Multichannel retailing involves selling merchandise through multiple distribution channels including stores, online, mobile, catalog, and phone. While many retailers claim that they are engaged in cross-channel sales, studies indicate that retailers are not managing cross-channel marketing as well as they think.
Surveys indicate that just 12% of retailers (excluding Walmart) had the in-store ability to access or review a customer’s online order. This means that associates in the store can look up what a customer has purchased online. This type of access is useful especially is a customer is trying to match their items they bought online with more complementary items in the store. Leaders in multichannel marketing include Target, Best Buy, and Sears. Target, for example, leads the industry with mobile technology. Sears and Best Buy have an integrated platform to service customers both in stores and online.
Research also indicates that almost 50% of retailers are not optimizing collaborative filtering, which is the process of providing tailored recommendations to customers. Retailers that can provide relevant recommendations to a customer can expect higher sales and profits as well as develop a loyal customer that enjoys the fact that the retailer always knows what she wants.
While some retailers are leading the way in cross-channel shopping, there are still numerous opportunities for retailers. Many retailers are not capitalizing on mobile commerce functions including localization. This means that retailers’ mobile sites accessible by phone do not always provide a store locator function helping the customer determine their closest store. On a real-time basis, retailers can also access customers that are close to their stores and send them targeted promotions to encourage them to come into the store that they are close to.
Discussion Questions:
- What is multichannel marketing?
- Which retailers are most successful at multichannel marketing and why?
Sarah Mahoney, “Best Buy, Sears, Target Lead in Cross-Channel,” MarketingDaily, August 29, 2011.
Grewal Levy Marketing News 
I think stores are indeed missing a potentially huge market. With the ease of mobile internet shopping, consumers are more and more frequently buy the same or auxilairy products as they see in the store.
Companies such as Best Buy could increase sales and profits by utilizing online store capabilities, browsing history and information and transmit that information to floor employess. These employees when interacting with customers would then be able to capture the consumer profile, know what product the consumer has been looking at, and then offer assitance. For example, armed with the knowledge that a consumer has just purchased a television, the employee could reccomend a blu-ray player or sofa.
The IT system could also make more informed reccomendations that the employees could follow, using units similar to the ones carried by Apple store employees.
This article makes it very obvious that multichannel marketing is extremely important. The retailers that are most successful at multichannel marketing are some of the largest names that everyone recognizes. The problem with catching up to these large retailers and their multichannel marketing is that it takes an enormous financial commitment. Many of the smaller retailers cannot make this financial commitment and stay in business. This gives the large retailers a huge advantage, and as long as they continue strong investment into multichannel marketing, they should be able to continue to gain market share and profitability over the smaller retailers.