When a brand or manufacturer fails to execute a strong digital strategy, it risks falling short of customer expectations.
“Consumers today do not distinguish between channels, or even brands versus retailers, but they do have high demands of a seamless shopping experience at all touch points.” says Bernardine Wu, founder of Fit For Commerce, an e-commerce consultancy specializing in website technology, e commerce strategy and ecommerce marketing analysis. “An omnichannel strategy allows brands to remain competitive, which can result in greater customer satisfaction, loyalty, new customer acquisition and sales. Since consumers are finding your brands and products through multiple channels, brands must ensure that their digital and ecommerce strategies
align.”
Many direct-to-consumer e commerce businesses struggle to manage their customer relationships, channel complexities, and digital marketing. And Wu recognizes the challenges D2C businesses face are typically not covered in-depth by e commerce conferences.
Get Elastic caught up with Robert D’Loren, chairman and CEO of Xcel Brands / Isaac Mizrahi to discuss the impact of omni-channel strategy for D2C brands.
What’s your definition of omni-channel?
Engaging with and selling to our followers (customers) in every place they shop, socialize and seek information and exploration. Our philosophy is to create one brand experience across all channels, not a channel within a brand. We strive to speak with our followers not at them.
What are the key luxury consumer trends that influence your omnichannel strategy?
We don’t believe that luxury trends alone influence our omni-channel approach. We look to trends in art, music, film, technology, social media, and architecture to best develop our strategy to maximize follower engagement and achieve our objective to crystallize our single view of the follower in coordinated strategic ways. It all really comes back to speaking with our followers, not at them.
What role do you believe mobile devices play in the in-store experience?
The future is now — the way people shop is changing and the rate of change is accelerating. Mobile commerce will soon trump desktop online sales and consumers will increasingly turn to mobile devices in stores for information and exploration. We plan to use them to allow our followers to get behind the velvet rope.
How can high-end fashion brands use digital to drive sales through channel partners like department stores?
By providing department store retailers with massive amounts of online content.
What’s your take on iBeacon technology – will it have a place in the Isaac Mizrahi omni-channel experience?
Yes, in our owned stores. This may be a good device to deliver highly targeted and unique pre and post purchase messages. We are evaluating this technology now. We have some concerns related to how this technology engages our followers.
Image credit: CC by Dave Gray
