Omni-Channel Planning Blog Series ? Are You on the Right Track? ? Thought02Posted by Drew Larson on May 19th, 2016 The “most common” definition of Omni-channel retailing is enabling customers to shop and return merchandise across any of the channels (stores, e-commerce, catalog, mobile). Catalog and mobile channels being a relatively small portion of the sales for most retailers, it effectively reduces the problem to store and e-commerce.
Consumers shopping behavior – Earlier there was a belief that the consumer who shops in a store is different from the consumer who shops online. This belief has been invalidated. There is consensus that the same consumer shops across channels and they expect a more seamless shopping experience. In summary, a lot of retailers have been operating multiple channels for the last two decades. However, they have been operating in silos internally as well as customer facing. Omni-channel requires a retailer to eliminate the silos from a customer experience perspective as well as internal operations. To put a marketing phrase around it: “One customer, One inventory, One price, One Experience”. About the Author o9 Solutions have built an Intelligent Decision Management Platform for Visibility, Analytics, Planning, Collaboration, and Continuous Improvement across Sales, Supply Chain, Product Innovation, Integrated Business Planning & more. Its system that changes when the business changes. Management made smart, simple, and fun. Like it? Share it! More by this author |