How Department Stores Can Win

Some experiences can’t be purchased online.

This time of year is important for department stores because many shoppers will come into a store for the holiday shopping experience. They love the decorations and the gift ideas and the gift wrapping stations and many other things that online shopping does not offer. But nobody is expecting people to stop buying things online, either, so department stores have to be truly omnichannel, offer online perks, and manage their data effectively to keep their customers coming.

Be Truly Omnichannel

Adding a website or selling on a third-party web marketplace makes a department store multichannel. Integrating those channels so that customer experience is cohesive is what makes a department store omnichannel.

Just as a department store enables customers to buy many different categories of goods in a single transaction, an omnichannel retailing business maintains a real-time data flow when a customer moves from online to in-store for a purchase. The customer experience works as a cohesive whole no matter when or where the interaction is taking place.

Offer Offline Perks

Holiday shopping online is convenient but it’s limited. There are no sparkly lights, no music, no ability to smell the scented candle or touch the fuzzy teddy bear before buying it for a friend. Coming into the store lets shoppers try on the boots, see if the pants fit, and get the sweater that looks the best on their holiday body. An online order that didn’t fit can be returned and exchanged for a different size. An impulse buy from a midnight internet session can be picked up the next day while shopping for the rest of the gift list.

Manage Department Stores software Data Effectively

There is a problem with offering multiple channels when those channels are not integrated. Customer experience becomes a frustrating experience. Ordering online and being told you must call for a verification code, coming into the store and being told they cannot find your order, looking up a product and seeing it online but not available in the store, and other shopping snags all stem from the retailer’s inability to manage data effectively.

ChainDrive for Department Stores gives multichannel retailers the tools to be truly omnichannel while offering the offline perks their customers seek. The integrated management solution gives the competitive edge that equips department stores to win.