AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Shopgate, Inc. today announced the release of its 2019 omnichannel report that evaluated retailers’ attitudes and interests toward emerging commerce trends across different retail channels. According to the survey, 67% of retailers say omnichannel retailing will be a priority in 2019. As well, the report has identified the top benefits driving retailers to invest in omnichannel capabilities revolve around the customer, cost efficiencies, revenue and competitive advantage.
Based on the technology features retailers in the survey are prioritizing in 2019, Shopgate has developed the following five “power plays” for omnichannel retailing:
Power Play #1: Bridge the Online and Offline Experience Gap Through Mobile
50% of the retailers that Shopgate surveyed listed a mobile shopping app as a top priority in their omnichannel plans, and 45% listed mobile points of sale as another top factor within their future omnichannel plans. If utilized properly, mobile can serve as a vital channel to conduce consumers to react between the digital and the physical, converting their typical “idle” attention to an engaged and actionable one.
Power Play #2: Create Upselling Opportunities Through BOPIS and BORIS
Shoppers continuously crave convenience, which is why a large quantity of retailers are adopting the buy online, pick up in-store model (BOPIS) and the buy online, return in-store model (BORIS) to compete against Amazon and effectively utilize their physical stores as hubs for fulfillment and upselling opportunities – ultimately placing the product in the hands of the consumer at a much faster rate. Shopgate’s survey showed that 61% of surveyed retailers say BOPIS and BORIS are at the top of their omnichannel plans and investments.
Power Play #3: Create a single, cohesive view of each customer with clienteling.
46% of Shopgate retailer survey respondents said that clienteling ranks in their top three preferred technologies, indicating that clienteling strategies will continue to be an omnichannel expectation from today’s consumers. As well, they also indicated being open to considering the merits of tablets, smartphones, and computers - 43% said they have an interest in all three platforms for clienteling apps and programs.
Power Play #4: Create Better Efficiency Through Omnichannel Fulfillment
Shoppers today are demanding more and more options for order fulfillment, and they expect to be met with fast and efficient processes. This means retailers, specifically the store associate, need to be able to pivot fast enough to have some orders shipped directly to a customer’s door and other orders ready to be picked up in the store. The Shopgate survey indicated a big opportunity for retailers to invest in capabilities that can turn stores into highly-efficient fulfillment centers just by giving store associates full control over the order fulfillment process with a mobile device. The survey showed that 33.8% of respondents said they would like to have access to data on all devices, whether it be on a tablet, smartphone, desktop or tablet.
Power Play #5: Target Customers Better at the Right Time and Place Through Geofencing
In a world where consumers are bombarded by noise and messages at all times, there’s extreme value in being able to break through the clutter and capture a shopper’s attention with relevant content at the right time and place. For savvy retailers, strategic geofencing by setting up a virtual perimeter that reaches a customer’s most personal device is the answer.
Not only does geofencing technology help successfully market the on-the-go mobile user, but it also adds context to mobile customers’ buying habits so that retailers can better understand, engage, convert and retarget customers.
“Shoppers do not think in terms of individual channels, and they certainly don’t care if it takes multiple channels to make a single purchase,” said Casey Gannon, VP of Marketing, Shopgate. “All they care about, and expect, is for their favorite retailers to be capable of accommodating how they want to complete a purchase. For enterprise and mid-market B2B and B2C retailers, omnichannel retailing can be a daunting challenge, filled with financial and organizational battles. But being an ‘omnipresent’ retailer is no longer a ‘trend’ in 2019 and beyond. It is now table stakes to remain competitive with consumers’ ongoing power plays.”
Click here to download the full 2019 Omnichannel Retail report.
About Shopgate:
Shopgate, Inc. offers a suite of customer-centric commerce solutions, designed to activate the vision of innovative retailers to help them increase in-store traffic, drive revenue and build the ultimate customer experience while reducing the total cost of ownership. Powered by the Shopgate Connect platform, these commerce solutions are specifically designed for the custom needs and extensibility of mid-market retailers. Shopgate gives forward-thinking retailers the edge needed to build true omnichannel experiences that today’s consumers demand.
Shopgate is headquartered in Austin, TX and has a team of more than 150 employees in Europe and the U.S. Learn more at: www.shopgate.com/en/.
