Report: Only 5% of retailers have fully executed omnichannel strategy

Minneapolis --Few companies (5%) believe they are “advanced” when it comes to omnichannel capabilities, and between 35% and 40% believe they are lagging, according to a report by SPS Commerce, a provider of enterprise retail cloud services. The company’s third annual “Retail Insight” report confirms the cross-functional challenges retailers, suppliers and logistics firms face as they build omnichannel capabilities into their operations.



“The report underscores the complex challenge of developing omnichannel retail success, while also affirming the future direction of the retail industry,” said Peter Zaballos, VP of marketing and product at SPS Commerce.



The benchmark study revealed the following about the retail industry:



• Both retailers and suppliers feel significant pressure from rising consumer expectations, with 75% of retailers experiencing increased demand for more rapid fulfillment and 44% of suppliers reporting greater demand for more robust item information.

• Very few companies (11%) are ready for cross-channel fulfillment, but retailers are more likely (18%) to report mobile commerce readiness.

• Forty-three percent of retailers report their legacy systems hold them back from omnichannel progress.

• Fully a quarter of retailers have made the transition to store-based fulfillment of online orders but expect this to decline over the next three years to balance shipping costs.



“Omnichannel is about profitably building the next generation of consumer experience, and execution is apparently harder than the ecosystem expected it to be,” said Paula Rosenblum, managing partner at Retail Systems Research (RSR). “Retailers, suppliers and logistics providers need to move quickly to satisfy a consumer who has a seemingly endless array of choices and not a lot of patience. While everyone is heads-down, particularly in figuring out the supply chain side of the omnichannel equation, no one should lose sight of the consumer.”