** This is the original 2013 Edition. The updated Multichannel Retail Handbook 2016 Edition is now available on Kindle: ASIN codes B018N86NQA and B018N40L7Q **
The march of the internet into retail is relentless. Online is where customers spend their time and, increasingly, their money. The internet is also changing. The rise of mobile is giving web access to millions more developing nation consumers, while simultaneously resetting the expectations of customers in highly developed markets. No retailer, anywhere in the world, can afford to be without a response to these fundamental changes in the way their customers are shopping. This is a handbook for planning, implementing, operating and enhancing that response.
For the retailer planning to go online, it provides a step-by-step guide to building the business case and planning the implementation. Topics covered in detail include customer-experience, order management, marketing, product data management and IT.
For the retailer already online, it includes an in-depth discussion of complex multichannel issues such as organisational design, mobile, complex order-lifecycles such as click-and-collect-in-store, personalisation, and internationalisation.
For the retailer with no intention of going online in the near future, it nevertheless considers key challenges requiring a strategic response, such as price transparency and ROBO-customers (research-online/buy-offline).
For the online start-up, there is guidance on differentiation and positioning, as well as comparison of the relative strengths and weakness of pure-play online retail versus multichannel. A special chapter considers the opportunities, and challenges, of online grocery; the global potential is huge, but the risk of becoming the next Webvan is an ever-present shadow.
Packed with statistics, case-studies and examples, The Multichannel Retail Handbook is above all a practical guide. It provides useable tools and decision-frameworks. It offers actionable advice and recommendations. It takes the retailer to from “why-what-how” through to “when”.
The march of the internet into retail is relentless. Online is where customers spend their time and, increasingly, their money. The internet is also changing. The rise of mobile is giving web access to millions more developing nation consumers, while simultaneously resetting the expectations of customers in highly developed markets. No retailer, anywhere in the world, can afford to be without a response to these fundamental changes in the way their customers are shopping. This is a handbook for planning, implementing, operating and enhancing that response.
For the retailer planning to go online, it provides a step-by-step guide to building the business case and planning the implementation. Topics covered in detail include customer-experience, order management, marketing, product data management and IT.
For the retailer already online, it includes an in-depth discussion of complex multichannel issues such as organisational design, mobile, complex order-lifecycles such as click-and-collect-in-store, personalisation, and internationalisation.
For the retailer with no intention of going online in the near future, it nevertheless considers key challenges requiring a strategic response, such as price transparency and ROBO-customers (research-online/buy-offline).
For the online start-up, there is guidance on differentiation and positioning, as well as comparison of the relative strengths and weakness of pure-play online retail versus multichannel. A special chapter considers the opportunities, and challenges, of online grocery; the global potential is huge, but the risk of becoming the next Webvan is an ever-present shadow.
Packed with statistics, case-studies and examples, The Multichannel Retail Handbook is above all a practical guide. It provides useable tools and decision-frameworks. It offers actionable advice and recommendations. It takes the retailer to from “why-what-how” through to “when”.
