Get those Channels Integrated…
While in the checkout line of one of the bigger departmental store chains of US, I overheard one of the customers querying the sales associate on the difference between the price of the same item in the store and on the Store’s website. This particular customer, using a smart phone, had found that the price on the website was 20% lower than that in the store and wanted to pick up the item in the store right away, at the price on the website.
That was not going to happen; the brick-and-mortar business and the online business for this particular store are independent mini organizations of their own. They do not share inventory and their sales channels are different silos in themselves. A reflection on the way the online organizations were set up in the heat of the internet revolution; independent of the brick-and-mortar business.
Some organizations have since then, undertaken some kind of Multi-Channel Integration program to have strong integration between their various sales/delivery channels. So what benefit does Multi-Channel integration bring, that these organizations were aiming for? Here are a few:
- First and foremost, drives better customer service and presents a single consistent experience for the customer. No more calling up the Call centre and finding out that “the internet department is not open”.
- Sharing of inventory across channels can actually reduce inventory cost. There is better visibility and control on inventory across the organization
- Initiatives like “Buy Online and Pickup at Store”, which are enabled by Multi-Channel Integration actually drive up the store sales also.
- There is a wealth of customer data sitting across channels that can be consolidated and leveraged by an organization
It is not easy integrating channels that have been operating in isolation for so long; an initiative like this can be very difficult. But customers, like the one I mentioned about at the start of this blog, are looking for a change.
