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Tag: omnichannel

  • Singapore rides omnichannel wave

    Singapore rides omnichannel wave

    Online and offline sales in Singapore are growing in tandem as omnichannel is becoming an integral part of shopping culture in Asia.

    Data compiled by online couponing website Flipit.com show that 85% of Singaporeans shop in-store at least once a month while 49% shop online with a similar frequency.

    But the preference is for bricks and mortar, Digital Market Asia reported, as more than half of Singaporeans (56%) like to shop in-store in one of the city state’s 105 malls, where they appreciate being able to touch and feel products as well as eat and drink and socialise.

    The fact that malls are increasingly integrating channels also helps, with click-and-collect facilities, for example, being supplemented with “click-and-mortar” stores where shoppers can use barcodes to save items to an online shopping cart.

    “Shopping trends are constantly evolving, but you can always guarantee that Singapore will be one step ahead,” said Willem Nout, Project Manager at Flipit.com.

    “Singaporeans just love to shop – plain and simple!” he said, adding that seeing shopping as a pastime rather than a necessity was “exactly the kind of attitude that guarantees to keep physical stores out of the red zone”.

    Amazingly, Singapore has double the retail space per person of Australia, despite being 10,000 times smaller.

    It is also among the world’s leading markets for retail expansion, according to a report by real estate services firm CBRE, attracting 58 new global brands last year – double the number of 2013 and second only to Tokyo.

    These entrants were mostly in the food and beverage sector, reported Inside Retail Asia, followed by apparel and accessories chains. And the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands was a favoured location thanks to the high numbers of affluent customers visiting the connected casino facilities.

    Brandon Famous, senior managing director for retail occupier advisory & transaction services at CBRE, echoed Nout when he said that consumers continued to “view the physical store as their preferred mode of purchase and perhaps more importantly, as a point of social interaction”.

    “Consumers view shopping as a leisure activity and the continued expansion of brands and the development/improvement of shopping locations gives them the opportunity to embrace this,” he added. Data sourced from Digital Market Asia, Inside Retail Asia, CBRE; additional content by Warc staff

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  • Omni-channel fulfilment critical for retailers to make financial returns on investments

    Omni-channel fulfilment critical for retailers to make financial returns on investments

    Despite increasing investments in omni-channel sales capabilities, many retailers and consumer goods manufacturers find it hard to fulfill omni-channel demand profitably, a new report says.

    The new report The Omni-Channel Fulfillment Imperative prepared for JDA Software Group, Inc. by PwC reveals that an enormous amount of money, energy and time retailers and consumer goods manufacturers are spending to improve their omni-channel sales capabilities. However, only 16 percent of companies say they can fulfill omni-channel demand profitably.

    This study is based on a global survey of more than 400 retail and consumer goods CEOs from around the world, conducted in late 2014.

    It finds that the high cost of fulfilling orders is eroding retailers’ margins as they sell and deliver products across multiple channels. A full 67 percent of respondents reported that these costs are growing as they increase their focus on selling across channels. Survey respondents reported their highest costs associated with omni-channel selling as:

    Handling returns from online and store orders (cited by 71 percent of respondents)
    Shipping directly to the customer (67 percent)
    Shipping to the store for customer pick-up (59 percent)

    The CEOs in the JDA study recognize that they need to continue investing in business improvements to enhance their omni-channel performance. However, reducing the associated logistics costs is not their primary focus. When asked to rank their top initiatives for improving business operations, CEOs’ number-one choice (57 percent) was spending capital on creating new customer experiences. Similarly, when asked to rank strategic growth enablers for the year, reducing/reformatting physical store footprints to focus on expanding the ecommerce business was the top choice at 53 percent.

    “Every time retailers receive an online order, they have a number of options to fulfill that demand. They can pull the product from a local store, send it from a centralized warehouse or ship it directly from the supplier. JDA’s new study demonstrates that most retailers lack the insight to make these decisions in a profitable manner – and are not sufficiently focused on this critical capability gap,” said Kevin Iaquinto, chief marketing officer at JDA. “They need intelligent logistics and fulfillment solutions that can reveal the hidden costs, and the customer service trade-offs, associated with every delivery option. In addition, to truly win in the omni-channel marketplace, retailers need the upfront demand forecasting tools to make sure products are already distributed across all locations in a manner that supports profitable delivery.”

