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White Glove Service Creating an impeccable, unified shopping experience

throughout the customer journey

mmerce Platform Discover How Advanced Site Search Contentsy, or Even Eliminate, the

Need to Replatform

FITFORCOMMERCE WHITEPAPER SERIES

July 2019

FITFORCOMMERCE WHITEPAPER SERIES

February 2019

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

THE CHALLENGE: CAPTURING A 360° VIEW OF THE CUSTOMER 4

Fragmented Technology 5

Information Silos 5

Disjointed Business Units 5

Competing KPIs 6

Inconsistent Metrics and Reporting 6

B2B COMMERCE CHALLENGES FURTHER COMPLICATE MATTERS 7

Complex Business Models 7

Custom Product Catalogs and Price Lists 7

Tiered Pricing 8

Multi-Site Management 8

Authorization Rules 8

THE SOLUTION: UNIFIED COMMERCE 9

KEY CONSIDERATIONS WHEN ASSESSING UNIFIED COMMERCE PLATFORMS 10

UNIFIED COMMERCE DELIVERS TREMENDOUS OMNICHANNEL BENEFITS 11

UNIFIED COMMERCE: THE NEXT GENERATION OF OMNICHANNEL RETAIL 12

Contents –

Contents –

Contents –

Contents –

3 © 2019 FitForCommerce, All Rights Reserved.

Executive Summary –

Today’s customers have tremendous flexibility in ways to shop. They can purchase online from anywhere

using a number of devices – laptops, smartphones, tablets and even by voice with intelligent personal

assistants like Amazon Alexa. Each of these devices reaches a variety of sites including retailer and brand

commerce sites, marketplaces, and a number of social media outlets. Traditional brick-and-mortar stores

leverage new technologies, such as digital signage and smart mirrors, to enhance the in-store experience.

Some also host brand pop-up stores to attract loyal customers.

This shopping flexibility has spawned new omnichannel models such as Buy Online, Pick Up In Store

(BOPIS), Reserve Online, Pick Up In Store (ROPIS) and Buy Online, Return In Store (BORIS). A survey

revealed that 77% of customers use BOPIS on a weekly basis1. Leading retailers accommodate these

models by offering special lines at customer service desks and curbside pickup.

Retailers are also offering their online

customers the ability to “try before you buy.”

What started back in 2009 with Trunk Club

making shopping simpler for men who don’t

like to shop has evolved into a very desirable

business model. And with good reason. A

survey conducted by Researchscape

revealed that 71% of respondents would be

likely to choose a retailer offering this option

over retailers who do not2. Online companies

such as Stitch Fix, Zappos and ThirdLove

offer this popular option, as do omnichannel

retailers like Macy’s, where customers buy

online and try on in the store.

Clearly, the flexibility offered to today’s customers makes it more complex for retailers to manage customer

interactions and support internal business processes. Every customer touchpoint – from the front-end

commerce experience to back-end systems, such as order management, fulfillment and returns

management – must work in concert to ensure a delightful, “white glove” customer experience.

For retailers, white glove service means treating every customer as a VIP at every touchpoint. This requires

in-depth knowledge of a customer’s interactions so retailers can provide highly personalized product

selections and services. In today’s highly competitive retail environment, impeccable, white glove service

can be a key point of differentiation from competitors.

Figure 1: 77% of customers use BOPIS on a weekly basis.

1 “The Inherent value of identifiable store traffic,” RetailDive, May 2019 2 Researchscape Survey, May 2018


The Challenge: Capturing a 360° View of the Customer –

Customers expect a seamless, frictionless

shopping experience that could span multiple

channels and devices. For example, they may

research purchases on their smartphone, then

finalize the transaction in the brick-and-mortar

store. Regardless of which channel(s) they

choose, capturing detailed behavioral and

transactional information creates a key

competitive advantage. Retailers armed with

this information can use it to create personalized

online interactions. Access to purchase history

via in-store apps that includes things like item,

size and color preferences enables in-store

sales associates to intelligently cross-sell and

upsell. Called Clienteling, these apps provide

rich information, allowing sales associates to

create personalized recommendations and

seamless digital checkouts. In other words, this

360° customer view allows retailers to ensure

continuity and consistency throughout each

retail touchpoint.

