When news broke recently on Amazon’s latest bombshell, “anticipatory shipping,” The Wall Street Journal and The Onion ran headlines that were near-identical: That’s a journalistic black swan if there ever was one. And what about Mr. Bezos’ second-most recent delivery innovation, Prime Air? Hard to tell if that one was a hoax or not, either. But algorithms that know what you want before you do and unmanned delivery drones are actually perfectly on-brand, for the world’s biggest online retailer. Amazon has been investing billions in its back-end – analytics, inventory, shipping, and who knows what else – for years, and clearly they’ve decided it’s time to start showing off.
Fulfillment may be out of consumer's sight, but what Amazon’s announcements show is that even the unsexiest back-of-house functions have the potential to be designed into valuable touchpoints. Branded or not, fulfillment is unquestionably a part of retail service delivery, and behind-the-scenes functions are increasingly being leveraged to support differentiation by big retailers. Ship-to-store and now same-day in-store pickup at Walmart, is only the beginning.
Many years ago, Nordstrom pioneered this kind of tangible/intangible delivery integration, tying inventory from every channel together and shipping – regardless of point of origin – straight to the customer’s door. This isn’t surprising, given Nordstrom’s dedication to innovation in service, but now Macy’s and even Kmart are following suit.
Right now, retailers are scrambling just to keep offerings, digital or otherwise, at parity with competitors’. But it’s going to take more than 24-hour availability and perfect execution, soon. Being a better retailer tomorrow is going to require all the digital chops of a Zappos or an Amazon as well as telling better stories and celebrating regional, historical or experiential differences.
“I want to design every single Starbucks store differently. When you’re in a crowded market, it allows you to stand out.” says Thom Breslin, Starbucks’ design director. The Boston Globe published research recently indicating increasingly widespread touch-enabled tech – both in-store and on tablets at home – stands to better connect with people currently feeling alienated by clicking a mouse.
The future will hold digital insights manifested in store environments beyond what we’re now calling e-commerce, however well-integrated (Here’s looking at you, Burberry.) This means there are lots of good first steps toward more engaging, personalized retail experiences. Think about how to harness customer data, and what that information might mean for the services you offer and deliver in store, in the future. Predictive shipping may still sound like science fiction to most brick-and-mortar retailers, but proactive, personalized offerings of this caliber are going to be nonnegotiable soon.
The omni-channel trend is truly fueled by big data: just right, just for you, right now. More data will mean even more mass customization, whenever and wherever. And that might yield a renaissance for retail: heightened emotions, more discovery, and a return to truly engaging shopping experiences.
Business leaders who grasp this are making meaningful back-end investment and even total reorganization of their merchandising, marketing and design teams a priority today. Director of store design and visual merchandising Elizabeth Dowd led a complete overhaul at REI recently, for example, doing away with siloed departments. Now sales, messaging, and product design are fully integrated and working collaboratively.
It’s crucial to maintain perspective on existing organizational culture, though. If your company isn’t ready to embrace seamless omni-channel, build bridges – or institute a series of smaller, gradual shifts – to support new strategies. This will take more than just securing a budget. Without staffing contingencies and real executive support, in fact, funding for radical design changes can be a recipe for real trouble… most organizations can’t tolerate a Ron-Johnson-at-JCPenney-style stumble. Decide where everything from major investments to small iterative experiments might make the biggest impact for you, and start getting ready for tomorrow today.
Jon Irick is a creative director at Ziba Design.