    While they might not be focused on actions today to create profitable fulfillment and delivery schemes, the study shows that CEOs are aware of the importance of profitable omni-channel fulfillment to their future survival.

    Seventy-one percent of respondents said omni-channel fulfillment is either a high or a top priority. And these CEOs are planning to invest an average of 29 percent of their total capital expenditures for 2015 on improving their omni-channel fulfillment performance.

    The fulfillment capability most cited as needing attention was transportation and logistics, named by 88 percent of CEOs as a priority for the future. The second capability CEOs will focus on is improving inventory availability to fill orders, cited by 85 percent.

    “Having products available, then finding the most profitable way to deliver them – are critical activities that lie at the heart of supply chain excellence,” noted Iaquinto. “The CEOs in the JDA survey clearly understand the challenges they have ahead of them with regard to fulfillment, and they know they will have to innovate if they are to be profitable while meeting customer expectations across channels. The good news is that advanced technology can help retailers and consumer goods manufacturers master omni-channel fulfillment. However, until companies fully leverage these solutions, they will fail to realize positive financial returns on their omni-channel investments.”

  • Everyone going omnichannel: but where’s the profit?

    Everyone going omnichannel: but where’s the profit?

    Retailers globally are investing “enormous” amounts of money in omnichannel business modes, according to a study from JDA.

    But alarmingly, just 16 per cent of 400 surveyed said they can fulfil omnichannel demand profitably.

    This finding, and others are highlighted in The Omni-Channel Fulfillment Imperative a new report prepared for JDA Software Group by PwC. The study is based on a global survey of more than 400 retail and consumer goods CEOs from around the world, conducted in late 2014.

    What is eroding retailers’ margins as they sell and deliver products across multiple channels? It’s simple: the high fulfilment cost. A full 67 per cent of respondents reported that these costs are growing as they increase their focus on selling across channels. Survey respondents reported their highest costs associated with omni-channel selling as:

    • Handling returns from online and store orders (cited by 71 per cent of respondents).
    • Shipping directly to the customer (67 per cent)
    • Shipping to the store for customer pick-up (59 per cent)

    The CEOs in the JDA study recognise that they need to continue investing in business improvements to enhance their omni-channel performance. However, reducing the associated logistics costs is not their primary focus.

    The respondents were interviewed in China, North and Central America, the UK, France, Germany, Japan and Australia

    When asked to rank their top initiatives for improving business operations, CEOs’ number-one choice (57 per cent) was spending capital on creating new customer experiences. Similarly, when asked to rank strategic growth enablers for the year, reducing/reformatting physical store footprints to focus on expanding the ecommerce business was the top choice at 53 per cent.

    “Every time retailers receive an online order, they have a number of options to fulfill that demand,” said Kevin Iaquinto, chief marketing officer at JDA.

    “They can pull the product from a local store, send it from a centralised warehouse or ship it directly from the supplier. JDA’s new study demonstrates that most retailers lack the insight to make these decisions in a profitable manner — and are not sufficiently focused on this critical capability gap,” said Iaquinto.

    “They need intelligent logistics and fulfillment solutions that can reveal the hidden costs, and the customer service trade-offs, associated with every delivery option. In addition, to truly win in the omni-channel marketplace, retailers need the upfront demand forecasting tools to make sure products arealready distributed across all locations in a manner that supports profitable delivery.”

    While they might not be focused on actions today to create profitable fulfillment and delivery schemes, the JDA study leaves no doubt that CEOs are aware of the importance of profitable omni-channel fulfillment to their future survival. Omni-channel fulfillment is either a high or a top priority for 71 per cent of respondents.

    And these CEOs are planning to invest an average of 29 per cent of their total capital expenditures for 2015 on improving their omni-channel fulfillment performance.

    The fulfillment capability most cited as needing attention was transportation and logistics, named by 88 per cent of CEOs as a priority for the future. The second capability CEOs will focus on is improving inventory availability to fill orders, cited by 85 per cent.

    “Having products available, then finding the most profitable way to deliver them —are critical activities that lie at the heart of supply chain excellence,” noted Iaquinto.

    “The CEOs in the JDA survey clearly understand the challenges they have ahead of them with regard to fulfillment, and they know they will have to innovate if they are to be profitable while meeting customer expectations across channels.

    “The good news is that advanced technology can help retailers and consumer goods manufacturers master omni-channel fulfillment. However, until companies fully leverage these solutions, they will fail to realize positive financial returns on their omni-channel investments.”

    Lees ook: