How Brick-and-Mortars Can Thrive in an Omnichannel Retail Reality - AccuStore

The conversation around omnichannel used to be about not losing market share to online retailers. Now it’s about realizing that a customer’s path to purchase may take a number of twists and turns. The fact is, omnichannel is making retail management much more complex, and that is impacting all areas, from operations to marketing.

Case in point:

• Social media is speeding up trends, making speed to market critical. Those new buzzwords, “fast fashion,” can apply to more than just getting what’s on the runways in store fast; it can relate to your ability to quickly quench the customer’s need for newness in all areas of the store.
• Smartphones are becoming the new personal shopper that your customers uses to do product and price research before they get to your store – and also to assist them once they’re inside the store. They are “showrooming” and “reverse showrooming.” They know as much about your merch and your competition as you do.
• Customers demand a great experience with your brand each and every time they shop. Social media is their way of letting you know if they did. Only it’s not just you they’re telling. It’s also their megaphone to the world. Besides asking their friends if they should buy a product at your store, they’ll also be sure to let everyone know if they’ve had a bad experience.

Yes, retail is definitely challenging in the omnichannel environment. It’s become much more important to integrate the online and offline, and create a seamless experience across all customer touch points. It’s also critical that you always know what’s going on in your stores, in real time. Retailers can sometimes spend weeks and months gathering the store data needed to implement new marketing and operations initiatives. But you need to see your stores the same way your store managers do.

AccuStore® can help you modernize retail management to operate faster and more efficiently. It can help you identify opportunities to optimize the customer experience in your stores. To drive traffic, you need to better understand your markets and your customers. The sooner you can get product in stores, the sooner you can measure and refine. That starts with accurate site data and AccuStore can help. We can ensure you know what’s happening in your stores in real time.

Here are the 5 steps you need to take to compete effectively in an omnichannel world:

1. Conduct web surveys to get the answers and insights you need instantly – with photos, too.
2. Set up a centralized, secure data platform that you can access anytime will help you make more informed decisions on the spot.
3. Organize your stores’ historic data by site to help you quickly spot market trends and give you the intelligence to set your stores up for success.
4. Obtain accurate information about every store to help marketing plan and execute better campaigns that can be tailored by site.
5. Use photo captures to confirm your stores are brand-consistent and set up correctly for sales.

P.S. All five of the above steps are easy to accomplish in minutes with the AccuStore app. Let AccuStore help you find the right path for your brand, based on your customer mix and physical store assets.