Retail cannot survive on mechanisms alone

There’s a lot of talk currently about customer experience and the way in which shopping is becoming redefined as omnichannel. The thinking is that this multichannel approach to sales and marketing should deliver a consistent and high quality customer experience across all channels. 

We don’t doubt that, when done well, this approach will be a new way forward within the retail sector. But the danger here is that, in focussing on these evolving strategies and tools, retailers will be drawn away from the one basic truth: without a quality product, no amount of marketing or sales mechanisms will deliver a successful, sustainable business. 

In fact, more than ever, the quality of your product should be central to your offering. With so many different channels through which to reach, engage and sell to customers, any ‘fluff’ will soon be stripped away. And with social media cutting across global consumer boundaries, a shoddy product will soon be exposed, causing immediate and perhaps irreparable damage to your brand. 

Another temptation in expanding your marketing reach is to be all things to all people: to expand your product offering so that it appeals to a larger cross-section of your potential audience. This thinking is dead-end and out-dated. Current research shows that consumers are increasingly demanding a more personalised experience, one where retailers understand what they want and give it to them - even offering it before the customer has realised they want it! The way to deliver this is to be clear about who your customer is and what they want, and then to offer them a curated range of products that appeal.  

Customers are overwhelmed with choices. What smart retailers are realising is that carefully curated products, chosen for their relevance to their target consumer and delivered through the right retail channels, as part of a consistently good customer experience, is the only way forward in an increasingly competitive retail sector.