In today’s InternetRetailing newsletter we’re reporting as, at one end of the spectrum, Mountain Warehouse posts record results while opening shops both in the UK and in international markets including New Zealand, and multichannel luxury retailer Watches of Switzerland raises millions by floating on the stockmarket. At the other end of the spectrum, Gap gives more detail of its plans to close stores, and both Arcadia Group and Monsoon Accessorize are expected to put plans for CVAs to landlords over the next week.
What all have in common is their multichannel model, and the need to balance their online and store presence in order to satisfy customer demand both to see, touch and feel products for themselves before they buy, and to take convenient delivery of the items they want to buy. There are no easy answers as to how each brand or retailer can strike that balance – each will find that their path to customer satisfaction is a different one, depending on what they sell and who they sell it to. It is also a challenge perhaps more easily solved by those with smaller footprints that can open stores rather than needing to close them. At the heart of this puzzle is the continuing fact that many shoppers do still want to buy from a choice of locations, in the way that is most convenient to them at any given moment. Retailers are working to achieve cross-channel customer experiences that best reflect the needs of their shoppers at a time of intense competition for constrained consumer spending. We take a look at the solution that coffee brand Nespresso came up with in our case study from the just-published RetailX Brand Index 2019.
Today’s guest comment comes from Zulay Regalado of Nosto who suggests six ways that retailers can win over the mobile shopper.
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