How COVID-19 is fueling the need for omnichannel excellence!
Published on 31 May 2020
Over the past months, we have seen how the coronavirus (COVID-19) has wreaked havoc on global and regional supply chains. Agility has become crucial, with organizations needing to quickly adapt to changes in customer behavior and market realities.
How are companies to keep up with this accelerated pace of change? To first survive during this pandemic, then to thrive afterwards? One important element is to provide a strong omnichannel experience for their customers.
Consumer Expectations
Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, consumers were already increasing their online shopping. Once it hit, one study found that retailers with e-commerce channels in place actually experienced a 52% revenue growth rate in online sales between late January and end of February 2020. The same study found an 8.8% conversion rate for the same period for website purchases versus visits (1).
What this tells us is that consumers who are self-quarantining, along with those that are worried about public places due to COVID-19, will continue to grow exponentially - fueling revenues for companies with e-commerce / omnichannel strategies in place. However this segment of the market are not for the faint of heart and demands:
- Products to be in-stock and at same price as online competitors
- An intuitive and channel agnostic user experience across all devices
- Free or low-cost shipping with fast deliveries
- Buy online pick-up in-store (BOPIS) for same day pick-up
- Easy and free return logistics for at home deliveries
In addition to retail, distribution and logistics companies that service them are also stretched thin. The surge in demand for certain items coupled with the shortfall for other items have left distributors trying to find efficient ways to mitigate capacity shortfalls and customer expectations.
Post Pandemic: A Brave New World
As this pandemic subsides, and various regions plan to reopen, a return to pre COVID-19 days are not in the cards. Simply put, your business will be forever changed and you can count on:
- Continuing to meet normal in-store replenishment with significantly more BOPIS
- Supporting an increase in e-commerce as consumer behavior continues to evolve
- Fulfill orders quickly and profitably, while allowing customers easy return options
- Leveraging an advanced warehouse management systems to pull it all together
How Generix Group North America Can Help
Navigating the fallout from the COVID-19 crisis is challenging as there is no real precedent from which to compare. Rest assured that our team of supply chain advisors and product application specialists can help guide you through this time of rapid change.
One way to facilitate this change is by investing in an advanced Warehouse Management System like Genrix Group’s Solochain WMS. It is built on a scalable and flexible platform. The solution is highly configurable in terms of information layout, mobile workflow processes, reporting and optimization rules. This robust platform benefits your business with a highly adaptive, and easily integratable, supply chain solution - taking care of your business for today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.
