Where to Focus Your Digital Transformation
Posted by Amanda McLaughlin on Jan 25, 2022
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Digital omnichannel investment must be more than differentiation. As we well know, COVID-19 is changing the landscape and will continue to shape consumer behaviors.
In retail today, health and safety concerns are a purchase driver and ecommerce penetration keeps increasing. Digitally native brands and subscription models are now genuine competition.
Even more, innovation is ramping up. There are lots of new shiny objects out there! Digital enablement alone isn’t enough and gimmicks won’t cut it. Many brands are harnessing omnichannel to make their stores places of community, events, education, facilitation, sales (obviously!), and fulfillment. Such stores are beyond differentiating; they’re liberating.
Modern retail must be easy, fast, and exciting. This is where to focus your digital transformation. So, is it time to take another look at your retail journey and back-end?
The path to purchase is now a winding one. Retail journeys these days are less like funnels and more like spider webs. Customers may start at any point on the outside of the web, then make their way towards the center (the purchase) in random sequence. From mobile browsing, to a little in-store browsing, then back to your site to click and collect.
Price is no substitute for convenience and safety, and your stores are now more than transaction points. Stores are places of education, interaction, and enjoyment. As a result, you’ll probably begin to re-evaluate your current tech stack and start to ask yourself some of the following questions:
That’s a lot of moving parts. When looking to invest in these areas, you’ll want to structure your architecture in a way that lets you rapidly respond to market shifts and consumer demands.
Successful brands are taking advantage of agile and flexible microservices architecture that allow them to level-up their software set-up. Doing so means you can efficiently swap in and out the services your customers ask for, and fast, by leveraging APIs. You’re able to test as you learn, and customers can enjoy a continuously smooth and consistent experience.
Though unfortunate, the fact is your customers might not ever come back to your store or won’t come back as much. Because of this, future-minded retailers are looking for new revenue models to expand their offerings and meet customer expectations.
Convenient, contactless, and warm experiences are in top demand, so choose wisely where you focus your digital transformation. Enabling functions like remote selling, store pickup and returns, buy online pickup in-store (BOPIS) / click and collect, mobile POS with contactless payments, and endless aisle will ensure you’re getting products in the hands of your consumers safely, quickly, and with a smile.
NewStore offers a MACH-certified platform that helps brands like Marine Layer create tactile in-store experiences that are so vital to their brand. In fact, Marine Layer went all-in on omnichannel early in the pandemic, completely re-platforming and making it possible to meet shifting customer expectations alongside rapid growth.
Unsure where to start now and how to keep going? Click below and we’ll walk you through how you can digitally transform with omnichannel.
Show me how easy omnichannel can be.
