Home topics small-business-resources growing Growing Industry Retail Growing Don’t frustrate customers, deliver ‘omni-channel’ retailing, forum told James Harkness June 6, 2016 Customers are increasingly interacting with retailers through multiple ‘channels’ as part of a single transaction. Retailers that fail to offer a superior shopping experience, where their customers can move seamlessly between different channels, risk becoming obsolete, industry experts warned a recent forum’s attendees. Held at Sydney’s Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel on Wednesday, 18 May, the Retail and Security Press Forum was moderated by Frost & Sullivan’s ANZ managing director, Mark Dougan. It featured a panel of industry experts, including Mark McGeachen, CEO of AdvanceRetail Technology. Multiple channels to a single transaction Dougan provided insight into the evolution of the retail industry, focusing on the increasing importance of ‘omni-channel retailing’. “Omni-channel is the general trend towards the use of multiple channels by consumers often as part of a single transaction with a retailer,” Dougan explained. “Consumers may, for example, use a mobile device to research a product, the product’s in-store availability and a retailer’s opening hours. Alternatively, they may visit a store to look at product but then place an order online. They may place the order online, go to the store and collect. The key aspect of omni-channel for retailers is to operate in an integrated and seamless fashion.” Integrate channels or frustrate customers Dougan told attendees that while many retailers initially operated their online stores as stand-alone businesses, separate from their brick-and-mortar stores, this approach has become increasingly