Omnichannel Leadership Report: Customer Experience
Posted by Amanda McLaughlin on Nov 25, 2020
Deliver modern, mobile-first shopping experiences that delight your customers. Drive ROI back to your business across all customer touchpoints—in-store, online, and on mobile. Book a time with our team to learn how we can help transform your business with our omnichannel solutions.
*Privacy Notice: By hitting "Submit," I acknowledge receipt of the NewStore Privacy Policy.
This is part three of a three-part series on the 2021 Omnichannel Leadership Report. This year’s research is a critical assessment of nearly 200 luxury, premium, and lifestyle brands’ omnichannel competence. The specific focus is on the seamlessness of each function and if brands are using this time to accelerate their digital transformations. In this edition, we review the availability of 14 core omnichannel capabilities across three critical retail categories.
1. Contactless Engagement: Opportunities to engage with and service customers securely without physical contact.
2. Omnichannel Convenience: Solutions that make engaging and transacting across channels simple and easy.
3. Customer Experience: Reimagined capabilities for a mobile omnichannel shopper that boost the overall shopper-brand relationship.
If you missed them, make sure to read the first two articles on Contactless Engagement and Omnichannel Convenience.
According to a PwC study, 73% of customers point to experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. It is why retail brands have been doubling down on the customer experience for several years now. From IT to store operations, every decision is being made through a CX lens. Experience is the heartbeat of today’s retail world.
Here are the key capabilities we looked at for Customer Experience.
The pandemic has pushed consumers out of their typical buying routines. More people are shopping online, including for essential goods they used to buy in-store. However, nearly two-thirds of consumers said they could feel inspired to physically return to stores if they can book a time to shop.
The benefits of appointment-based shopping for the consumer are plentiful. First, they can avoid the hassle of waiting in line if stores are at capacity. Second, they can rest assured there will be enough space for them in-store to shop safely. Finally, they can expect the trip to be more than just a sale. It will be a personalized, intimate buying experience when it’s one-to-one.
From the brand perspective, if a customer is making an appointment, their intent to make a purchase is high. This is generally a trend for in-store shoppers right now. They are increasingly more purposeful, looking to maximize each and every trip out of their homes. Herein lies a big opportunity for upselling. With one-to-one service, there is more time for dialogue between the customer and the store staff. Shoppers who are clienteled to in this way typically have a 4x higher average annual spend.
Despite the clear benefits, only 20% of brands in the report have appointment booking technology on their websites. These are clear buttons on their online storefront, whether on the homepage or on the store locator page. Another 22% offer appointments, but only by calling or emailing the local store. By allowing your shoppers to easily book a time to shop online, you are setting yourself up to not only manage shopper traffic and safety but also to keep stores productive and profitable. These are key in retail right now.
We know more and more shoppers are choosing to obtain their online orders with store pick-up (BOPIS) and curbside pickup. Not only are these options convenient for the customer, but they also drive store traffic and incremental revenue for the brand. One way for brands to take store fulfillment to the next level is by extending appointment booking to the post-purchase stage. This will enable shoppers to schedule a time to pick up their orders.
The pickup process across retail today is not seamless. Customers frequently have to deal with flaws in the process, starting at the point of purchase and continuing to the pickup itself. A frequent point of friction is when the customer arrives at the store. Oftentimes there is a wait to get the order at the pickup counter or for the associate to run the order to the customer’s car. This can be solved by merging appointment and store pickup functionality.
Currently, less than one percent of brands enable their shoppers to schedule a time to pick up their orders. There is a missed opportunity here. A great customer experience is one in which customers have complete control over the end-to-end buying journey. Right now, this sense of control might feel lost. You can restore it by offering services that do more than meet customer expectations. Give customers compelling reasons to choose your brand first.
Shoppers buying items like furniture, carpets, big-ticket electronics, and the like have long enjoyed store-to-door shipping. They shop and pay for the item in-store, then it is shipped (usually for free) directly to their home. This makes a lot of sense for oversized goods, but there are other instances where it elevates the customer experience. Think about tourists who don’t want to carry around shopping bags while they’re sightseeing. Or professionals who are shopping midday but can’t take the item back to the office.
Buying in-store and shipping home is an alternative fulfillment method that only makes customers’ lives easier. 46% of brands ship from their stores to the shopper’s door. We see this option available in city stores more so than suburban ones. This is because brands can manage the last-mile of delivery with local courier services like Postmates, Uber, Lyft, etc. If the shipping address isn’t local, national shipping providers are an option, too.
Customers are critical of shipping and delivery today thanks to the precedent set by Amazon. Store-to-door shipping is a small way to make a big impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Regardless of where shoppers buy from, go the extra mile with the last mile.
A frictionless returns process can be a make-or-break experience for customers. In fact, a survey of four million U.S. consumers found 80 percent of shoppers consider the ease of the returns process before making a purchase. For many, ease can be calculated based on whether or not a receipt is required to return. Let’s face it, paper receipts get lost and email receipts get deleted. Not needing one to return makes buying without worry possible.
83% of brands can look up past purchase history when a receipt is missing. Having a 360-degree of customer interactions makes it as simple for customers to return as it is to buy. This is important because returns aren’t a failure. They’re a selling opportunity. With an omnichannel store solution, brands can optimize the return process so that goods can be resold at a profit.
Omnichannel is about never having to say no to the customer. In this case, no receipt, no problem. Especially now when consumer worries should be around health and safety. We’re not quite at “easy returns at scale” in the industry. To get there, brands need to bring down the barriers between digital and physical sales channels. Customers don’t see channels. It’s important to be experience-first at every single interaction, every time.
Make sure you download this year’s Omnichannel Leadership Report for further analysis of the state of Customer Experience. Specifically, check to see where brands rank across our five-point scale: Avoiding, Struggling, Surviving, Evolving, or Thriving. Are they failing to provide what their customers want? Or are they serving customers with excellence?
The customer experience barometer measures different things today than it has in the past. Customers are now tracking the actions brands take to protect them as well as employees. As you look to plan for the long-term implications of COVID-19, know there are also solutions and services to focus on. Reimagine your operations for a new kind of shopper in a new retail world.
