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Retail Business Environment

Notes The Solution: Integrated Multi-Channel Retailing

To deliver the needs of today’s consumer and capitalize on the current and anticipated online
growth, retailers need channel integration. What is integrated multi-channel retailing? An
integrated multi-channel retail strategy should encompass four major areas: the customer
relationship, the organizational strategy, retail operations and integration of systems and
processes (see Figure 6.2).
Figure 6.2: Integrated Multi-Channel Retailing Strategy

Customer Organization
• Consistent experience • Single cross-channel
• Gaining and using functions
• Eliminating silos
customer insights

Integrated
Multi-Channel
Retailing Strategy

Harnessing Technology
• E-fulfilment supply • Single sources of data
• Integrated system
chain model
• Cost savings through • Business Intelligence
platform
channel efficiencies

Customer: Capgemini’s “Future Consumer” study found that while 50% of customers are
interested in just the product they buy, the remaining half are also heavily influenced by the
overall service and emotional experience. Retailers therefore need to give a consistent experience
across channels with regards to product, range and customer service. Additionally Web 2.0
technologies are changing the way customers interact as they move through the sales journey,
and the retailer now has many more opportunities to gain customer insights. Successful multi-
channel retailers are feeding these insights into their product development, range selection and
customer experience.

Organization: An appropriate operating model considering the implications of multi-channel
retailing needs to be implemented. This model should eliminate channel silos and create a
cohesive organization that can deliver the benefits to be gained from an effective multi-channel
strategy.

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