Omnichannel comes of age with new index

OCTOBER 1, 2015 | BY DAN BERTHIAUME

The National Retail Federation (NRF) and e-digital consultancy FitforCommerce are launching the Omnichannel Retail Index to help retailers benchmark against industry best practices.

This first-of-its-kind bi-annual report examines 120 retailers across multiple categories and their use of omnichannel strategies across web, mobile and store. A variety of strategies that align back-end systems to provide a consistent front-end experience across all channels, including buy online pick up in store, real-time inventory availability and mobile optimized websites.

In July 2015, FitForCommerce used a mystery shopping method to evaluate specific omnichannel offerings and capabilities across Web and mobile sites, as well as in-store.

Some of the key findings in the report include:
• Half of the bricks-and-mortar Index retailers show in-store product availability on their product detail pages;
• Another half let customers look up in-store inventory on their mobile device;
• 23% offer buy online pick up in store options for their customers;
• 84% let registered customers see a bag or a cart that is consistent across different platforms;
• Nearly half of multichannel retailers provide in-store signage designed to educate shoppers about their omninchannel offerings (buy online pick up in store, reserve online, etc.);
• Three out of five retailers in the Index offer “save for later” functionality with their online shopping cart;
• Half of the retailers offer free return shipping; and
• Three-quarters of the retailers in the Index offer a “click to call” service feature on their mobile websites.

The establishment of this index, especially with the leading retail trade organization as a founding partner, demonstrates that the age of omnichannel has truly arrived. “Omnichannel” has essentially come to be a synonym for modern retailing, which out of necessity must meet the needs of constantly connected customers whose lives cross between physical, online and mobile channels.

“In an increasingly competitive landscape, retailers are taking a truly customer-centric approach to running their business and developing innovative solutions to meet their customers’ expectations,” said NRF senior VP and Shop.org executive director Vicki Cantrell. “The Omnichannel Retail Index provides the industry an in-depth and practical method to benchmark their organization’s initiatives in the digital space against best practices from around the industry and all the methods that exist when it comes to how customers engage with brands across all touchpoints.”

The industry is approaching the point where omnichannel becomes as assumed a capability as basic e-commerce, with the Internet of Things (IoT) on the horizon as the next emerging retail IT practice. Historically forward-thinking retailers such as Amazon.com, which is enabling automatic shopping via smart device with its Amazon Dash service, are already starting to offer IoT-based retailing.

"Brands and retailers need to or already are concentrating enormous resources on enabling the omnichannel customer, whether the brand or retailer calls it omnichannel or not,” said Bernardine Wu, CEO of FitForCommerce. “The Omnichannel Retail Index is a guide for vetting business cases and prioritizing investments, especially because today’s innovations become tomorrow’s best practices, which become the next day’s table stakes.”

The next index is slated for release in 2016. The NRF-FitforCommerce partnership may lead to future content, research and thought leadership in omnichannel.