The lack of visibility in omni-channel retailing is leading to lost sales, loyalty & revenue

Brussels (Belgium), 13 June 2017 - It is no secret that customer expectation for a consistent omni-channel retail experience continues to grow but what is the true business cost for retailers who aren’t yet joining up all the dots in their omni-channel service? Recent research conducted by Sapio Research on behalf of supply chain technology specialists Zetes, in association with Zebra Technologies, reveals just how customers are responding to subpar events and the way they expect a retailer to respond across all channels.

The issue for retailers is that customers have limited patience and expect their experience to be fast and efficient: the majority of customers (70%) would not be willing to wait for longer than five minutes in-store to find out whether an item is out of stock; 30% no longer than two minutes. Online, this customer behaviour continues. Within the grocery sector, 26% of respondents would look for a substitute or something similar online if their desired item wasn’t available, whilst 30% of consumers shopping for homeware and 31% for fashion would go to another website or abandon the whole purchase. The financial implications are very significant, with homeware stores losing up to 33% of their sales and fashion 31%, as a result of out of stock items.

Moreover, over three quarters (78%) of customers would consider not using a retailer again if a delivery was late or incomplete three times, with nearly a third (31%) prepared to accept just one late or incomplete delivery. If customers are employing the ‘three strikes and out’ rule in one channel, it is more than likely the same attitude is being applied across every channel, creating a significant impact on the customer experience, and by default, loyalty.

Customer expectations are undoubtedly reinforcing the need for strong supply chain models that combine a single view of inventory with accurate, real-time visibility and proactive monitoring. Yet while retailers agree that creating a single view of inventory is a priority, with 81% citing it as of high or critical importance, just 36% of retailers have to date achieved this goal.

Other key survey findings include:

than a third of retailers offer customers access to accurate inventory levels for products across all store locations and 45% offer no access to inventory levels at all
Just 20% of retailers are using automated systems that are updated in real time and only 19% of store associates can check product availability via a mobile device
Over half (58%) of consumers will be less likely to use a retailer if returning items is a challenging process

Gareth Thomas, Retail Business Consultant at Zetes comments: “Retailers know that any break in direct customer engagement can not only undermine the quality of experience but also result in a lost sale. Today however, most retailers’ store associates are operating blind, with no way of determining stock availability within the wider supply chain or store network and no way of fulfilling the customers’ requirements through click and collect or home delivery, without disengaging with the customer or having to take them to another part of the store.”

“While the intent is clear and retailers are heavily focused on improving the customer experience, the lack of real-time visibility across the supply chain is constraining them and is potentially causing more problems, and more lost revenue, than many realise. With the new war against competition fought not just on price and quality but on the ability to respond to the customer’s ever-changing and increasing expectations, achieving fast marginal gains and complete visibility throughout the supply chain will be a major differentiator in 2017 and will impact heavily on customer loyalty in the future.”

The research surveyed 2,022 consumers across Europe and 214 retailers in March 2017.

Download Zetes’ ‘Understanding the role of the store in omni-channel retailing’ report