Leveraging existing multi channel assets

I first published this post on http://charterisplc.blogspot.com/2008/09/leverging-existing-multi-channel-assets.html, having delivered a breakfast briefing at the ARC Retail conference.

Retailers under Pressure 

John Lewis this week announced a 27% fall in first half year profits, largely attributed to price cuts and increased marketing spend. With the uncertainty the credit crunch has created, retailers will increasingly have to innovate to create the seamless Multi Channel experience that we all crave. Without the luxury of profit growth and flexible budgets, retailers need low cost / high benefit customer propositions. 

Use what you have 

Leveraging existing assets is one way retailers can do this. I wonder how many retailers take stock of all their multi channel assets, and attempt to link them together to create value add services for their customers.

One Example

The 3 main channels a retailer uses are the store, web and a call centre. Once a customer has saved their address and credit card details on the web, the checkout process is normally fairly seamless. So why not use this data in the call centre and store so customers only have to enter a password and a PIN number. Thus creating a seamless checkout process through all channels and creating customer value add propositions in the process.

Creating customer centric services are essential as exemplified by recent McKinsey research. They found that only 15% of loyalty is gained from perceived product quality and promotional strategies, leaving 85% to the actual purchasing and post-sales experiences of customers.

10 more reasons not to buy an iPhone

For all the hype surrounding the iPhone, a brand new mobile experience, the great user journey, the applications, the sleek design, I feel that my experience to date has not been a great one.  

I find it extremely hard to comprehend that Apple did not include so much basic mobile phone functionality, that most of us have taken for granted for years.   

A company with a brand synonymous with youth, innovation, and fun must address these issues in the coming months as the competition hots up.

1. Cannot resend and edit a previously written text message
2. No Instant Messaging
3. Cannot lock the iphone immediately, which is a source of constant frustration.
4. No simple mechanism to work with different applications.  You have to constantly go back to the main page to open up a application
5. Predictive texting does not enable the user to freely type in shortcuts
6. Battery is poor
7. Cannot create new photo albums
8. No voice dialling
9. Loud speaker is NOT loud. I have a 4 year old Nokia phone that is louder
10. Sound quality is also poor on loud speaker

10 reasons to not buy an iphone

In a blog post written by Rizwan Tayabali, http://multichannelthinking.blogspot.com/2009/04/pointing-fingers-will-damage-your.html, Rizwan discussed how poor customer experience can damage a brand.  This particular experience was very similar to mine.  Had it not been for the fact that I wanted the product I would have cancelled the order and bought from a different supplier.

The brand in question is O2; the product is the Apple I Phone.  This experience is made even more surprising by the fact that O2 were awarded best customer service for its broadband service.  The negative impact on Apple brand, who pride themselves on Customer Innovation, Customer Experience and Customer Service will need to be understood as Apple maintain their partnership with O2.  Especially as the competition start producing phones that match and beat the I Phone experience.

The apple I phone has additionally received many plaudits since it was launched.  It has been hailed an innovative phone, offering mobile phone users in the UK a brand new experience.  This is to a large extent true; however there are many basic user functions that are not included.  Here are my top 10.

 

1. Cannot send business cards
2. Cannot read e-mails as a widescreen
3. No copy and paste
4. Cannot save web pages for use off line
5. Camera does not have a flash and a zoom
6. No voice recording or video recording
7. The keypad is of limited use if you have big fingers.  An ability to expand the keyboard should be available.
8. The expand and collapse function is poor.  I often open up different web pages, when trying to expand a page.  It would be a lot simpler to just double tap the screen.
9. Cannot send and receive picture messages
10. Cannot forward a text message or add recipients to a text message

There may be software updates in the pipeline that will address these issues, but the majority of these points are basic user requirements for a mobile phone.