I hesitate to use a personal anecdote to make broad generalizations about cross-channel retailing, or to imply that one experience can represent the whole of a retailer's cross-channel strategy. All that being said, I had what I thought was a tremendous experience recently and I instantly was drawn to dissect the experience into its component parts.
Here was the scenario:
I needed to buy a new home cordless phone bundle, to include a base set and two additional handset units (three total). I specifically did not want an answering machine as part of the base set, as I already have home voice mail.
My first stop was a wholesale club, hoping that I would find a deal. Because of the very small assortment I did not find what I needed, and realized I would need to try a consumer electronics specialty store. As I walked into the store, I quickly realized the layout focused the customer on big ticket items, like televisions and computers. I had a difficult time finding the phones. Once I did, I searched through the available options and eventually settled on one that had most of the features that I needed. The problem however is that the model I wanted did not come with all three handsets. I could not locate an expandable headset for this model.
Disclaimer: I do nearly all of my electronics shopping online, finding it to be easier to do feature comparisons and a better avenue overall for finding the best price.
As I started to walk out, firm in my belief that the Web is the place to shop for electronics, a store associate stopped me, asking if there was anything that he could help me find. I told him I could not find the model that I needed. He immediately realized the product is not one they typically stocked in the store. He checked the model number, and quickly moved to an in-store terminal. Based on his knowledge of the model number, he knew that the last number listed as the model number is the number of handsets included (that is how he searched). He checked online inventory and found the model I needed. He offered to order it for me and have it delivered in four business days with free shipping. I accepted, thanked him for the great service, and headed home, questioning my blind allegiance to the Web for electronics shopping..
It strikes me that this successful shopping experience had two primary ingredients:
At its core, a good cross-channel experience is only as good as the store associates that support them. In my example, the store associate was knowledgeable, willing to help, and motivated to help me find what I needed. These are no easy requirements to satisfy for sure. My store associate was well trained, knew how to use internal systems for inventory availability, and was compensated (indirectly) for selling from online inventory.
A significant amount of integration work is required to enable this success story. Some include: