Sunday 19 April 2009

Beyond Multi-Channel: The dawn of Many-Channel

For 10 years retailers have struggled with delivering a great shopping experience via phone, catalogue, website or store so it feels like you’re dealing with one company. Multi-Channel presented challenges as varied as providing consistent product listings and promotions, remembering which channels customers have interacted with and managing channel cannibalisation.

Today only a minority of retailers provide a reasonable multichannel service (I think of John Lewis and Argos as good UK based examples). But a new challenge beyond Multi-Channel is rising; Many-Channel.

We can define ‘Many-Channel‘ as “selling your product or service, directly, through 100’s, 1000’s or potentially an infinite number of channels or individuals”.
Two examples.

Direct purchase via online adverts - We’ll see a move away from affiliate models, the sort that are common on news, comparison or blog sites where you see ‘click here to buy’ and are then taken through to the retailers site. Soon, particularly for trusted retailers, it will become accepted to complete the transaction without moving off the page where you seen the advert – a move back to old direct response advertising days.

Direct purchase via video – In a previous post I looked at how Nike were utilising technology from Coull to allow customers to pause and buy the products featured, in this example you can purchase the shirt Cristiano Ronaldo is playing at Old Trafford in. This further changes the way in which we’ll purchase from retailers.

Both these examples highlight the huge number of direct channels retailers will have to understand and manage. While Many-Channel gives a convenient experience for customers, it will bring retailers challenges beyond the current Multi-Channel experience, specifically

Network strategy – Today most retailers work with a small network of organisations that help them sell and who they have a tight control over. To adapt to the Many-Channel challenge retailers must adapt a more embracing network strategy similar to the approach you’d take in building a social media strategy.

Analytics – Even today few retailers can effectively analyse as few as 3 or 4 distinct channels. Investing in an integrated view of all channels will be vital to understand shopping behaviour and optimise the offer across a complex sales network.

A great experience with the advert - Your web address is no longer your only online store front. Where users can complete a purchase straight from any advert or image of your product the message and offer must be consistent and engaging.