Booming E-commerce is making the in-store business increasingly difficult. More customers order consumer electronics, clothing, accessories, and much more on the Internet and can conveniently have goods delivered or sometimes pick them up at the store. Shopping has become a popular pastime in our society, enabling online commerce around the clock. Despite the well-stocked department and retail stores, more and more goods are purchased online.
These favorable conditions alone are not enough for the success of online trading. Those online businesses who rely on self-service and staff reduction risk dissatisfaction among their customers. The strongest customer loyalty driver this year is the quality of the request processing via telephone or e-mail. The Internet buyer expects a straightforward return process and a quick and easy refund or settlement of the sale amount. Approximately 58% of customers feel that the shipping costs are too high, and, in this regard, brick-and-mortar retail can again score more points. To keep up with the high standard of service offered by online retailers, storefront retailers should always be courteous with complaints and returns. A misstep could cause the customer to migrate to e-commerce.
The sales force is often mentioned as an effective means of re-launching the success of brick-and-mortar retailing. This cannot be refuted since an online shop does not offer face-to-face contact and offer advice proactively. For the seller, the transaction is in the foreground, for the customer, often the advice. The buyer is thus, forced into a situation that makes it almost impossible to escape the sales situation without having made a purchase. With online shopping, there is no pressure, and this can attract customers who want a hassle-free buying experience.
For brick-and-mortar retail, it is becoming increasingly difficult to counter e-commerce – despite the potential for improvement that exists here as well. Stationary trade should, therefore, no longer consider itself separately from online trading but accept the challenge. This is not to perceive online trading as a separate sales channel, but to understand it as an opportunity for a further sales channel to tap into the maximum customer potential. Retailers should, therefore, not rely exclusively on their local customer service representatives but jump on the train of “Omni-channeling” and offer their goods on different distribution channels or at least be present there. This is of great importance in the wake of customers’ increasing cross-channel behavior, as many consumers first seek information on the Internet before they visit the office.
The trend towards “multi-channeling’ makes clear that customers want their dealers to have close interaction between both distribution channels. The future of brick-and-mortar retailing is not to hide the opportunities of e-commerce but to include them. E-commerce and stationary trade is a relationship with the future that handles delivering a consistent and coherent brand experience across distribution channels. It also delivers consistent customer experience. All activities across the channels should also be networked to end competitive advantage. Stationary retailing should continue to create sales experiences with the atmosphere in the stores. In the online trade, the clarity of the shop, as well as the availability of employees across all industries, are among the strongest customer loyalty drivers. From the customer’s point of view, and in addition, high-quality content should always be used when processing customer concerns, especially when exchanging.
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