Define and refine–reimagine the omnichannel experience

In order to meet that increased demand for conveniences – as well as other consumer preferences post-Covid – retailers must revisit their strategies and evolved them to provide a truly effective omnichannel experience.

“We are on a journey to make everything easier, requiring fewer clicks to purchases, making the route very clear and obvious,” says Matthew Dean, VP of Global Ecommerce at Hugo Boss.?

“It’s a path we were on before, but now it’s obvious that some websites did not make enough progress before Covid, while the improvements we made gave us a disproportionate market share gain versus our competitors.”

For Dean, a major change to online retail came from older consumers either buying online for the first time or increasing activity, a phenomenon that helped to solidify existing best practices involving visibility, simplicity and ease of purchase.

Data from Google backs up the theory. Taking a cross-section of people in the UK shopping for beauty products, it shows 54% over the age of 55 did not want to visit stores during the pandemic, making it their top reason to buy online.

For 18-to-34 year-olds, ease of browsing, delivery, choice and convenience all rated higher, with just 26% citing Covid-19 as a reason to avoid the high street. The figures suggest retailers have a golden chance to win the digital loyalty of hordes of new customers in older age brackets.

As the report states: “For retailers who have previously relied on older demographics for footfall and in-store purchases, a re-evaluation may be necessary in terms of how the physical store can complement, rather than compete with, online.”

Across all age sectors, the research shows that the shift online sped up in 2020 and that the changes are enduring. Nowhere is this more evident than in fashion, where consumers flooded online during the lockdown period.

Before the pandemic, 29% of people looking for new clothes shopped either mostly or exclusively online, a figure which climbed to 63% after the outbreak and settled at 57% in people’s projections for the next six months.

Conversely, in-store intentions dropped from 41% to 17%, where they have remained.

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This article is part of Savant Events whitepaper 'Powering up: seizing the post-Covid online retail opportunity' tackling how online retailers can power up their ecommerce offering to meet new customer expectations and seize opportunities for growth in a post-Covid world.?Download the whitepaper here.