Building A Successful Omnichannel Program with Filipp Labkovskiy

[ 4:52 - 8:40 ] Keeping up with customer behavior trends
The end-to-end ecosystem in which customers shop has changed and, as a result, their expectations have changed. We recently had an insightful conversation with retail expert Filipp Labkovskiy on omnichannel retail trends and how retailers can foster better customer experiences. He shared a very important outlook when it comes to digital transformation for retail brands. It’s not just about the tech stack - it’s also about the fundamental business processes. No matter what IT solutions you invest in, the real challenge, especially for legacy retailers, is to transform your company's business processes to align with what's needed for omnichannel success. It's a question of business reengineering just as much as a question of technology.

[ 9:47 - 11:26 ] Technology implementation strategy
Since the pandemic, a lot of retail companies have been fighting fires and rolling out new processes nonstop. Many retailers were rushed into the implementation of omnichannel programs like BOPIS, without adequate time and resources to analyze their current business processes and design an omnichannel strategy with care. We asked Filipp to share his insight on what brands can do to implement new technology and omnichannel strategies smoothly. He shared this simple advice: "Take it step by step."Pilot a new initiative or system at a few store locations before rolling it out to the whole company. He also advised not to pilot a new initiative at your top-performing store, where the staff may be used to experiments and new technology. With this approach, you'll likely encounter serious resistance when scaling out to lower-performing stores.

[ 11:42 - 13:27 ] Things to consider before rolling out new technology
Filipp brought up an important point that all retailers looking to scale omnichannel initiatives should keep in mind. Don't always choose the best-performing stores for the pilot. It’s natural to opt for piloting new technology or strategies at stores with associates who are quick to adapt to new changes. But this may skew the pilot performance, and the new initiative will likely encounter fewer problems at a location that is used to adopting new technology. When you eventually roll it out to the company at large, there will likely be many unexpected challenges. Select stores for your pilot that represent a cross-section of the stores across your entire company. You want to encounter all possible issues and edge cases in the pilot period, so you can work out the kinks before scaling the strategy.

[ 18:42 - 21:09 ] Pro tips for BOPIS roll-out
Building a successful BOPIS strategy from the ground up is no easy task.Beyond the technology required to launch an effective program, omnichannel retail success necessitates an overhaul of brands' business processes, and it's normal to feel the effects of such a massive shift in your business model. Filipp Labkovskiy, Head of eCommerce at ECCO Shoes Russia, shared some expert tips for rolling out new BOPIS initiatives:- Incentivize BOPIS & in-store sales equally for store associates, prioritize regular and clear communication with the customer throughout the full buying journey and align customer incentives, like coupon codes, across online and in-store channels

[ 21:39 - 22:43 ] Role of OMS in growing conversions
Today, retailers have so many diverse tools at their disposal. Frankly, it can be a bit overwhelming! In a recent conversation with Filipp Labkovskiy, we discussed how retail brands can integrate their OMS with different systems in their tech stack to drive conversions and increase their ROI. Just think of how much useful customer behavior data your OMS contains. If you integrate your OMS with your CRM, you can create marketing cohorts based on their shopping data - what products have they viewed or added to the cart? Have they made purchases in-store? Harnessing your OMS gives you a huge advantage in growing conversions and interacting with customers in the right way at the right moment.

[ 43:52 - 49:06 ] Key things to remember while doing BORIS
Buy Online, Return In-Store (BORIS) is a fundamental component of any omnichannel retail strategy. We discussed some key factors that retailers offering BORIS should keep in mind. It's important to remember that you likely won't see an ROI from this strategy right away, but that doesn't mean it's not an incredibly important process to make available to unsatisfied customers.BORIS is crucial in fostering customer confidence and customer loyalty - the Net Promoter Score (NPS) of customers using BORIS has been found to be higher on average than a brand's general customer base. Allowing customers to come in-store to make their returns and get credit back immediately positively impacts their lifetime value. Furthermore, BORIS helps older retailers change legacy processes, such as using paper forms to process returns.