Especially in times of the Corona crisis, the retail landscape is developing faster and more digitally. This is shown by the new study by the research institute EHI “Connected Retail 2020”. Even small, brick-and-mortar retailers had to relocate their business to the online sales world at short notice.
What is currently dealing with retail? Especially in times of the Corona crisis, the retail landscape is developing faster and more digitally. This is shown by the new study by the research institute EHI “Connected Retail 2020”. Even small, brick-and-mortar retailers had to relocate their business to the online sales world at short notice. Whether services such as the availability display, online reservation or drive-in pickup - digital touchpoints are used actively and are increasingly becoming the preferred contact point for customers. More than 30 percent of the retailers surveyed are now offering new services, driven in part by the consequences of Covid-19. However, retailers not only want to become more digital, they also want to network their online and offline channels and focus on the customer and their shopping experience. The EHI Retail Institute, in cooperation with ROQQIO, delivers these trends in e-commerce through 38 personal and telephone interviews with representatives from retail companies from various industries in the DACH region - with a total of 18,600 branches and 479,300 employees.
But not only the classic own web shop, but also online platforms such as Amazon or eBay are becoming increasingly popular. While 66 percent of the retail companies surveyed rely on pure or hybrid marketplaces, 71 percent already use price comparison portals such as Idealo or Check24 as digital sales channels. The networking of existing channels remains at the top of the agenda in order to eliminate the boundaries between online and offline points of sale and to guarantee customers the best possible shopping experience. “The expansion of digital sales channels is picking up speed. This suddenly brings with it many new challenges – administrative and organizational. It is important to plan the interaction of the individual channels from the outset. As an omnichannel company, we take care of the seamless linking of all touchpoints. We control e-commerce very easily via a control center, through which all processes from order management to logistics and shipping can be controlled centrally," says Vanjo Wandscher, Managing Director of ROQQIO.
The expansion of digital sales channels will continue to be high on the to-do list of retail companies in the future. While more than half of the companies surveyed already have an app, 29 percent plan to set up a mobile application or a marketplace connection in the future, or even want to become a platform themselves. Everyone agrees that by linking them to digital touchpoints, brick-and-mortar shops will have to offer more than just selling products in the future: click & collect, in-store order and in-store return are relevant keywords and play an important role in the seamless customer journey. New contact points such as pick-up points, logistics hubs and pop-up stores also ensure that shopping areas such as inner cities are revived.
According to the study, trends are also moving towards customer orientation. More than a third of the retail companies surveyed would like to create increased added value for the customer and deal with contact and advice options as well as personalization and individualization in the future - this includes, for example, personalized homepages. 42 percent judge this focus to be highly relevant in the future, omnichannel services such as Click & Collect are must-haves. “In order to offer customers the best possible service, analogue and digital sales channels are connected. The company should pick up the customers exactly where they are and accompany them throughout the entire decision-making and purchasing process,” says Wandscher.
The "Connected Retail 2020" study is available to EHI members free of charge. Others can purchase the study from the EHI.
ROQQIO offers software solutions and concepts for the implementation of the customer journey in omnichannel retail. The portfolio includes systems for merchandise control, POS and the enterprise SaaS application ROQQIO Commerce Cloud. This manages different sales channels and controls complex backend processes, including order management, payment and logistics. The combination of these stationary and online technologies enables a seamless omnichannel experience. Processes such as Click & Collect or the exchange of goods bought online in the branch work smoothly. More than 1,500 companies already trust in the services and solutions of the commerce experts from ROQQIO.