“Omnichannel is not easy to execute:” Dave Hartenstein on tackling customer’s needs
Posted by Marcus LaRobardiere on Nov 11, 2020
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Change is a necessary—and unavoidable—part of the omnichannel success journey. As the world evolves, so do customers’ expectations. The same principle holds true for retailers, making it that much more important for them to find the right omnichannel solution professionals to help them adapt to their audiences’ needs.
Dave Hartenstein, Senior Director of Omnichannel at NewStore, has guided several major retailers throughout their omnichannel journeys, including Modell’s Sporting Goods and Michael Kors. At NewStore, he ensures customers have a voice and an ally in addition to their account management contacts, technical resources, and retail consultants.
“It’s more important to us that our customers have a voice and a contact and someone that maybe isn’t going to solution a problem as much as…help them along the way and understand what’s going on and work them through it,” Dave said in an Endless Aisle podcast episode with NewStore’s Senior Director of Marketing, Marcus LaRobardiere.
A typical day in Dave’s life may include several customer meetings in the morning, sessions with the design team, working with an engineer on a problem or with a solutions architect on an SOW, and conducting a quarterly business review of the last few months’ metrics.
Dave’s foray into the industry came shortly after college, when he began working as a store manager in a gallery mall in Philadelphia. The constant people interaction and on-the-job learning snowballed into a passion for retail that’s helped him lead teams and major omnichannel initiatives for top brands. For Dave, working in retail is a prerequisite for understanding the customer experience and thriving in a retail success role at NewStore.
Read on for a few key takeaways from Marcus and Dave’s conversation, some of which have been edited for clarity.
On what drew him to the retail industry
“I’d like to say [I’m] a people person. It’s what gets me going and gets me up in the morning— working with customers and…even just sales associates when I’m shopping. It’s all about interactions and dealing with people and human beings and not computers and phones all day, but actually interactions. I think that’s probably the biggest business factor for me.”
On the universal truth of working in the retail industry
“You might have a blue shirt if you’re working at Best Buy, or a green shirt if you’re at DICK’s Sporting Goods, but at the end of the day, we’re doing the same thing. We’re selling and we’re working with people.”
On relating to your customers
“You have to walk in someone’s shoes before you fully get their pain when they’re dealing with complex problems. There are so many factors that come into play that have to be considered and without having that strong retail background, then you’re probably behind the [eight] ball to begin with.”
On being open to change
“You [start] to hear around, ‘Retail is dying. Retail is slowing down. E-commerce is taking over the world. We don’t need stores.’ I mean, most people probably don’t believe that, but when you start hearing [that] over and over again, you start to think, ‘Well, what is going to be that differentiator that lets you stay open?’ And it always comes back to change, right? You have to change. And if you don’t change, then you probably will fall victim to some of these store shatterings and everything else that’s happening. It’s seeing what people are doing, how are they doing it right, and then how do we do it even better.”
On creating an authentic brand experience
“The experiential part of retail is so important now. What is going to set you apart? Decathlon does a great job with that—sponsoring events in their communities that they serve. It’s important. You have to do things like that, I think, to become more authentic. I think that’s what people are looking for right now, especially coming out of where we are right now in the world.”
Advice for aspiring retail professionals
“My advice is to find something that you love about retail, and then go after it if you’re interested in trying something new. For me, it was the omnichannel piece of retail. I don’t think I would do well at a massive POS vendor or even an order management system. But the fact that my passion is people and what we can do together in this omnichannel space…finding a company that actually has that same vision, I think, was key. If you’re going to get out there and try to jump into the vendor software side, find the right mix in the right space that makes you want to get up every morning.”
