Cross-Channel Retailing for Home Decor Stores
Cross-channel retailing is the practice of reaching customers through multiple sales channels that usually include both online and brick-and-mortar retail channels.
Amazon proved that it’s possible to build an online presence for retail operations and to sell practically any kind of merchandise through online sales channels. But the big box retailer did not arrive at e-commerce by building a brick-and-mortar presence first. On the contrary, the company start with e-commerce, a complete difference from where most retailers–including home decor retailers, begin.
When it comes to selling your home decor products, you must be able to reach customers through multiple channels if you want to be competitive. Follow these cross-channel retail best practices.
4 Home Decor Cross-Channel Retailing Best Practices
- Manage employee sales performance – Because home decor retailers typically deal with high-end ticket items, you must ensure your employees are compensated fairly for the work they do. And because you may close a sale through one channel that was initiated through another channel, you may need to split commissions between your sales staff. That’s why tracking and managing sales performance is so important in cross-channel retail.
- Integrate your accounting with your POS – This means integrating your accounting department with all points of sale. With cross-channel retailing, you could close sale online, on mobile, or in your brick-and-mortar stores. Your accounting department needs to be fully integrated with all points of sale.
- Fulfill orders quickly from any terminal – If customers don’t receive their products in a timely manner, you will lose them. You’ve got to ensure that orders are fulfilled quickly whether customers buy in store, order from your website, or place an order through a mobile app. From web order fulfillment to supply chain management, it’s imperative to be competitive.
- Manage your customer relationships – Your customers are the lifeblood of your retail operation. How well do you know them? You need to know as much about each customer as possible in order to provide the best service, and that includes their preferred sales channel.
Getting these four components of cross-channel retailing right is a good start for your home decor chain. But it’s just a start.
