Short Hills, NJ (PRWEB) August 29, 2016
Bernardine Wu, Founder and CEO of FitForCommerce – the leading specialty digital commerce consultancy that helps retailers and brands make informed digital, ecommerce and omnichannel retail investment decisions – was invited last week to share insights on omnichannel investments in the retail space to a group of investors by the Telsey Advisory Group, a leading research, trading, banking, and consulting brokerage firm focused on the consumer sector. The talk focused on the state of retail today and why investors need to understand the importance of omnichannel and digital capabilities for consumer and retail companies.
“Today’s hyper-connected shoppers expect to browse easily and seamlessly, and shop whenever, wherever, however, and with whomever they want. To remain competitive in this environment, retailers and brands must offer a superior experience throughout the entire customer journey,” explains Wu. “Some retailers and brands meet these customer demands by offering omnichannel capabilities, such as shared shopping carts across devices and buy-online-pick-up-in-store functionality. However, many others struggle to meet customer expectations. Omnichannel success is often a factor of aggressive investment in marketing, technology and operations - and this is not an easy task as these programs are often outdated."
Retailers struggling to meet customer expectations are also affected by other factors such as declines in store traffic and competition from online discount pricing and promotions. These factors can cause retailers to close or downsize their store footprint. But successful and growing retailers are leveraging and transforming their physical stores to offer a value-added experience while enabling each channel do what it does best. According to the NRF-FitForCommerce Omnichannel Retail Index (http://www.fitforcommerce.com/items/omnichannel-retail-index-2/), 86% of the benchmarked retailers offered shared cart between web and mobile sites to address the connected experience. In stores, 70% of retailers’ store associates offered to find an item online in another store, recognizing the importance of “save-a-sale."
When evaluating the investment potential of a retail organization, it is critical to understand how the organization is set up as a whole to succeed in today’s environment. Assessing the several dozen technologies a typical retailer uses is only a small fraction of the evaluation. The organization’s strategy should clearly define its digital plan, as the technologies are only tools used to support the strategy. With changes in consumer behavior, the retail industry is shifting and changing quickly. Continued growth in online, mobile and social media use indicates that digital commerce has a solid footing in the retail industry today.
To learn more about other key points shared during the talk and more information on how FitForCommerce can help you, please contact us: http://www.fitforcommerce.com/contact/.
About FitForCommerce
FitForCommerce (http://www.FitForCommerce.com) is the leading boutique ecommerce consultancy, helping hundreds of ecommerce and omnichannel businesses make informed investment decisions. Using years of experience, state-of-the-art tools, strategic diligence, and tactical planning, FitForCommerce facilitates retailers to define business and technical requirements to find their "best-fit" technology solutions, including ecommerce platforms, back-end systems and critical point solutions.
The NRF-FitForCommerce Omnichannel Retail Index is the industry’s premier study and benchmark of key omnichannel capabilities across retail touchpoints to assess the customer experience. The Innovation Office (http://theinnovationoffice.com/), powered by FitForCommerce, curates emerging technologies to help retailers keep up with and demystify innovation in the retail space.