virtual head office software solution, many retailers

have achieved maximum price optimisation through price and

promotion strategies based on real time cross channel stock

sourcing and allocation.

eBay and Amazon integration

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Retailers lose 32% of shoppers to instore mobile useAccording to the Mobile Commerce Compendium, more than half (57%) of smartphone owners have used their device to search information while out shopping.

Coupled with the growing trend of online retailers fast entering the boundary of traditional instore territory with Click-and-Collect and Pop-Up shops, more and more bricks and mortar stores are fighting back by harnessing mobile technology, 4G and instore customer WiFi to mirror the online shopping experience and advantages.

Applied right, many big brands have rolled out mobile shopping assistants to queue bust and have united online shopping behaviour with instore mobile show rooming, kiosk catalogues, ordering and delivery options.

The popularity of Pokémon Go amongst the millennial customer has shown that augmented reality is now a tangible and accepted customer entity. We can expect to see AR rolled out instore over the coming years to extend product information and bring the digital experience instore simply by using customer and staff smart phones.

Instore sales sustainability But even simple things like equipping sales advisors with iPads to show matching accessories to prompt added sales and allowing the ordering of items that aren’t currently available in the shop are boosting instore sales and importantly, helping to substantially cut lost sales and bring personalisation to the instore shopping experience.

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How are you taking on the instore challenge?

Customers want a unified shopping experience enhanced by instant information, availability, choice, underpinned by a streamlined experience whatever channel they are using.

In 2016, the majority of UK retailers are still suffering fragmented systems leading to high levels of customer frustration, negative experiences, customer loss and brand damage.

How are you coping?

Silos biggest hurdle to the omni-channel experience

Lost sales and profit: The consumer goes for the best value, quickest and easiest route. Disjointed back office systems, absent or poor instore product search and availability facilities costs UK retailers an average of a third of their sales.

Inventory complications and confusion: Warehousing issues, late customer deliveries and disgruntled customers pose a threat to brand trust, repeat purchases and negative word of mouth.

Increased stress on the customer service centre: Incurring extra costs and longer call waiting times.

Perceived system migration complications: Delays in urgent action to respond to customer omni-channel demands and profit loss.

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Silos within theorganisation

Lack of senior managementvision and leadership

Inflexible technology andapplication infrastructure

Lack of consolidated 360° view ofthe customer across touchpoints

Lack of employee incentivesfor collaboration

Lack of integratedinformation systems

Top 6 barriers to improving customer experience

16%19%

24%24%

27%27%

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Creating 360° visibility and flexibility for customer retention and increased profit

Improving customer service, whilst optimising profit is the core of successful multi-channel sales, distribution and risk reduction.

If your systems are separated and isolated with limited visibility across all the various channels, they are insufficient and too costly to meet the demands of the modern customer who demands:

How much is your multi-channel distribution costing you?

85% of retailers suffer profit loss

Accurate information in real time, no matter the channel or where in your system they are

Consistent, high level and personalised information whether they are instore, or on a laptop or a mobile device

Choice of delivery options and return points

How exposed is your business?10

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The mobile bridge to a seamless customer experienceToday’s millennial shoppers are price savvy, promotion hooked,

compelled to research products at different stages of the buying

cycle and expect a unified customer experience whatever channel

they are using within a brand.

Mobile is a big cause for abandoned instore sales. Used right

though, mobile can clinch you more sales, increase spend per

customer and greatly enhance your customer experience.

Mobile matters

The key to enhancing customer service and engagement

The key to unlocking customer personalisation

The key to propelling omni-channel experience

The key to floor up and cross-selling

The key to speeding up the decision making process and cutting lost sales

Mobile goes beyond simple payments, queue busting and m-commerce. Mobile PoS Is:

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How can mobile extend your online customer experienceinstore?Instore tablets, QR codes, instore navigation Apps, augument reality,

connected to your virtual head office and product information hub,

can create and extend the online buying experience your customers

have come to love.

From product choice and availability, comprehensive information,

reviews, suggested add ons, flexibility and stock availability,

ordering and delivery, mobile device technology gives retailers ex-

panded sales promotions and opportunities like never before.

How will you make it happen?