However, retailers face a number of potential obstacles in achieving this goal:

• Fragmented technology

• Information silos

• Disjointed business units

• Competing KPIs across the organization

• Inconsistent metrics and reporting

Figure 2: Creating a 360 view of the customer allows

retailers to ensure continuity and consistency throughout

each retail touchpoint.


Fragmented Technology

Commerce Platforms (ECPs) come in a variety of flavors, offering different functional capabilities. They can

be cloud-based, on-premise software, or home-grown systems. From a functional point of view, most ECPs

provide an online store but differ in back-end functional capabilities, such as content, order management

and Point of Sale (POS) integrations.

Many rely on integrations with other third-party or home-grown systems to complete the omnichannel

shopping experience – but these systems don’t necessarily communicate well with each other. This creates

a fractured environment – of both systems and data – that cannot deliver the 360 customer view required

to provide a seamless, frictionless omnichannel shopping experience. This ideal shopping experience

requires that every system involved in attracting, acquiring, converting and retaining customers leverage

the same data source – a single source of truth.

Information Silos

Each system in the retail environment typically has its own database, thereby creating “islands of

information.” And in today’s omnichannel retail environment, there are many systems – Content

Management (CMS), Order Management (OMS), Warehouse Management (WMS) and Customer

Service, to name just a few. Behavioral and transactional data from all retail systems across the

enterprise must be aggregated and transformed to provide actionable information throughout the

customer journey.

Disjointed Business Units

Individual business units initiate ad-hoc actions and sometimes forget to consider al l the downstream

effects on other departments and, ultimately, the customer. For example, a product recall requires

merchandisers to remove the product from store shelves, commerce sites, marketplaces, and other

retail partner locations. The merchandising department, focused on the recall, may forget to inform

other areas of the business, such as marketing and customer service.

At best, this could be a minor oversight. At worst, marketing could have launched a campaign promoting

this unavailable product, leading to a surge in customer service inquiries. Customer service, unaware of

the recall, finds itself unprepared for the increase in call center volume due to recall returns and

promotions of a no-longer-available product. This type of situation negatively impacts the customer

experience.


Competing KPIs

Different departments often have competing KPIs. Merchandising may be tasked with discounting and

pushing slow-moving products while the commerce team may be focused on huge revenue and average

order value (AOV) goals. Marketing may be tasked with increasing inbound site traffic by 50%. At the same

time, the finance department slashes marketing budgets.

Situations such as these negatively impact the customer experience. For example, the merchandising

team may prioritize a special collection of less desirable, discounted products while the commerce team

offers free shipping on orders that meet a high AOV threshold. The customer receives offers for

discounted products that he/she may not want or need yet sees an incentive to purchase more to receive

free shipping. These disconnected offers may frustrate the customer to the extent he/she decides to shop

elsewhere.

Inconsistent Metrics and Reporting

Each department typically has its own set of metrics and reporting to gauge performance to KPIs. The

systems supporting these departments each produce their own reports. Often, these reports are

inconsistent with one another due to differences in update processes and the data attributes used to create

the reports.

Combined, these challenges complicate efforts to capture a 360 view of the customer. Retailers can

overcome these obstacles by taking a unified commerce approach.


B2B Commerce Challenges Further Complicate Matters –

B2B customers expect the same - or higher - levels of personalization and service as they experience in

their personal lives as B2C customers. Delivering a seamless and meaningful B2B experience introduces

additional challenges to the mix, namely the need to accommodate:

• Complex business models

• Custom product catalogs and price lists

• Tiered pricing

• Multi-site management

• Authorization rules

Complex Business Models

B2B customers represent a variety of business models beyond brand/wholesaler/distributor to retailer.

Examples include B2B2C (e.g., business to reseller to consumer) and B2B2B (e.g., supplier to distributor

who is also a supplier to purchasing consortiums). Models such as these increase the number of business

rules and workflows that the retailer must manage. In some situations, a B2B retailer must manage multiple

business models associated with a single customer.

