Retailers in 2016: What lies in store and beyond

Those are some pretty big numbers. Reports also show that 44% of shoppers globally are more likely to purchase online if they are able to pick up in-store.

What does this mean for Brick n Mortar Retailers? A lot of opportunities –

Ship from Store:

Collaborate with e-tailers, manufacturers, and marketplaces to fulfill their online orders through inventory in stores. Many brick and mortar retailers are shipping orders of marketplaces and brands directly from the store.

Sell on marketplaces to reach customers across borders:

Irrespective of the locations of the physical stores, retailers can work with platforms like Aramex, Anchanto to sell to customers globally. Another interesting opportunity is to collaborate with marketplaces and sell some of your products there, if not the whole catalog. Could also be an interesting way to manage markdowns and improve profitability.

Provide convenience across channels for customers making the client relationships sticky:

Smart Multi-channel retailers are trying to go the extra mile to offer conveniences to their customers. Investments are being made for improvements in processes, organizational structures, and inventory across both online and offline channels. Some of the conveniences include Ship from Store, Reserve and Collect, Inventory Lookups before visiting the store. These conveniences help to build deeper customer loyalty which in turn can create additional revenues for Brick n Mortar Retailers.

The deal inked between Kishore Biyani’s Future Group and the Amazon group is one such example. In summary, the surge in online revenues promises to open up multiple additional new revenue streams for brick n mortar retailers.

To make the best of these opportunities, some of the key challenges to ponder over include:

• Common Inventory across Offline and Online Channels?
• Real-Time View of Inventory across Stores and Warehouses
• Which marketplace to integrate with, and how?
• How to cost-effectively deliver – should you integrate with 3PL players? Or should you set up your own fulfillment hubs?

Before you get overwhelmed, let us tell you that there are IT systems that do this for you.

What you need are software products which facilitate Offline to online transformation for you.

There are business-ready products which provide a real-time view of inventory, allowing you to seamlessly sell on marketplaces, fulfill your orders via inventory in stores and enable conveniences like click and collect, reserve n collect and inventory lookups.

Our latest whitepaper in conjunction with Gartner research covers eCommerce fulfillment in detail. It covers topics including:

• How to choose the correct IT system for your fulfillment needs.
• How to make cost-effective fulfillment possible for both B2B and B2C eCommerce deliveries.
• The role of 3PLs and how they can help Retailers handle eCommerce fulfillment cost-effectively.

Watch this space for our upcoming series on Offline to Online transformation.

Any tips or questions for us? Leave them in the comments below.