Risks and Rewards with Unified Commerce - Interview with Grant Harland and Eddie Kane

Recently sat down with Eddie Kane and Grant Harland with Windstream Enterprise, a leading provider of connectivity and IT Services to number to a number of leading retailers in the US to discuss a recently published report on changes within the retailers and customer expectations.

As an IT Consultant with a focus on solutions impacting the customer experience, the study’s findings had a few surprises and in particular the heightened customer expectations. A couple of findings stood out.

In short, we research the product online and do not want to wait to get it, preferring to pick it up or have it delivered immediately and will overwhelmingly choose the retailers that offer these benefits. Thinking about the companies that are succeeding and the ones that are struggling these 3 points seem to line up.

Brian: What is also interesting to me are the opportunities for most retailers to improve, according to your information only 32% even offer the same-day delivery, and slightly more than half of making it easy for their customers to make the transaction. 

Grant: Yes, that is quite the challenge, we also found that less than a third of the retailers we spoke to had the ability to say start a sales online say while they were doing the initial research and finish the sale via the contact center. This kind of personalized experience is becoming not only a key differentiator but a requirement if you want to capture the transaction or lose it to a competitor.

Eddie: I would also add that “nice-to-have” services such as buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS), curbside pickup, food delivery, contactless payment, and self-checkout have since become must-haves for commerce under social distancing. These activities in our current state are essential to the survival of the brand.

Brian: From what I read a lot of the research was done prior to the pandemic, I can only imagine that these trends have accelerated. You also speak to retailers focusing on what you describe as Unified Commerce priorities. It was interesting that “Create a consistent brand experience across channels” was the leading focus – with 59% listing this as their top area in need of improvement. 

Grant: Well consider the top three customer expectations, we live in a world where I may work at home on my laptop or tablet, drawn into social media for entertainment, and occasionally enter the physical world outside my home or office. The company that makes it the easiest for me to purchase what I need will earn my business.

Eddie: Global companies like Amazon and local companies like H-E-B have thrived in this area, making it very easy to add everyday items like groceries to your shopping cart as you find you are in need. The other morning I realized I was running dangerously low on coffee, using my H-E-B on my mobile phone I immediately added the item to my pick up in-store (BOPIS) shopping cart that I pick up at the curb each Tuesday.

Brian: Great point, and as technology-focused professionals in the space, we recognize that these initiatives can be complex with a number of pitfalls and risks to the brand if you do not execute well. This leads me to the next part of your study where less than 1 and 5 retailers that have implemented a unified commerce strategy shared that it was actually working well.

Grant: Well this ideal platform that combines centralized inventory management, integrated CRM, predictive analytics, and real-time retail can be challenging.

To get it right you need a platform that provides a single version of the truth across all channels to enable transparency for inventory, product, and customer information. By moving the heart of the transaction, merchandising, and fulfillment activities to a centralized platform, retailers allow their digital commerce applications to be more innovative and agile—and contribute to the personalized, ubiquitous, and seamless experience customers expect.

In short, buying how I want, personalized to my preferences and I geting it quick.

Brian: Very insightful - the following link offers the full study for those who would like more details.

I want to thank you both for sharing I have enjoyed over the years working closely with the Windstream Enterprise Retail, definitely an innovative team of retail management consultants that combine deep retail business knowledge and cross-functional capabilities to deliver superior design and implementation of strategy, technology, and process solutions. Your unique combination of industry focus, knowledge-based approach, and agile, end-to-end solution deployment helps clients achieve their business potential.

Looking forward to the updated 2021 study that will be out in a few months!