Custom Product Catalogs and Price Lists

B2B requires a highly personalized approach to product catalogs because customers may have exclusive

rights to certain products or may be merchandising under white label agreements. Strong catalog-

management capabilities support custom assortments, proprietary SKUs and account-specific pricing.

Merchandising may assign products to multiple categories and sub-categories depending on their

taxonomies. In addition to supporting product governance rules, catalog management helps manage

negotiated pricing.

Administering these product relationships requires a central repository of information that enables

merchandising to assign and maintain groups of products as kits: hard bundles or soft bundles, for example.


Product relationships maintained by this central repository ensures the digital commerce platform and sales

associates can access them.

Tiered Pricing

In addition to managing negotiated pricing, B2B retailers must often manage tiered pricing. Tiered pricing

occurs when items are priced according to volume sold. The higher the volume, the lower the price per

item. Changes in order volume may trigger new pricing. Tiered pricing presents another pricing table to

manage.

Multi-Site Management

Many B2B omnichannel retailers must manage multiple websites. This typically occurs when multiple

brands are involved, or multiple business models must be accommodated. Merchandisers must ensure the

correct product and pricing catalogs appear on each site.

Authorization Rules

Managing authorization rules is another complicating factor. Some B2B transactions occur using a

corporate credit card. As opposed to a B2C transaction, there may be spending limits depending on the

person making the purchase. Frequently, B2B retail involves Purchase Orders (POs) that require special

workflows to accommodate approval cycles. Still others may involve various types of billing or electronic

payment transactions.

Combined, these common B2B commerce-related issues further complicate the ability to deliver a

personalized, seamless and frictionless omnichannel experience.


The Solution: Unified Commerce –

Unified commerce focuses on the customer experience. It unites all the omnichannel elements – such as

commerce, mobile commerce, order management (OMS), inventory management, customer relationship

management (CRM), Point of Sale (POS), Customer Service, etc. – into a single platform. In doing so,

unified commerce breaks down operational and informational silos to create a unified, consistent customer

experience. It also delivers a true 360° view of the customer. A survey conducted by Boston Retail Partners

revealed that 81% of retailers plan to have a unified commerce platform by 2020.

Unified commerce platforms capture and manage all operational and customer data in one central

database. In doing so, all departments have access to the same data, with the ability to take appropriate

action. In the previous product recall example, each department would proactively proceed in a manner

that would benefit both the customer experience and internal teams. Armed with the product recall

information, marketing would replace the original campaign, perhaps to offer an alternative product.

Customer service would staff up to accommodate increases in call volume and returns. And merchandising

would work with the commerce and retail teams to offer a similar product that has sufficient inventory.

The central database creates a single source of truth and a 360° view of the customer. With visibility into

all customer interactions, marketing analytics can better identify personas, better understand Customer

Lifetime Value (CLTV), and create advanced marketing segments.

“81% of Retailers Plan to Have a Unified Commerce Platform by 2020.”

“2018 POS/Customer Engagement Survey,” Boston Retail Partners


This data can also be used to personalize interactions with the customer at all levels and across all

channels. Examples include:

• Product recommendations, upsells and cross-sells

• Personalized campaign, remarketing and transactional emails

• Content targeting with personalized offers, coupons, images, etc.

• Advanced search and product discovery such as visual and voice search

• Personalized category and landing pages, and navigational elements, etc.

Key Considerations When Assessing Unified Commerce Platforms –

Omnichannel retail now encompasses purchases from many devices including personal digital assistants

like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, smartwatches and a myriad of other devices. As technologies

continue to evolve, prudent retailers should consider a “headless” approach to their unified commerce

initiatives. Headless platforms provide all the back-end content and functionality through a RESTful API

layer but eliminate the front-end presentation layer (sometimes known as a template or theme). This gives

retailers a great deal of flexibility to support these new methods of shopping.

Retailers should also consider a

microservices architecture when moving to

unified commerce. Traditional commerce

platforms offer tightly integrated applications

that are sold in bundles, much like cable

channel packages. Companies can end up

with features and services they do not intend

to use. In contrast, microservices are

individual applications enabling retailers to

implement only those services that are

currently needed with the ability to quickly and

easily adopt new features.


