The necessity of catering to customers in multiple avenues could make or break your business.
The divide between online and brick and mortar retailers is fading. The way consumers shop for products has transformed over the last 10 plus years. A new, necessary approach to sales has come to the forefront – the omnichannel shopping experience.
Customers expect an intuitive, simple browsing and buying journey across all channels whether desktop, mobile device, phone, or at a brick and mortar store.
This omnichannel experience must allow consumers multifarious shopping options, like browsing prices on a desktop, later buying the product with a smartphone, and finally picking up the item in-store. Each step should be interchangeable and unified so the customer can buy what they need, in the most convenient way possible.
Pet retailers must be available to connect with the customer on a seamless physical and digital level. Your diverse shopping options and ease of use for the customer is a direct correlation to your success and business bottom line.
The development of Omnichannel shopping
With extraordinary advancements in technology over recent years, our potential clientele have nearly endless options and avenues for patronizing businesses.
Customer habits have similarly changed with technology. In-store shoppers might be concurrently checking their smartphones to compare prices and products or looking for reviews and proof of concept.
But because expectations and behaviors have changed and grown, retailers have the opportunity to satisfy and delight the customer at every interaction. By focusing on the necessary touchpoints online and offline, you can significantly improve your overall experience and retain customer loyalty.
Nearly three-quarters of the consumers could be lost as potential customers if the retailer did not adopt an Omni-channel strategy.
How retailers are responding to behavior changes
Globally, retailers are taking note and adapting to consumer shopping trends.
Online start-up Casper Mattresses is opening 200 physical stores after successfully testing a series of pop-up shops across the U.S. Previously, the company was primarily online-based but pivoted their strategy to a storefront fleet in a bid to meet consumer’s Omnichannel shopping behaviors and boost sales further.
Walmart, Target, and Home Depot have set a new standard with their innovative Omnichannel strategies. They scored the highest in the 2019 Omnichannel Report where stores are ranked based on two mystery shopper experiences.
All three offer a seamless buy online, pickup in-store service. But not only that, they scored highly for their additional features, like curbside pickup and in-app directions.
These top retailers have also made great strides to improve the shopping experience for digital shoppers. Investing in store layout modifications to simplify order pickups, piloting pickup lockers, and adding giant towers to retrieve orders.
Walmart is leveling up to online retail giant Amazon, offering its novel next-day delivery initiative. They offer next-day eligible staple items with free shipping over $35 and emphasize no membership is required – likely a nod to Amazon’s Prime Membership requirement for their free 2-day shipping policy. Walmart’s new shipping play comes after Amazon announced plans to spend $800 million to bring one-day delivery to all Prime members.
Even juggernaut Amazon has recognized the need to diversify and open physical stores to improve their Omnichannel shopping experience, adding brick and mortar stores like Amazon Books and cashier-less grocery stores, Amazon Go, to their many customer touchpoints.
These top corporate retailers are leading the way in Omnichannel shopping. But this presents a very real challenge for independent retailers to keep pace.
Investing in a platform like eTailPet is really investing in your business idea and your own success. We empower you and give you the tools you need to compete and realize a seamless, omnichannel strategy within the pet retail sector. No matter your industry or product, providing customers with a harmonious and holistic retail experience is something all businesses must embrace in 2020 and beyond.