Integrated multi-channel retailing from IBM

The goal

Empower your customer

Multichannel is not to be confused with multiple channels. Even if you have a call center, a Web site and stores, you may not be a multichannel retailer. Integrated multichannel retailing solutions help you create competitive advantage and maximize profitable revenue by transforming your enterprise into a customer-centric organization. By integrating sales channels and touchpoints almost seamlessly, your customers can shop however, whenever and wherever they choose.

The advantage

IBM reinvents retail

IBM has over 30 years experience servicing the retail industry, and we are the only provider who can deliver a comprehensive multichannel solution. We offer the highest level of collaboration and partnership with industry-leading vendors across the entire retail value chain. Draw on the expertise of:

• Over 6,000 consultants worldwide dedicated to consumer focused industries.
• The industry leader in applied business and technology innovation to solve complex retail problems.
• The leading customer interaction platform that allows retailers to support all business models and e-commerce sites—whether B2C or B2B—on a single instance of software.

Our industry leadership is also evidenced by:

• Innovative technology breakthroughs—from inventing the barcode to helping develop standards for RFID.
• A POS customer base that includes over 60 of the top 100 worldwide retailers.

The benefits

From product-centric to customer-centric

Next generation retailing is organized around the customer. There are many elements to IBM’s integrated multichannel solution portfolio, each supporting your cross-channel optimization efforts. They include:

• Multichannel strategy engagements to deliver a business case and roadmap to create a customer focused multichannel experience
  • A unique and patented methodology to help your company understand the voice of your customers.
  • An operational blueprint and a phased strategy roadmap based on customer needs and organizational priorities.
  • A patented customer strategy business case methodology to define the customer experience model and enterprise metrics.
  • A strategic roadmap that defines the business and technology capabilites required to realize the customer experience vision.
• Next-generation e-commerce, which allows you to:
  • Scale your Web site to perform during peak traffic.
  • Remove barriers to integration with backend systems and sales channels.
  • Link customer interactions with ongoing promotions.
  • Help users control business assets without engaging IT.
• Multichannel order management, which can help you:
  • Aggregate information from multiple order and inventory management systems.
  • Provide cross-channel and cross-brand visibility into inventory, order status and fulfillment activities.
  • Enable your employees and customers to execute buying and fulfillment activities across channels.
• Unified content management, which can help you:
  • Ensure product information is accurate, available and consistent to customers in every channel.
  • Reduce errors and inconsistencies resulting from manual processes.
  • Accelerate new product introductions.
• Single view of the customer, which can help you:
  • Improve customer service and personalization.
  • Increase revenue via improved cross-selling and targeting of your best customers.
  • Enable closed-loop promotions management.
  • Reduce data management costs and inefficiencies.
• Multichannel gift registry, which can help you:
  • Offer customers a robust gift registry solution, allowing registrants to create and manage lists and gift givers to purchase from registries via any channel.
  • Keep customers connected with their family and friends during important life events.
  • Attract and retain more customers and increase customer satisfaction.
• Multichannel contact center, which can help you:
  • Improve productivity of your call center employees..
  • AttractIncrease sales through cross- and up-selling..
  • AttractImprove service for cross-channel customers.

The approach

IBM supplies a multichannel approach

With its online channel a critical part of its growth strategy, a leading office supply company needed a commerce platform that would support and fuel its online business growth—not constrain it. The client needed more flexibility to pursue creative, customer-centric business strategies.

Teaming with IBM to deploy a powerful and flexible online commerce platform, the client leveraged it to create a series of groundbreaking services on their Web site that have set a new standard for delivering customer value. Key benefits include:

• 60 percent increase in online conversion rate.
• Significant increase in customer satisfaction.
• 30 percent increase in peak transaction volume with no adverse impact.

In response to the implementation, the client’s senior Vice President for business delivery said, "by giving us the means to create an innovative, more customer centric buying experience, the IBM solution is helping us deliver more value to customers, which has helped us increase their satisfaction and loyalty."

The financial advantage

Bottom-line value

While the multichannel retailing platform’s performance and scalability can prove essential to your future growth, its biggest strategic benefit is in enabling you to create a truly unique retail experience built around the needs of your customer. One such implementation yielded significant benefits, including:

• 60 percent increase in online conversion rate.
• Increase in customer satisfaction.
• 30 percent increase in peak transaction volume handled, reaching a high of 9,000 orders per hour (or 2.6 transactions per second) with no adverse impact on performance or reliability.
• Ability to bring differentiating services and programs to market more rapidly and efficiently.
• Support for rapid business growth through increased infrastructure.

Next steps

Questions about this solution? Contact an IBM retail specialist.