How data helps omnichannel retailers meet customer expectations

How does unifying your online and offline consumer data help gain the edge when it comes to providing a smooth company-consumer experience? This was a key topic of discussion at the recent NG Omnichannel summit.

It’s becoming progressively more challenging for omnichannel retailers to keep up with customers’ demands, and the rise of technology has certainly contributed to increasing consumer expectations. That’s according to executives we spoke with at the recent NG Omnichannel Summit, where the complexity of the customer journey was top of mind.

Ajit Sivadasan, VP/GM Global, Lenovo:

“Driven by technology, driven by phones, tablets and PCs and the way we consume information… the journey is becoming very complex, and customer expectations are going up at the same time. So your inability to deal with the customer expectations in a seamless manner is going to be a significant challenge for brands.”

Whilst many of those at the summit were concerned by these difficulties, others found the challenges hugely exciting.

Brian Winn, VP Digital Acqusitions, Wells Fargo:

“What most excites me about omnichannel is just ensuring that we have a consistent customer experience. Make life easy for our customers, make it easy for our customers to do business with us. And so I just when I think about the challenge of bringing online and offline together in a cohesive way, it’s very exciting.”

Combining consumer data across channels can provide a more complete view of a customers’ purchase journey – which may help retailers adapt their selling methods to suit customers on a personal level.

Matthew Woolsey, Barneys’ executive vice president for digital, believes it’s important for Barneys to look at shoppers’ behaviour across both the online and offline channels. He explained that whilst shoppers might not appear interested in a product online, they may actually be interested in purchasing that product offline. Therefore, the company shouldn’t stop suggesting certain products to certain customers on their website.

This indicates that omnichannel is moving towards a more personal company-consumer experience, and that’s only possible by using unified data.

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