Top 5 Takeaways from 2011 RIS News Cross Channel Study

By Adam Blair
Cross-channel is firmly woven into the fabric of retailing, yet it's also a disruptive force, with new channels (mobile and social) and new challenges (store-based order fulfillment) keeping retailers on their toes. These are among the many valuable takeaways from the recently released 2011 Cross Channel Tech Trends Study, produced by RIS News and RSR Research.

"E-commerce has been around for over a decade now, which means that cross-channel considerations have been around for nearly as long," says report author Nikki Baird, managing partner, RSR Research. "So, why are we still talking about cross-channel strategy, and not focusing on execution and making it happen? Progress has not been easy, particularly hampered by the complex integration requirements that crop up whenever anyone wants to tap into or impact the store experience."

Following are five key takeaways from the 2011 Cross Channel Tech Trends Study that shed light on the sometimes slippery paths to omni-channel success:

· Slow Improvement in Buy Online/Pick up in Store: While just over half of survey respondents still don't offer this service, those that do are coming to a consensus on optimal fulfillment methods: 37% now offer front-end register pickup for online purchases, up from 22% in 2010.

· Cross-Channel Inventory Optimization Still Challenging: Nearly 40% of survey respondents still don't leverage cross-channel inventory at all, and only 30% leverage their in-store inventories as part of their cross-channel fulfillment processes, with the rest relying on DCs or third parties to ship inventory to stores.

· Mobile's Rapid Growth: The top mobile capabilities that retailers offer doubled (or more) between 2010 and 2011: mobile store locator jumped from 23% to 51%; product lookup rose from 20% to 49%; and mobile product reviews climbed from 17% to 33%. The percentage of retailers offering a mobile-friendly site leveraging an online site more than tripled, rising from 14% to 46%.

· Shrinking Store Sales: Approximately 13% of survey respondents expect store revenues to drop from 90%-plus of their total revenues into the 76-90% range. Contrast this with mobile's projected growth: the number of retailers expecting any revenue from their mobile channel rose from 10% to 21% of respondents.

· Major E-Commerce Platform Refresh: Retailers are moving away from home-grown e-commerce platforms: only 6% use one in 2011, compared to 23% in the 2010 Cross Channel Study. A majority (56%) have replatformed their e-commerce capabilities during the past five years, and another 28% say they will do so in the next 18 months.

Click here to download the entire survey.