MPoS for queue busting and enhanced customer service

Payment and delivery choices: kiosks, m-payments, mobile cashier, Click-and-Collect

Extended show rooming via mobile for increased up and cross-selling

Personalised promotions and loyalty cards for increased spend per customer and retention

Enhancing and streamlining the customer experience for bottom line results:

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Internal familiarity

Quick to implement

Perceived continuity

Staged migration

Long term complications, cost and resource

Long term sustainability with increasingly changing and demanding customer needs

Expansion of new channels within the multi-channel retail environment

Different interface integration issues

Capability for real time multi-channel product and price management

Compatibility of legacy systems with new software platforms and development

Internal resource

Paving a way forward Option 1 Patching

Adapting your existing system: Patching of multiple, divided systems and platform integration into legacy systems.

Pros Vs Cons

ConsPros

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Future agendas and development of platform vendors: incompatibility and future functionality

Lengthy and complex unified platform design and implementation

Long term system support

Supplier and vendor commercial biases

Multi-vendor bespoke modules and development complications in single one plug in use and consequent functionality restrictions

Consultancy fees and implementation costs

Flexibility of software vendor and systems

“All-in-one” perceived risk reduction Brand preference choice

Staged migration

Traditional approach to multi-channel front and back end management

Migration to a new multi-vendor platform solution: Omni-channel solutions based on integration of individual software platforms.

Paving a way forward Option 2 Multi Vendor

ConsPros

Pros Vs Cons

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Cons

Pros

Migration to a new single, cloud platform solution: One platform approach with optional modules and customisation hosted in the cloud for risk reduction, availability and future proofing.

Commitment to single vendor

Potential flexibility of vendor API integration into other business systems

Vendor ability to adapt to unique retailer requirementsmanagement

Ready-to-go retail platform focused on core needs and future agility

Customisation of purpose built platform for retailers and multi-channel commerce

Reduced cost

Protection from multiple software platform future agendas and compatibility

Step-by-step migration capability

Shorter lead times for design and roll out

Simplification of cross-channel and business streamlining

Reduced IT resource and training

Cloud security, stability, anywhere, any channel and time visibility and accessibility

Clear view of roadmap

Paving a way forward Option 3 One Platform

Pros Vs Cons

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Our consumers’ demand for more and more channels to shop from and manage their transactions in one seamless experience is increasingly pressurising retailers financially and technically with expectations continually increasing.

Short term and insufficient patching of legacy management and EPoS systems have left many with a continual battle of customer complaints, delivery and warehouse errors and profit leakage.

It is no longer good enough just to focus on the transaction via MPoS and EPoS. Forward thinking leaders are looking towards a virtual head office to unite every aspect of the customer transaction, inventory, merchandising, warehousing and delivery options. A live and accurate data stream accross every sales and management point – either online , instore, outdoor or in the retailer’s office is critical.

Retail software vendors are now challenging and changing the way they develop new, holistic all-in-one cloud platforms that can be rolled out through scalable, agile and step-by-step migration plans.

Designed specifically for the new retail world, platforms now need to deliver 360° live visibility from back-end through to customer browsing and delivery.

Where will you be in 2018?Uniting the ever-changing and competitive consumer landscape:

One Solution. One Experience

Pop-Up shopsInstore mobile catalogue Mobile show roomingMobile kiosks Mobile cashiersSocial media promotionseBay and Amazon outletsClick-and-CollectAugmented Reality

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Long term business strategy and market trends: Defining how your new or existing software system

will become the enabler to achieve today’s and

tomorrow’s needs and the core elements required to

meet objectives

Omni-channel objectives and future customer requirements: Identification of your business’ core objectives in

omni-channel and multi-channel management, key

functionality and future proofing of front and back

end systems

Financial analysis: Cost of changing and/or adapting existing

infrastructure balanced against profit loss gaps of

multi-channel inefficiency

Current and future pricing strategies:Agility, scalability and visibility capability of system to

deliver product price optimisation

Cloud or server hosting: Analysis of IT management requirements,

availability and accessibility, scalability of capacity

and security

Statistical data sourced from One Poll Survey by 72 Point on behalf of Cybertill, PwC 2015 survey of 400 retailers, CERB survey 2014 and The Economist Intelligence Unit Survey 2014

Key Considerations

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EPoS, Customer Experience, eBay, Click-and-Collect, Mobile PoS, Profit, Warehousing, Price Optimisation, Merchandising, Trust, Ecommerce

Now there’s a new and better way…

One Platform. One Solution.

© Cybertill 2016

Call: 0800 030 4459

Email: enquiries@retailstore.co.uk

Website: www.retailstore.co.uk

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