Typically, when executives talk about multi-channel strategy, they talk about the web's influence on offline sales. For many multi-channel retailers, the e-commerce channel is about much more than the online transaction. It's the means by which customers research products, compare prices and make purchase decisions before heading to the store. Smart retailers actively use their websites to drive traffic to their stores, letting customers view store inventory or place orders online for in-store pickup.
Many multi-channel retailers track a multitude of metrics to quantify the importance of the website beyond e-commerce sales, looking at things like:
- Visits to the store locator
- Orders placed through an online catalog or catalog quick-order feature
- Calls to a separate 800# to stores or a call center
- Number of orders picked up at and returned to a store
- Orders placed or influenced by an in-store kiosk
- Online promotions on the website or sent via email redeemed in store
And the list goes on. A study from Jupiter Research indicates that at least 40% of store purchases are influenced by the web, with that number expected to rise to over 50% by 2012. All good news if you're an e-commerce leader in need of justifying the importance of your channel.
But here's another side of the coin that is probably looked at too infrequently: the number of online sales that started in a store. These examples are somewhat anecdotal, but since they both happened to me in one weekend, I'll consider that significant.
This weekend, my husband and I made a getaway to Portland. With a rare free Saturday in a different city on our hands, we went shopping. Not long into our journey, I found myself in the dressing room at a Banana Republic. The woman in the room next to me was running the salesperson ragged, asking her for a change of size in several items. The salesperson was able to locate the desired size in two items, but was alas sold out of the other three. At the end of the try-on episode, the customer said " you know, I think I'm just going to go home and get all of this online..." I could almost hear the saleswoman sigh in frustration though the door.
As it turns out, I bought 3 items at Banana Republic that day, but the pair of jeans I wanted wasn't available in my size. The poor salesperson worked for almost 20 minutes turning the store and the stockroom upside down for the pair that her inventory system said she had, to no avail. I bought the jeans online this morning.
But it didn't stop there. After lunch, we headed to Powell's Books, arguably one of the world's best independent bookstores, where I expect very few customers enter without making a purchase.
Like most people, yes, I buy a lot of books on Amazon. And yes, I have come to rely on their algorithms to suggest the perfect books to me. But as I wandered the cavernous rooms of Powells, I stumbled upon book after book that I had never heard of and found myself wanting an armful of them.
But then I remembered; why buy a bulky, physical book when I've got my Amazon Kindle? It would be so much easier, and maybe even a little cheaper to download these books. Not to mention my already overcrowded bookshelves need some relief.
I found a scrap of paper in my purse and wrote down the titles of about eight books with plans to download them from Amazon when I got back to the hotel. The whole time, I kept wishing that there was a way that Powell's could get credit for the sale. Why couldn't I download them right there in the store with Powell's getting some sort of commission for writing that charming review or having the good sense to feature them on a shelf with some of my other favorites?
Alas, some of the books I'd written down weren't available for the Kindle. But, I had already left Powell's, and I was in "one click" mode, so Amazon got the order for the physical books too. Raw deal for Powell's.
So, it occured to me after these two incidents, only a few hours apart, that perhaps in these tough times for brick and mortar, store merchants ought to be a bit more vocal about getting credit for some of those online sales that seem to be outpacing their growth. Be it for size/color selection or just not wanting to haul a bunch of packages around the city or mall, we're using the offline world to tell us what to buy online almost as much as the reverse situation. And while the influence of online research on offline sales has gotten top billing as an analytics exercise, I don't hear or read much about the reciprocal effect. If anyone has data points on brick and mortar impact to online sales, it would be great to see it.
And meanwhile, you might want to say thanks to all of those hard working people in the stores for all of the business they're sending your way.
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