By Rena Granofsky
It is tough to stay loyal to a retailer when they are out of stock. And it is annoying, to say the least, when they say “I can call to check if another store has it, but it is Saturday so they may not pick up” or “Sorry, we don’t do transfers, you will have to go there to pick it up”. I am busy, I don’t have a lot of time, and I want this purchase to be EASY, so neither of these responses sit well with me.
Nor do I welcome killing time while the sales associate looks up the store numbers of adjacent stores, and between serving other customers, calls them one at a time, hoping to get an associate from the other store on the line.
And I am not alone. Many customers select a retailer because they make it EASY for them: they are EASY to get in and out of quickly, there are many locations to choose from, they are OPEN, and, most importantly, they are in stock.
But especially in this economy, frugal inventory investment is the New Normal. So how can retailers respond, make it Easy for customers, limit investments in inventory and be in stock to meet demand?
One approach is the emerging Cross Channel Order fulfillment solution. When a customer selects an out of stock item, the system automatically finds it somewhere else in the chain, and the item can either be transferred to another store for pickup or delivered to the customer’s home. The same approach can be used in the brick and mortar store, online store, kiosk, mobile device, or even Facebook!
The solution is quick and efficient, and a good choice for retailers who are focused on making the shopping trip EASY.
To read Rena’s White Paper on “Buy Anywhere Fulfill Anywhere” please click here.
