K3 Revisit the Seven Deadly Sins of Multichannel Retailing

The majority of retailers are still missing out on many of the benefits of multichannel retailing, one year after a report by K3 Retail was released, which identified the ‘Seven Deadly Sins of Multichannel Retailing’.

K3 Retail’s 2012 whitepaper, ‘Seven Deadly Sins – Revisited’ says that retailers are challenged by today’s fast paced multichannel retail environment. As their customers demand better service across all channels, retailers are having to provide real-time stock availability, personalised shopping experiences and the option to buy anything, anywhere any time, via multiple devices. All this is adding to pressure on already stretched and under resourced retailers operating in a difficult economic climate.

These challenges are set to continue: predictions for 2014 show that almost every mobile will be a smartphone and be connected to the internet. Most merchants, the report concludes, believe they are in the multichannel world, but in reality they are still operating with their channels entrenched in silos with their mind-sets in a similar place and they don’t understand the changes involved in meeting the customer’s buying behaviour.

John Little, Sales Director, K3 Retail, said, “This year’s report sees many changes since 2011 and some elements highlighted have been taken onboard, even embraced, but worryingly far too much continues to be overlooked. The result is that the great benefits of multichannel are not being fully realised by retailers. Against this backdrop we have chosen to re-visit the Seven Deadly Sins to see where we are in 2012 and to look ahead in a decade of monumental change for the retail industry.”