The next
generation of retail requires logistics networks tailored to the needs of each
single channel. This new face of retail will require logistics providers to
maintain an integrated view of all customer channels and inventory, along with
dynamic delivery and fulfillment options and seamless customer service
interactions. With the growing impact of mobile apps and digital
touchpoint on shopping behavior, customers have more channels to
find and buy products. This translates into
more opportunities for marketers to connect with and engage such customers. But
it also means a great deal more complexity for successful marketing
execution. Customers continue to drive omni-channel experiences. They want interactions on one channel (or
device) to carry over to their next interaction channel. Customers don’t
necessarily look for the “same” experience on different channels, but they do
expect and demand consistency and highly personalized experiences across all
channels.
What is omni – channel?
Omni comes from the word Omnis
which can mean all or universal. Omnichannel is about true continuity of
customer experience, as the
modern omni-channel shopper is always connected via mobile or the Internet.
This person is well informed about their choices, finds the best deals, and
expects to receive each purchase at their preferred time and place. These days we tend to overcome this
concept in favor of the Omnichannel: given the increasingly customer-centric
market, brands feel the need to be present in all the different touchpoint
which the consumer has access, during his purchase path, offering a continuous
experience between online and offline. Omnichannel is about true
continuity of your experience. But the key is that it extends beyond a
single brand’s universe. The ability to have a continuous experience across
brands, across format and across devices that is completely bespoke – that is
the promise of a new way of thinking and marketing that has been long
unnoticed. For example, a customer service representative interacting with a
customer in a store can immediately reference the customer's previous purchases
and preferences as easily as a customer service representative on the phone or
a customer service webchat representative or the
customer can use a desktop computer to check inventory by store on the
company's website, buy the item later with a smartphone or tablet, and pick it
up at a chosen location.
Multichannel vs
omnichannel.
Although both multi and omnichannel
involve selling across multiple physical and digital channels, the key
difference is how the customer experience is joined up across those channels. A
traditional multichannel retailer may have a website and physical stores. These
two channels are generally very siloed, and have very little interaction with
one another. Today’s consumer will script their own journeys across the
multiple channels and touchpoints, and every one of them matters. Forcing a
customer to stick to a single channel or making them start at the beginning
when switching channels creates friction and impacts the customer’s experience.
Multichannel refers to the ability
to interact with potential customers on various platforms. A channel might be a
print ad, a retail location, a website, a promotional event, a product’s
package, or word-of-mouth.
The omni-channel approach is the
next logical evolutionary step after a multi-channel approach. It requires the
previously separate sales channels
to converge into a single seamless channel of orchestrated product flow – this
flow must be designed to deliver not just products but also the highly
personalized shopping experience customers have come to expect. Omni-channel is
therefore driving a rethink and a makeover of everything from marketing and
merchandising to ordering systems, fulfillment, and returns. It is a new and
different way of managing and incentivizing business
What does it mean
to be omni-channel for the logistics sector?
Consumer
buying behavior is changing drastically with growing adoption of the Internet,
smartphones and handheld devices worldwide, especially in Asia. The surge
in internet sales and in consumers using different channels to evaluate
products, order, pay, collect and return their purchases has driven companies
to investigate the omni-channel approach. With the omni-channel, companies must review how they interact with their
customers, rethinking their business model that must integrate all
communication channels. In
an omni-channel approach, the physical store becomes an essential element that
must be rethought as a consequence of digital channels. In fact, the
"click & collect" purchase method is increasingly frequent, an
action that allows you to purchase products online, benefiting from the
convenience and greater assortment, then withdrawing them to a physical point
and avoiding shipping costs and possible delays in delivery.
Omni-channel
logistics enables businesses to tailor how their products are purchased and
delivered to meet the needs of the modern customer. Consumers expect to find
the products they want both in-store and online, to use technology to make
purchases with the swipe of a finger and to have their purchase delivered to
their doorstep the very next day. The expectation of instant consumer
gratification has businesses scrambling to shore up their supply chain to
ensure cost-effective on-time delivery, which is where omni-channel logistics
comes into play.
The best suppliers of logistics services, to meet the
new needs of the stores, must be able to offer personalized,
flexible and rapid services. Logistics and
supply chains are the backbone of every omni-channel strategy. They are the key
enablers to consistently and cost-effectively deliver personalized service and
flexible fulfillment. And they enable retailers to achieve cross-channel
inventory visibility and optimization and
meet customer expectations, generating higher satisfaction and loyalty.
Logistics is a key enabler for each
of these three areas: Streamlined, well-coordinated logistics processes are
just as important as the online and offline consumer touch points. For many
retailers, logistics partners play a major role in managing the cross-border
deliveries, preferred payment options, and even real-time customer service that
omni-channel sales demand. For these retailers, logistics is not just a cost
center, but a business accelerator and an integral part of delivering on their
customer promise.
How Omni-Channel impacts the supply
chain and logistics
Traditional
supply chains are coming under considerable pressure, the online revolution tests almost
every aspect of the long-established pattern of retail supply chain processes -
including warehouse operations, pick, pack and dispatch, order fulfilment and
delivery, as well as introducing new dilemmas such as free shipping, last mile
delivery, product returns and cross-border transactions. Most warehouse
operations serving consumer-oriented businesses have traditionally focused on
carton (or pallet) picking for bulk orders, shipped to retail outlets, often as
full truck load (FTL) shipments, which include hundreds of products from
numerous suppliers all destined for one store or supermarket. However, the
e-commerce model of online web store to consumer, typically involves logistics
management of shipping multiple individual orders, the majority of them
comprising just one or two pieces, to hundreds of individual delivery points
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