Omnichannel

Photo: Jack Ma and Howard Schultz, China Partner Family Forum

Vertical specialty apparel retailer Brooks Brothers is known for neat and tidy fashions, and that ethos extends to how it manages the flow of goods from source to shelf.

Brooks Brothers has selected the SAP Fashion Management platform to gain better control of movement of merchandise through the supply chain, which in turn supports an omnichannel customer experience. The retailer began the process of revamping its demand chain by implementing the SAP Apparel and Footwear application, which provides better insight into inventory and financials.

Photo: Jerry Azarkman, president of Star World

A new study links retailers' success to an omnichannel strategy that includes physical stores.

According to the report, by L2 and titled "Death of Pureplay Retail," online-only retailers are at a disadvantage due to high costs for marketing and shipping, making their business model challenging and ultimately unsustainable in the long-term. The report was sponsored by Simon Property Group.

Retailers frequently misjudge the omnichannel needs of their shoppers when they visit stores.

According to a new study of 500 consumers and 150 retail decision-makers in the U.S. and U.K. by Forrester Consulting on behalf of RetailNext, “Real-Time Data Drives the Future of Retail,” only 49% of consumer respondents feel they receive consistent seamless experiences across all channels.

A just-released holiday survey reinforces the dominance of the omnichannel shopper.

Nearly one-third (32%) of shoppers the past holiday season used the click and collect method – with 69% of these shoppers purchasing additional items in the store when they went to pick up the item and 36% making another purchase in an adjacent store, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers’ Holiday Consumer Purchasing Trends study.

From food trucks to high-end restaurants and everything in between, dining has never been more essential to the shopping center experience.

“E-commerce has made it more important for retail centers to enhance the experience,” said Terry Montesi, CEO, Trademark Property Co. And food works great with retail.”

Oracle is introducing Oracle Retail 15, an enterprise retail suite that includes diverse features such as new cloud-based applications and POS hardware solutions.

In the cloud area, Oracle is adding four new retail-specific services.

• Using Oracle Retail Sales and Productivity Cloud Service, retailers can gain real-time insights into comparative sales, salesperson productivity, merchandise productivity, store sales, and store traffic.