Retail e-commerce has found its mojo. In the wake of COVID-19, Q2 2020 showed that retail e-commerce was up 31.8 percent from the first quarter and 44.5 percent year-over-year. Walmart reported a mind-bending 97 percent growth in Q2 . Hidden in these numbers is the value of an omnichannel strategy and the continued importance of physical stores. Stores have begun to serve as important fulfilment centers as consumers, keen to reduce their exposure to the virus, have begun to opt for online and mobile orders. The speed and efficiency with which stores can fulfil orders has given rise to a new curbside pickup trend. Walmart, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Target and Whole Foods have been offering curbside pick-up, adding heft to their omnichannel strategy.
Omnichannel covers physical and digital: Online, mobile, in-store, curbside, marketplace, kiosk, the employee and social commerce. The challenge before retailers is to stitch omnichannel investments into a seamless and sophisticated consumer experience. However, retailers achieving omnichannel excellence are few and far between. This is not because omnichannel technology is difficult to implement. It is because they don’t know precisely what the consumer wants. They are making intelligent guesses based on experience and they are shooting in the dark hoping that they are right.
This should not be the case. Consumer journeys today traverse several channels. They generate a vast amount of data. This data can be used to decode when, where and why a consumer makes a purchase and how much they want to spend. In smart hands, the data can be used to amplifies channel uniqueness and accurately addresses a consumer whenever, however, wherever.
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