MARKET REPORT Retail
“To put it bluntly, resellers with only traditional services don’t stand a chance against those
providing modern technology.” David Rowlands, Director of Customer Success, 8x8
The Retail Experience
Brick and mortar retail stores are dead right? Wrong, but they are changing as consumers evolve their purchasing
habits. The tricky bit for the Channel is trying to figure out how they supply products and services to this new
breed of shop and ultimately help those retail customers interact with their new types of consumer
In my household I tend to
think of myself as a bit of a
digital leader, technology is
pretty much the only thing
the missus lets me have final say
on… that and maybe washing
up! However, when I look at our
shopping habits it turns out I’m
a bit of a laggard. For someone
that needs help every time they
need to log into the smart TV my
other half has got, suspiciously so,
online shopping down to a tee.
There are two categories of item I
refuse to buy online, clothes and
sporting goods, mostly down to
the perceived effort involved in
buying triple of what I need and
sending the rest back. Clearly my
dress sense and sporting career
is all the better for it… don’t all
write in at once!
We are a nation of shoppers,
we are just doing in a wide variety
of ways one could argue is a great
opportunity for Channel Partners
to supply the retail sector. Despite
the closure of many brick and
mortar stores on the high street
the retail outlet still plays a vital
role in the sales process. Once the
single touchpoint for consumers,
shops now play their part in the
overall consumer sales cycle from
websites to social media platforms
and even in some cases events.
Is it all about discovering and
shopping on Facebook? No! The
BigCommerce 2018 Omni-
Channel Retail Report stated that
only 11.8% of Gen-Z shops on
Facebook, while nearly 25% of
EXPERIENCE SIP phones from SOS
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30 | Comms Business Magazine | March 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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March.ai 5 18/02/2019 09:20:45
Baby Boomers shop on the social
platform. Millennials prefer to
buy products they discover on
Instagram and Snapchat. The
technology landscape is changing
so rapidly that the independent
retailer has little to no hope of
keeping up with new generations
of shoppers.
Speaking to Lee Shorten,
retail expert and Chairman of
Sabio, he said there are some
much broader challenges going
on in the retail space right now.
He commented, “Two main
challenges are facing retail
right now, the move to online
purchasing and the threat of a
global economic downturn; the
second retailers can’t do much
about other than to ensure
their supply chains are as tight
as possible and their operating
models as efficient as possible.
The first however makes the
second ever more difficult.”
David Rowlands, Director
of Customer Success, 8x8
commented, “Every customer
counts, and in a tough time for
the sector, this has never been
more important. 8x8 research
found that six in ten have stopped
shopping with a retailer due to
poor customer service – if it isn’t
up to scratch, customers vote with
their feet or the click of a mouse
and shop elsewhere.
Customers have come
to expect an integrated
multichannel experience. In
fact, over half of consumers are
less likely to shop with a retailer
if they can’t talk to the online
team about in-store purchases,
or the in-store team about online
purchases.”
Bernie McPhillips, Sales
Director, Pangea said “The
evolution and scrambling of
purchasing habits is a big one. It’s
no longer crystal clear who wants
to buy what and how; the lines
between shopper behaviours are >
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