Omni-channel retailers are driving the digital convergence where the Web and mobile are coming together in retail stores. Nordstrom is one of the best examples of this as they have armed their sales associates with an iPod touch that allows checkout from anywhere in the store.
The Apple Store does the same thing. It’s convenient for shoppers and has shown to significantly increase sales (Nordstrom reported a 15% YOY increase after deploying the handheld solution).
This is great news for retailers, but workforce-focused mPOS devices are one of many examples of the digital convergence in retail. We’ve all seen endless aisle tablets in retail stores where a customer can purchase from the retailer’s deep inventory that’s not necessarily on display or in stock at the store. Flexible shipping options abound with the convenience of making a purchase without leaving the moment.
Let’s see some examples.
Crocs expands reach with virtual inventory
Crocs, the makers of the ubiquitous squishy shoes, launched an endless aisle solution in early 2014 with help from their eCommerce provider, Demandware. This solution instantly expanded the virtual inventory of their small retail outlets by making every style, size and color available for purchase. A Crocs executive has stated that endless aisle represents “a significant part of eCommerce revenue.”
Many other retailers are doing much the same with big guns like Wal-Mart, REI and Target offering free shipping to their local retail store via online or in-store kiosks.
More and more we will see virtual showrooms offering deeper inventories and shrinking retail footprints as a result. While there may not be the same instant gratification of walking out of the store with a box in-hand, the deep inventory and product options have proven popular with customers and associates alike. Crocs has two years of data to back that up.
Moki enables omni-channel success at Dynamite Clothing
Canadian-based Groupe Dynamite, operates over 300 retail stores worldwide under the Garage and Dynamite brands. Just like Crocs, they have a limited retail footprint featuring only a portion of their available SKU’s. To further engage their customers and offer a larger inventory, they wanted to offer in-store endless aisle kiosks. But, like many small retailers, they have a small tech team and nobody with the skill-set to make their solution a reality.
We engaged with Groupe Dynamite using our simple kiosk app, MokiTouch, coupled with Manager to provide security, remote management and operational analytics. Using MokiTouch, Dynamite stores can select specific Web sites they wish to display in addition to their tablet-optimized site. As you’d expect, the project started small, but with high expectations. The results have been positive thus far and they have plans to expand this program across all their retail stores in 2015.
Moki has several retail customers who are successfully enabling endless aisle using our cloud-based platform. We are uniquely positioned to provide the most secure and capable platform for retail transactions.
SEE HOW MOKI ENABLES ENDLESS AISLE
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Image credits
Crocs Store: threedogs.hk
Dynamite Store: charlottetownmall.ca
