Out in the cold
For those of us living in the Midwest — and perhaps throughout the country — we have become familiar with a weather term "polar vortex." No doubt you've heard the phrase pinging around the news media in recent weeks. One of the coldest Arctic outbreaks in two decades has blanketed a significant portion of our country, bringing bitterly cold temperatures to the Midwest, South, and East.
This unusually cold weather has likely put a deep freeze on retail sales, also. Not only did the retail sector experience a lackluster holiday shopping season, but now they are also hit with the reality that some shoppers are simply not going out into the cold. The winners may very well be online retailers.
What could this signal for traditional brick-and-mortar operators? It’s time to develop an omnichannel strategy before it’s too late. I’m not suggesting that these retailers dip their toes into the icy water, but rather they take a polar plunge … without hesitation.
Here are five strategies for retailers who want to get started:
Make it personal – engaging customers in a dialogue across all of their desired platforms in a consistent, meaningful way is paramount
Create synergy – the mobile and in-store experiences should appear seamless (disparity will undermine clarity)
Tap social media – reach shoppers when and where they are through effective alignment of social media assets and transactional sites
Reward shoppers – offer reasons for shoppers not only to be loyal, but to keep coming back, bringing others with them
Assortment strategy – consistently display products with up-to-date images, content, and details to make shopping easier while guiding a shopper’s path to purchase to fill their market basket
The evolution towards an integrated physical, digital, mobile, and social shopping experience is underway. Retailers are increasingly moving towards cross-channel customer experiences. It will be interesting to see what happens and what works – but the chill of this winter should motivate many to get moving.
Hamacher Resource Group vice president Dave Wendland, a 20-plus-year retail industry veteran, is a popular presenter and discussion facilitator available to speak at corporate and association events on a variety of retail-related topics. HRG is a research, marketing and category management firm specializing in consumer health care at retail. Product manufacturers, healthcare distributors, retailers, technology partners and others rely on HRG for strategic and creative solutions to help build their business. Learn more at www.hamacher.com.