Off- and online channels move closer together

At the same time, retail companies must set the course to be able to offer their customers a consistent customer experience across all channels in the future and be prepared for medium-term developments.

Hardly any retail company will be able to avoid these topics in 2017:

1) E-food

Clothing, books, technology and more are now conveniently delivered to our homes thanks to online retail. Consumers are still cautious when it comes to fresh food. Two large retailers, Migros and Coop, have been competing for online customers for several years now. For other companies, corresponding offers are often still in their infancy. They are all vying for their place in the market with the aim of keeping Amazon Fresh, a delivery service that is likely to be launched in Switzerland in 2017, at arm's length. Key factors for success here are, above all, the widest possible range, intelligent, in-house (fresh) logistics and outstanding customer service.

2) Mobile payment

In Japan, the mobile payment service is so popular that servers even collapsed temporarily after the launch. We are talking about Apple Pay, which is likely to change the way we pay - and therefore also online retail - in Europe in the near future. Paying with cell phones, smartwatches or even laptops, such as the new Macbook Pro, will gain significant momentum in 2017. In order to benefit from this, banks are also repositioning themselves as former top dogs. One example is the merger of the two Swiss payment apps Twint and Paymit. The merger of the two systems will take place at the end of 2016 and will bring the five largest Swiss banks closer together in order to compete with Apple.

3) Digital customer cards

Traditional loyalty cards have had their day. They are being replaced by digital equivalents that are always with you thanks to your smartphone, link the online and offline worlds and can be used beyond the point of sale. They are also measurable when entering the store and therefore allow the tracking of shopping behavior in the store and on the web. This in turn can be used to develop personalized offers and provide individualized advice. The fashion industry in particular can benefit from this - but it would have to follow suit soon.

4) Voice Commerce

Intelligent voice control is already being touted as the next revolution in the digital world. It could become the universal input device of the future. Concrete approaches already exist. Amazon Echo, for example, which is controlled by the voice assistant Alexa, can not only play music, but also enable online shopping. Thanks to open interfaces, it is only a matter of time before orders can also be placed in Switzerland. Retail companies should therefore already be considering how they can integrate this digital innovation into their offering.

5) Direct-to-consumer

Getting in direct contact with customers - this is on the agenda for more and more B2C and B2B companies. No wonder, as traditional sales channels are already fragmented and heavily influenced by e-commerce. One solution for more customer contact is to have your own stores. But if you want to sell products and services yourself, you need the necessary structures and systems to manage and use end customer data. This is the only way to create a comprehensive customer picture, which in turn enables cross-selling and up-selling potential and allows communication and marketing measures to be personalized. Building up this 360-degree customer view will be one of the key challenges in the coming years.

Orchestration and networking

The trends show that Customers' shopping behavior is changing rapidly. The pressure from international online competition is increasing. Today's consumers want a consistent customer experience - across all channels. Retail companies are faced with the task of orchestrating and networking these channels. This means enabling integrated, cross-touchpoint customer experiences in terms of organization, processes and systems. To achieve this, these challenges must be mastered:

1) The Seamless customer journey and implement them in the internal processes, organization and technology. Precise knowledge of customer needs and customer behavior (customer insights) is essential for this.

2.) Products require a Staging in all channels. This requires changes in product data management, efforts in marketing and makes it necessary to segment customers in order to realize target group-specific staging.

3.) Holistic customer profiles: They are indispensable if personalization is to work. All employees involved in the communication and sales process need access to these customer profiles. This is the only way they can provide customers with the expected quality of service and exploit cross-selling and upselling potential.

4.) Personalization: Cross-channel customer profiles enable the creation of personalized offers. Predictive analytics solutions also make this possible for previously unknown customers. However, data protection issues also need to be clarified. Customer engagement and customer experience management or agile commerce are the keywords here.

5.) Central marketing ownership: The question of who is responsible for the end-to-end customer experience needs to be clarified. In many companies, this requires the creation of new structures and processes. This has a deep impact on the organization and culture and is therefore a very challenging matter. After all, the internal stakeholders have to support the changes.

In 2017, offline and online channels will grow closer together, preparing retailers for the topics that will shape the industry beyond 2017: Topics such as dynamic pricing, real-time engagement, predictive analytics and the use of the Internet of Things.