Holiday Season Omnichannel iPaper

Wrap Up the Holiday Season with Omnichannel Cheer

The pandemic has changed shopping behaviors for at least the near future; if not for good. And omnichannel strategies play a more significant role now than ever before, and their importance will only increase over time. Let’s take a quick look at the numbers.

It’s time to accept our new reality and capture every opportunity this season presents

Four steps to ensure your stores capture every omnichannel opportunity

STEP 1: Complete an Omnichannel Health Check

With the answers to these questions in hand, you will be able to optimize those critical processes and increase both efficiency and profitability.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Order Routing Be ready for business to shift from the stores to ecommerce this Black Friday. Expect ecommerce to explode during this time period since customers may still be trying to avoid crowds. Fulfillment centers will easily back up, and identifying which ecommerce orders should go where can help flatten the curve. Build Allocation Rules for the seven days after Black Friday to shift some single unit order demand to distribution stores and away from fulfillment centers.

Take a look at your allocation rules. See when they were last changed and if they still make sense.

Take a look at your performance reporting.

Take a look at how omnichannel is performing for your enterprise.

Do you review omni-profitability? What is your operating margin for omnichannel sales?

Visit some stores and watch the process to see where you can make improvements. Knowing how you are doing now will give you a baseline for improvements going forward.

What is your order reject rate for Ship from Store & BOPIS? Do you know how long it takes to fill an order?

Omni’s rising impact and Holiday 2020

If COVID consumer behavior continues, these 3 categories will grow significantly for Holiday 2020:

• Buy online • Buy online, ship from store (BOSFS) • Buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS)

$450

$400

$350

$300

$250

$200

$150

$100

$50

Average Omni Impact 4Q Holiday Sales

Pre-Omni

Avg 4Q18

Avg 4Q19

Web

BISSFW

BOSFS

BISSFS

BOPIS

BISPIS

BOPIS alone grew 39% overall in the US 2019, and that was before the pandemic hit. Pandemic-induced behavior changes will see buy online; buy online, ship from store (BOSFS); and buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS) grow significantly for holiday 2020. Key Takeaway: If stores are not plugged into and ready to support these processes, retailers will lose out on the most significant opportunities for growth in 2020.

Omni’s rising impact and Holiday 2020

Source: Adobe

Key elements of an Omnichannel Health Check

LY Lessons Learned and Best Practices

Fulfillment Logic

Inclusions, Exclusions and Protections

Fill and Cancel Rates

Store Supplies

Need help completing your health check? We’ve got you covered. Email us today to get started.

STEP 2: Prepare your distribution stores

In all likelihood, there will be a spike in web traffic this year during the holiday season. Make sure to identify the stores you’ll use primarily for ecommerce fulfillment. If you have stores in centers that have been hit by closing anchors, think about setting up some of them as dedicated distribution stores. Add product and labor over the holiday to deliver faster in metro markets.

STEP 3: Take steps to minimize order backlogs

STEP 4: Market buy online, pickup in store

If you have BOPIS capabilities, don’t miss your opportunity to shout it out from the rooftops! Customers need to know what options are available and this way you can extend your ecommerce business the week of Christmas.

To prevent order back-logs (and also unhappy customers):

Prioritize stores for fulfillment after Black Friday rush is over

Focus stores on single unit orders

Adjust your Fulfillment Logic and adjust it again when done

Plan for the additional labor and supplies to handle the influx

Remember to:

Prominently display BOPIS message on your site

Include BOPIS in any final marketing messaging

Build a conversion plan for pick up

Plan for the additional labor and supplies to handle BOPIS

Finally, be sure to build a whole-house conversion plan with store ops, marketing and planning. Make sure your store associates know which items are available at checkout. Build a conversion plan for in-store promos working together with store operations, marketing and planning. Make it super easy for your associates to add another sale at the register. And if you don’t already know your store conversion rate, make sure to track it now and throughout the holidays.

often than they did before the pandemic began

4X more

Shoppers are choosing BOPIS

of all retail orders and 98% of retailers surveyed indicate they get additional in-store purchases from BOPIS customers

40%

BOPIS orders now make up almost

Source: Yieldify

And finally, if you have a small retail footprint, have you considered a curbside pickup strategy to shorten lines?

Curbside Pickup has definitely picked up

Source: McKinsey

of consumers say they use curbside pickup more than before the pandemic

13%

of consumers have begun using curbside pickup since the pandemic began

47%

intend to continue using curbside once the pandemic subsides

Let’s Wrap Up Holiday 2020

While this holiday season may be very different than previous years, retailers shouldn’t expect to find coal in their stockings when it comes to profit. With the right planning and strategies around omnichannel, holiday 2020 can be quite successful for retailers. It’s time for retailers to build out their plan so they can have a very festive end to the year! And an even better 2021.

Get your omnichannel health check today.

Limited capacity in stores leads to lines outside the store, where curbside commerce can help bust those lines without the need for customers to enter the store.

Did you know?

Curbside Pickup has definitely picked up

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Aptos is the largest provider of enterprise software focused exclusively on retail. Our cloud-based Singular Retail™ solutions are trusted by over 1,000 retail brands in over 65 countries. With industry-leading omnichannel commerce and merchandise lifecycle management solutions, we help retailers develop dynamic and responsive assortments, streamline operations and deliver integrated, seamless experiences… wherever shoppers choose to engage. More than 1,300 colleagues share our collective passion for engaging customers differently, and we are committed to developing relationships built on trust and tangible value by partnering with our clients to create agile retail enterprises that are built to thrive in an era of constant change. Learn more at aptos.com

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Key steps to setting up distribution stores

Select locations close to your ecommerce demand

Stage additional inventory

Prioritize the stores in your fulfillment logic

Plan for additional labor and supplies