10 Omnichannel Retail Statistics You Can’t Avoid
Do you know where your customers are coming from? I’m sure you do. But, what might be harder to find out is where you are losing out on sales. In retail, the old saying goes “If it’s not on the floor, they’re not buying it”. That’s still true today. But, let’s add a second sentence to that line. “If the right item isn’t in stock on your website store, they’re going to another website”. It’s maybe not as smooth, but you get the idea.
Companies have always held a strong urgency to ensure their shelves are stocked with the right merchandise at brick and mortar operations. So why do so many not put the same emphasis with their online sales? The answer for some is that the online sales just aren’t as lucrative. But, maybe the online sales would be better if the items consumers were looking for were actually in stock! Online shoppers are much more finicky than in store shoppers. Shoppers that come to your store have already made a larger commitment than an online shopper. If an in store shopper can’t find what their looking for, they’re much more likely to just buy another similar item at your store since it saves time.
Meanwhile, an online shopper can browse dozens of competitor websites if the item they want is not on your site. This is what omnichannel retail is all about. Focusing your attention to where your customers could come from, not just where currently are. To do this, company’s must improve their inventory visibility and supply chain efficiency. That’s the key. It’s a challenge for companies to do it themselves.
That’s why CYBRA created Edgefinity IoT. But, if you think omnichannel retail is some sort of buzzword phrase, here are 10 statistics that might get you to think otherwise.
50% of Consumers Expect to Buy Online and Be Able Pick Up In-Store (Source: Business2Community.com)
Buying online, and then picking up in store is the epitome of omnichannel retail success. Yet, only a small percentage of brands are doing it right now. And even less currently have the ability to do so. Picking up in store requires a company’s inventory to be very well organized. Many online retailers place high “sold out” thresholds on their items to avoid over-extending their in-store pick up capability. In order to offer in-store pick up, you need the right capabilities. And, you might want to get started with a solution, since half the consumer market is looking for this.
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Companies with omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain on average 89% of their customers, compared to 33% for companies with weak omnichannel customer engagement. (Source: Aberdeen Group VIA OneReach.com)
A whopping 56% of your clientele fails to become returning customers if you don’t have an omnichannel strategy implemented. That’s a huge difference. Add that to the fact that acquiring new customers can cost 3 times as much as it would to sell to an existing customer. Bottom line, you should be doing everything you can to bring back your customers.
71% of in-store shoppers who use smartphones for research say their device has become more important to their in-store experience (Source: Google VIA DialogTech.com).
Connecting online research with in store buying is a genius marketing tactic that will only work if your inventory is accurately in correlation with what’s online. Example – a loyal customer sees there is a sale at your store, sees a few items they like on your ecommerce page, and receives a coupon from your store in their email. When they go to your store, they can use the coupon, and know exactly what item they’re getting. That’s the kind of pleasant shopping experience consumers are looking for.
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There’s not much to decipher from this statistic. Online shoppers buy clothing and shoes more than anything. That’s great news if you’re in retail. But, if you can’t keep your inventory on track with your online presence, you’ll miss out on a ton of potential sales. If the right item size or color isn’t available, the buyer can just go to another site. And, if the item doesn’t get delivered quickly, the shopper will likely not become a returning customer. The success of online commerce relies heavily on inventory accuracy.
50% of retailers say their international sales have increased in a share of revenue since the last year. (Source: Retail-Week.com)
If you’re in the 50% whose sales aren’t coming from other countries, this should give you pause. An enormous amount of markets are going completely untapped, and for no good reason. If you have any confidence in your goods or products, then there’s no reason why you can’t offer them and ship them without any problems. Common excuses are the difficulty in fulfilling orders, and customer acquisition, right? Both are things that an omni-channel strategy should fix.
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58% of the time spent in the store during an in-store pick up is actually spent at the checkout desk. (Source: StellaService VIA PFSWeb.com)
This statistic should tell you that your purchasing process can cause your customers fits. Another reason to offer the ability to buy online, then pick up in store. Think about it – the people who want to be able to buy online and pick up in store are the people who don’t want to wait. So by offering the service will satisfy them, and remove them from the long lines, which shrinks the other lines (which will make the shopping experience of the other customers better, too!)
The opportunity cost of not being omnichannel is 10% in lost revenue. (Source RIS/EKN Customer Engagement Tech Trends Study VIA VendHQ.com)
If you were wondering how much money there is to be lost or gained, here is a direct quote from the statistic above…”For a multi-million dollar retailer this is hundreds of thousands of dollars. For a billion dollar retailer it is $100 million. For every retailer it is a lot of money.”
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According to a survey conducted by Retail Systems Research in June 2013, around 84% of the retailers polled worldwide believed that creating a consistent customer experience across channels was very important.
If an item is on sale on your website, it needs to be on sale at your store. If that shirt comes in XXL, then XXL needs to be available on your website, and at your store. And, it’s not just retail executives saying this. Your customers are craving the ability to use any device, and find your goods. By improving your product visibility, you make the purchasing process much easier for your customers.
According to a 2015 study by IDC, shoppers that buy on multiple channels have a 30% higher lifetime value than those who shop using only one channel (IDC VIA ThinkWithGoogle)
In other words, if your goods are readily available for purchase on every conceivably medium, you stand a much higher chance at converting more sales. If a customer loves your products, but knows that there is only 1 place on earth to get them, how often can you possible expect them to come back? Especially when they can buy similar goods elsewhere and much more easily.
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Forrester Research has predicted that US online retail will exceed $325 billion in sales in 2015, with web-influenced in store sales totaling more than $1.4 trillion. (Forrester Research VIA Tellapart.com)
What this all boils down to is customer behavior. 81% of consumers do online research before making a purchasing decision. But, those same consumers are still heading to the physical retail stores to make those purchases. Even if you don’t sell heavily online, or overseas, or have large inventory, not having your inventory, supply chain, and ecommerce efforts in lockstep is costing you money.