Omni Channel Control Tower Analysis

The retailer cannot hope to maintain success in the changing marketplace without data collection and analysis capabilities.  The control tower concept provides the framework to capture and store data for analysis that can then be used in the future by the retailer and also their supply chain partners.  This is important to identify the success of trends and new tools along with trends and new tools run their course and are replaced by new trends and tools.  The importance of collecting data for analysis is nothing new and this omni channel control tower framework simply provides the foundation for quickly and efficiently collecting data for analysis across the consumer multi channel shopping and purchasing without being impacted by changes in tools and functionality.

Data collection is becoming more and more critical to the success of retailers and for this reason it is important to provide a standard framework that will not be greatly impacted by the discontinuous change experienced in the retail marketplace.  Unfortunately, it is easy to overlook the data collection needs when in the middle of upheaval and this is why it is so important to build the data collection framework into the omni channel control tower.  The amount of change that is being driven into the retail market with no sign of the volume of change slowing in the future retailers must develop this standard framework to collect data so that they can both support the volume and velocity of change while maintaining the ability to measure outcome.

It is more important than ever that retailers have the ability to monitor both activities by consumers across the retail shopping and purchasing practices along with monitoring the impact and results of tools and features across the multi channel market.  These measurements must be analyzed across the entire multi channel consumer interaction with the retailer due to the changes in shopping and purchasing capabilities that are being embraced by the consumer.  Consumers are no longer segmenting there shopping and purchasing by channel and retailers must also view the relationship along with shopping and purchasing across all channels.

Retailers must recognize the importance and the impact that mobile technology will continue to have on the marketplace and their challenge is to embrace these changes to retain and grow their customer base and sales.  This will require a two pronged approach to support; first the integration of the technology and the new demands of the consumer, and second the integration of data collection and analysis tools that will allow them to analyze trends and the consumer demands related to these trends.   The omni channel control tower provides the concept and the structure necessary to efficiently and cost effectively support this two pronged approach in a manner that allows the change to be integrated into the consumer shopping and purchasing capabilities without impacting the retailer legacy business systems.

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?