Shopping online is here to stay, whether you like it or not.
A decade ago, shopping online meant you would sit on your computer at home,
browse a few pages of the catalog of your favorite retailer and buy if
something if something piqued your interest. Then came search, for those select
few who know exactly what they are looking for to buy. Today, the online
shopping behavior has evolved considerably, including the choice of purchasing
venues (sellers), price, mediums (channels), payment options and the whole
shopping experience overall.
From a
shopper’s experience, it is great to have multiple avenues to shop, compare
service and price before finally making a purchase. But the race to get the
next great shopping deal has put retailers to adapt (or die) to an evolving
retail marketing landscape. Retailers are scrambling to offer new commerce
solutions to its customers, trying to hamper down the massive problems that
rise in the aftermath of purchasing. Enter omni-channel commerce.
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| Sujai Shriram |
You drop off and
drive to the game where the line is long. So fire up your iPhone and go to the
site, pick back up on your shopping and buy that beautiful black dress. But you
need it tomorrow. You call the customer service, who didn’t ask a million
questions but refreshingly, picked up your phone number and greeted you by your
first name. Not just that, as soon as you mentioned your request to change the
delivery to ship-to-home to in-store-pick up, they instantly told you the order
# and after confirming, changed the delivery. There was a small upcharge, but
since you were such a nice customer, they even gift wrapped it for free! Now,
that’s omni-channel commerce.
And behind every smooth customer
experience, lies a team of thinkers, strategists, technologists and elves that
work tirelessly, jumping through a various hoops, fighting the odds and bending
technology to do amazing things every day. Just to make shopping delightful,
easy, safe and most importantly, work for you when you most need it.
