Business Research for Omni-Channel Shoppiong
Business Research on Omni-Channel Shopping
Brenda Foster
RES/351
May 6, 2014
Thomas Heintzelman
Business Research on Omni-Channel Shopping
In today’s high speed world of technology, consumers are looking for new and faster ways to purchase the products they desire. Omni-channel retailing will enable the consumer to purchase items whenever they want and, however, they want. “Omni-channel retailing is very similar to, and an evolution of, multi-channel retailing, but is concentrated more on a seamless approach to the consumer experience through all available shopping channels, i.e. mobile internet devices, computers, brick-and-mortar, television, catalog and so on” (Encyclo.co.uk, 2014).
Retailers are finding it difficult to have a smooth interaction between all channels of commerce. Businesses of yesterday relied on the separation of each function within a company, brick and mortar stores were a separate entity from e-commerce and have different strategies for success. Today’s consumer are demanding integration of all functions to give them a shopping experience they want. So retailers need to find out how to bridge the gap to meet the consumers’ expectations. Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Along with hybris software, a SAP company, they commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct research to determine the capabilities of retailers and the expectations of customers. In the research, “Customer Desires vs. Retailers Capabilities: Minding the Omni-Channel Commerce Gap” (Accenture, 2014), surveys were conducted with 256 US and European retailers and manufacturing decision-makers and 1,503 multi-channel shoppers. In this survey, the objective was to help retailers to have a better understanding of the business framework to achieve a successful Omni-channel experience. The survey revealed 4 key areas:
1. Technology investment is critical to enabling exemplary Omni-channel customer
Brenda Foster
RES/351
May 6, 2014
Thomas Heintzelman
Business Research on Omni-Channel Shopping
In today’s high speed world of technology, consumers are looking for new and faster ways to purchase the products they desire. Omni-channel retailing will enable the consumer to purchase items whenever they want and, however, they want. “Omni-channel retailing is very similar to, and an evolution of, multi-channel retailing, but is concentrated more on a seamless approach to the consumer experience through all available shopping channels, i.e. mobile internet devices, computers, brick-and-mortar, television, catalog and so on” (Encyclo.co.uk, 2014).
Retailers are finding it difficult to have a smooth interaction between all channels of commerce. Businesses of yesterday relied on the separation of each function within a company, brick and mortar stores were a separate entity from e-commerce and have different strategies for success. Today’s consumer are demanding integration of all functions to give them a shopping experience they want. So retailers need to find out how to bridge the gap to meet the consumers’ expectations. Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Along with hybris software, a SAP company, they commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct research to determine the capabilities of retailers and the expectations of customers. In the research, “Customer Desires vs. Retailers Capabilities: Minding the Omni-Channel Commerce Gap” (Accenture, 2014), surveys were conducted with 256 US and European retailers and manufacturing decision-makers and 1,503 multi-channel shoppers. In this survey, the objective was to help retailers to have a better understanding of the business framework to achieve a successful Omni-channel experience. The survey revealed 4 key areas:
1. Technology investment is critical to enabling exemplary Omni-channel customer
References: Accenture. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/ Insight-customer-capabilities-omni-channel-commerce-gap.aspx Omni-Channel Retailing. (2014). In Encyclo.Co.UK. Retrieved from Httpn://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Omni-channel%20Retailing.