Eric Morris, Founder and ex-CEO of PAS Group and Brand Collective, Talks About Mastering Omni-Channel Retail

Eric Morris, an experienced retailer with his own advisory firm and a Board Member, understands how to successfully blend in-store and online shopping. To excel in this area, he emphasizes the importance of knowing your customers well, having a loyalty program that fits with your overall customer strategy, using the appropriate systems, and creating effective ways to re-engage past customers. Above all, it's about putting the customer first—many retailers fail because they don't truly listen to and focus on what the customer needs.

Omni-channel retailing, which combines online (clicks) and offline (bricks) shopping, enhances the customer experience by offering flexibility. Customers can choose to shop in-store or online based on their preferences and convenience. For instance, using a good order management system to provide real-time stock updates ensures consistency across all platforms and reduces overall distribution and shipping costs. This approach blends the benefits of a traditional retail presence with the accessibility and convenience of online shopping.

Best practices include personalizing the shopping experience using customer data as well as keeping a consistent brand presence across all channels which builds trust and recognition. Investing in a strong IT infrastructure helps operations run smoothly, and training staff to handle both online and in-store interactions ensures excellent customer service and loyalty.

Offering click-and-collect services as well as endless aisle fulfilment helps bridge the gap between online and physical stores.

Retailers must ensure consistency and seamlessness both online and in-store by using the appropriate systems, correctly attributing sales, and listening to customer feedback. Key metrics like Customer Lifetime Value and retention rates are important to measure success. It's also crucial to have clear ownership of the customer relationship, whether by the CEO, Head of Digital, or Head of Customer, to drive a unified approach.

Directing customer feedback to decision-makers allows retailers to make real-time decisions to improve customer retention and measure sales outcomes from repeat customers.

Integrating stores into the digital experience is essential for mastering omni-channel retail. This requires the appropriate systems and processes to ensure a seamless exchange between online and offline experiences. Viewing this integration as an investment rather than a cost is important, as the return on investment (ROI) and customer benefits justify the shift, it is important to note that the cost of not investing can lead to poor customer service and overwhelmed support teams. Tracking Customer Lifetime Value makes it easier to justify this investment, showing the importance of keeping existing customers rather than always trying to find new ones, which is a far higher cost. There is no doubt that in today's tough economic times, focusing on cost and efficiency is critical for retailers.

Another key element to succeeding in omni-channel retailing includes avoiding silos and encouraging alignment across the organization. This means creating measures to incentivize store performance and encouraging collaboration rather than competition within stores. Aligning key performance indicators (KPIs) to reflect a unified customer approach, regardless of the shopping channel, is essential. For example, instead of pushing products that customers don’t want, retailers should focus on listening to customer feedback and meeting their needs. These challenges are common, and using the right technology can ensure seamlessness. It is also critically important to have the right attribution model for online sales fulfilled by stores as this enhances the customer journey.

Making a bricks-and-clicks approach successful depends on several key factors. Ensuring a seamless customer journey across all channels is crucial. This can be achieved with the right technology, which doesn't have to be the most expensive but must work well with existing systems. Understanding and using customer data is vital, yet many retailers fail to ask their business intelligence teams for this important information. Focusing on these elements not only enhances the customer experience but also ensures that the business invests in areas that will result in the highest returns. By maintaining a cohesive strategy centered on the customer and aligned across all channels, retailers can ensure a seamless customer journey.