The New York Times had a fascinating piece this week about how multichannel retailer Nordstrom is reaping the rewards of integrating its online and offline inventory.
When shopping on Nordstrom.com, consumers are able to see what items are in stock in the Web warehouse as well as what is in stock in Nordstrom stores. This means that if a particular item is out of stock online, customers can quickly search for it across Nordstrom’s 115 retail store network and, even if just one single SKU of that product is left in the most remote retail store location, it would be displayed in the ecommerce store, and store employees would ship it to the Web customer.
Nordstrom has seen immediate and quite remarkable results from this initiative. In the 11 months since Nordstrom made the inventory change, its same-store sales have increased 8 percent and have outperformed the department store average. The number of customers who buy products after searching for an item in the ecommerce store have doubled. But, in my opinion, one of the most important benefits for Nordstrom has been that its inventory is moving faster, and often at high prices.
The fact is that consumers don’t want to have to think about what "channel" they are shopping -- the most important thing to them is getting the product they want when they want it. Today, a consumer may do research on your ecommerce store, visit your physical retail location to see the product firsthand and perhaps even do some price comparisons on their mobile phone, in any given order. Where they make the final purchase is really not as important as ensuring they get the information and products they need, and that all of the information they get is consistent and accurate.
What Nordstrom has done is still considered unusual in the industry. But, it’s at the heart of big-ticket multichannel retail and an ecommerce strategy inherent to the ecommerce services we provide our clients. I'm certain we will be seeing more retailers adopt this strategy in the near future.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
When shopping on Nordstrom.com, consumers are able to see what items are in stock in the Web warehouse as well as what is in stock in Nordstrom stores. This means that if a particular item is out of stock online, customers can quickly search for it across Nordstrom’s 115 retail store network and, even if just one single SKU of that product is left in the most remote retail store location, it would be displayed in the ecommerce store, and store employees would ship it to the Web customer.
Nordstrom has seen immediate and quite remarkable results from this initiative. In the 11 months since Nordstrom made the inventory change, its same-store sales have increased 8 percent and have outperformed the department store average. The number of customers who buy products after searching for an item in the ecommerce store have doubled. But, in my opinion, one of the most important benefits for Nordstrom has been that its inventory is moving faster, and often at high prices.
The fact is that consumers don’t want to have to think about what "channel" they are shopping -- the most important thing to them is getting the product they want when they want it. Today, a consumer may do research on your ecommerce store, visit your physical retail location to see the product firsthand and perhaps even do some price comparisons on their mobile phone, in any given order. Where they make the final purchase is really not as important as ensuring they get the information and products they need, and that all of the information they get is consistent and accurate.
What Nordstrom has done is still considered unusual in the industry. But, it’s at the heart of big-ticket multichannel retail and an ecommerce strategy inherent to the ecommerce services we provide our clients. I'm certain we will be seeing more retailers adopt this strategy in the near future.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
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