Unified Commerce Delivers Tremendous Omnichannel Benefits –

Regardless of business model, unified commerce enables a delightful customer experience with benefits

to both the retailer and customer, including:

• Increased sales

• Personalized merchandising

• Improved forecasting and demand planning

• Streamlined operations

• Increased customer loyalty

Unified commerce helps increase sales by creating a highly personalized, “white glove” experience. By

including an intelligent personalization engine, this platform helps new customers easily find the items they

seek and offers a seamless path to purchase. This capability can increase conversions and likely result in

repeat purchases. The ability to understand purchase history and purchase propensity gives marketers the

ability to cross-sell and upsell with highly relevant offers. From a B2B perspective, unified commerce can

track attributes such as “sell through” rates to trigger automated reorder notifications or to replenish

inventory through autoship agreements. It can also administer negotiated product and shipping prices and

spending approvals that vary by business customer.

Insights into customer preferences

results in better merchandising.

Merchants have the ability to

personalize offers, search returns

and collection pages. Unified

commerce also simplifies managing

the custom product catalogs, and

multiple sites required by B2B. Both

B2C and B2B customers receive a

highly relevant shopping experience.

Accurate and actionable information

extracted from the central database

enables improved forecasting and


demand planning. Merchandisers and buyers now have visibility across the omnichannel environment to

see real-time sales volume and inventory levels. This is especially important for B2B as multiple bulk orders

received in a short time frame could quickly trigger a backorder or out-of-stock situation.

Unified commerce streamlines operations across the omnichannel environment. By delivering an

infrastructure where all systems communicate with one another and leverage a “single source of the truth,”

it enables retailers to automate workflows and processes. These include processes that enhance the

customer experience such as order fulfilment from warehouses and stores or simplified returns

management. It also includes managing the complex business rules and workflows for the multiple B2B

business models. Retailers with both B2B and B2C models can service both customer sets efficiently from

one platform.

By providing an excellent experience throughout the customer journey, unified commerce helps increase

customer loyalty. Leveraging consistent data throughout every customer interaction results in better-

informed sales associates and customer service representatives. Whether transacting online, in store,

through the call center, or any combination of channels, customers receive a unified experience.

Unified Commerce: The Next Generation of Omnichannel Retail –

Unified commerce offers a single, highly integrated solution to meet the demands of the ever-evolving

omnichannel retail environment. It delivers end-to-end functionality with a high degree of flexibility

through a headless, microservices architecture. This single commerce platform captures every customer

touchpoint in a centralized database, creating invaluable information and insights. Leveraging this

information enables both retail systems and personnel to deliver a highly personalized and unified “white

glove” shopping experience.

This white paper is made possible by the support of:

About Kibo

At Kibo, we provide cloud commerce solutions inspired by your needs and designed to empower your teams.

We’re at your side, committed to your financial success in an unpredictable world. Together, we can see

further, think bigger, and climb higher.

Our Solutions

Our software and services include commerce, Order Management, Certona Personalization, and Mobile Point

of Service for retailers, manufacturers, and brands. Whether you’re a commerce veteran or just getting started,

B2C or B2B, our solutions are designed to power the shopping experience – from first click to doorstep – and

to scale with you as your business grows.

For more information, visit kibocommerce.com

http://www.kibocommerce.com/

FitForCommerce is a leading consulting firm, helping ecommerce and multichannel retailers and

manufacturers grow their online retail operations. Our consultants bring decades of practical, hands-on

experience to guide merchants in defining ecommerce strategy, selecting the right technologies, and building

online marketing, merchandising and best-in-class website experiences — all using a rigorous ecommerce

Diligence process and a vast knowledge base built on our work with hundreds of leading retailers.

To learn more, visit fitforcommerce.com

Copyright 2019 All rights reserved. FitForCommerce, the FitForCommerce logo, and all other FitForCommerce products and

services are trademarks of FitForCommerce. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Copyright 2017 All rights reserved. FitForCommerce, the FitForCommerce logo, and all other FitForCommerce products and

services are trademarks of FitForCommerce. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

http://www.fitforcommerce.com/

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