Omni Channel Collaboration

Consumers are expanding and quickly changing their demands of the retailer to support their shopping and purchasing practices in an omni channel marketplace and collaboration is more important than ever for the new omni channel marketplace to meet the demands of the consumer.  Retailers are challenged now more than ever to support these changing demands due to the introduction of smartphones, expanding wireless capabilities and the expanding and growing mobile app capabilities.  A key to the speed of these changing demands is the speed in which new mobile capabilities and apps are delivered to consumers.  Consumers have embraced the mobile capabilities and are incorporating new functionality as quickly as it can be imagined by developers.

Consumers have always experimented with different methods and tools in their shopping and purchasing habits.  Mobile technology and the expansion, simplification and low cost of app development and delivery to the consumer is the driving force to the current changes in consumer shopping and purchasing.  This new twist in delivery and utilization of technology has put a great deal of control in the consumer’s hands to support their experimentation and new demands.  These new capabilities have allowed and encouraged consumers to collaborate in their shopping and purchasing in ways that were simply never available to provide a means to shop any time and any where.  While retailers have been focused on the purchase and have been segregating that purchase to a channel consumers have been focused on shopping and collaborating with other consumers.  These consumer shopping practices have had a tremendous impact on the omni channel retailer in ways that retailers are only now beginning to realize.

Retailers must now focus on collaboration across the entire marketplace in order to meet and maintain their abilities to continue to meet consumer demands.  Major retailers must focus on the shopping and the relationship with consumers and other partners in the supply chain in order to sustain their sales and retain consumers.  Retailers must focus on new tools and opportunities to retain the customer for life.  Retailers are realizing now that a focus on the lowest cost to draw and retain customers is a losing strategy that cannot be maintained.  The key to consumer retention is collaboration and a focus on the social aspect of shopping that will encourage the consumer to return to social with the retailer and other consumers and can be supported from any platform.  

Retailers will succeed by developing the relationship with consumers and providing a place and methods for consumers to congregate and collaboration, a social shopping platform.  This platform requires collaboration across all partners related to the retailer supply chain to support the changing demands of the consumer.  Providing this type of social shopping platform will allow the retailer to replace their losing low price strategy with a strategy that will support their long term success.

And now for the audience participation portion of the show…

ECommerce will have wide ranging impacts on both the retail and manufacturing sectors.  How can you focus these abilities to improve the consumer's experience?  Improving the consumer’s experience will require a re-evaluation of the sales channels, the manufacturing channels and practices and the supply chain channels and practices from the raw materials to the consumers’ homes.  In order to ensure and maintain success in this new reality you must harness the tools and capabilities in many new areas.  How can you support these continuously changing requirements?