Retail Insight from Tony Bryant
Tony Bryant heads up the Multi Channel Solutions group within K3 Retail Business Solutions. Tony has had many years experience (he says too many to be published!) working in a retail environment, the majority of which was spent at Marks and Spencer. Tony covered roles from Store/Area Manager, Divisional Operations Manager, and Retail Project Manager to Food Senior Programme Manager managing a large end to end supply chain transformation.
Tony has a passion for the fast moving retail industry and has detailed knowledge of the key functions - Plan, Buy, Make, Move and Sell, and he understands the interdependencies of information, products and services. Since joining K3 he has taken a pro-active role in helping the company deliver its multi channel vision to the retail sector. Tony’s deep understanding of the commercial issues facing retailers and developing IT solutions and business processes to improve product availability, drive profitable sales and reduce costs has been invaluable in establishing K3 as a leading provider of multi channel solutions.
Outside work Tony plays drums in a local band and tries hard to maintain a very old Caterham 7 (car). He has four daughters who also require a lot of maintenance and a permanent taxi service.
We asked Tony to put his future goggles on and give us his latest insights into the world of retail and multichannel.
What issues do you think retailers should be looking at now?
At the moment retailers should be trying to understand the retail opportunities surrounding the 2012 games. ‘2012, Opportunities for Retailers’, run by Retail Knowledge, will be good for those who make it. It’s a chance to look at the ‘Games Roadmap’ and come to grips with all the issues surrounding the games. The event will be covering a lot of areas, such as smoothing the supply chain, exploiting new technologies, queue management and promotional activity as well as looking at what technology you will need and how to take full advantage of that technology. I’m looking forward to presenting there as well, asking ‘Will 2012 Be the First Multichannel Games?”
The opportunities London 2012 present to UK Retail are huge. It’s important to realise that it’s not just at the games, it’s before during and after that need to be considered as well, and it is not all about London either, it will benefit retailers all over the UK.
Aside from London 2012, what else should retailers have on the horizon?
Well, the last four years have really been about transactional retail, so retailers need to capitalise on the investments they’ve made and build from there. I see two key areas that they’ll need to look at: the technology side and the customer side.
In terms of technology I see things growing in areas such as RFID, mobile…and multichannel, including the technology that supports that. A lot of retailers may consider their operations as multichannel but in reality it is multiple channel. They offer products across a range of channels but there is not the real unity a truly joined-up operation offers. You really have to ask ‘How good are we at accessing data across all our channels?’ The strength of a joined-up multichannel operation cannot be understated. It gives you speed, cohesion, transparency and control – from web to store to mobile.
Mobile, as I mentioned, is an area retailers need to keep an eye on. What is the mobile going to do? We’re going from customers using the phone to browse and research, to carrying out transactions. So be aware of what is happening with mobile. There are a lot of mobile platforms, so if you are looking at applications, you need to think about which platforms (iPhone, Blacberry, Nexus) your clients use and how they use them.
The other key area that demands a lot of attention is the need to understand the customers’ eCommerce journey. To really use the technology that is out there, whether you already have it or are looking to invest, you need to take a close look at your customers shopping behaviours. The channels they use, where they browse, where they spend. Capturing the data so you can turn it around to give your customers the best experience is important.
There is this symbiosis between technology and customer – both leading each other at various stages, but overall developing together. For each retailer the technology used will be dictated by the different customers they have, or want to have. If you do not understand how your customers shop, how will you know which technology you need to invest in and how you should use it?
Does the growing strength of multichannel and the technology surrounding it mean there is nothing for the Bricks & Mortar retailer?
No, not at all. There will always be a need for customers to go into the store - that face-to-face contact is important. What we should see is in-store operations reflecting, supporting and capitalising on other channels. This goes back to understanding and catering to customer shopping behaviours. For example, online customers can get reviews of products from a range of impartial sites. In-store customers can ask their friends or the sales staff. What about if customers could also get reviews using kiosks or in-store displays? They’d need to be genuine reviews; the good and the bad - the integrity of the information is important.
In-store kiosks have been incredibly successful. They’re a fantastic way of upselling and a valuable tool for sales teams. If customers can check the availability of an item and locate that item, then that frees up staff to focus on other aspects of customer service. The days of ‘I’ll just check out the back” should go. If an item is not in-store then a customer can see other stores, perhaps nearby, that do stock the item, or they can order online from in-store. It’s an incredibly versatile tool.
I mentioned in-store displays. There are so many ways for retailers to use these. For a start there is in-store advertising and promotions. Imagine if this was all controlled centrally - Head Office determining a promotion and it being implemented in real time across all stores, along other channels and promoted to customers there and then. Customer love ‘surprise’ bargains, but don’t like hearing they could get the same item cheaper from the online store – that goes back to the importance of a fully joined-up operation.
Other ways this can be used…fashion retailers can show their clothes on the runway, so customers can see how the clothing looks on, how it moves etc. Home retailers could display price and feature comparisons between products… …again, the technology is there, business just need to be creative in how they use it.
Final words?
Dig down and really understand customer shopping behaviours, and then use technology to support that.
Here’s an example I like to refer to. There’s a train station in Germany, in which a lingerie retailer has put in a kiosk rather than open a store in the station. A customer can shop via the kiosk; is able to search and pay quickly. As part of the checkout they can enter their train ticket details, which acts as proof of ID and also gives the lingerie retailer the time by which they need to deliver. Nearby, at a store, the order is received and a courier delivers the ordered and paid for items over to the station. The customer takes delivery at the designated customer waiting point.
I like this example for two reasons. Firstly it demonstrates how technology supports the customer. You can shop conveniently and quickly, and it fits in with your travel plans; they don’t need to worry about missing their train. For the retailer the technology allows them to be located elsewhere, so the stock they carry is not restricted by space and they avoid high store lease costs.
The technology is getting better and better, and people are adopting it. For retailers there is this ever increasing need to get behind that and get the most out of the technology. Give people what they want, or be innovators, show customers a better way of shopping.
