In one of the better recent articles focused on OMNI-channel retail strategy, this article from HBR really hit home for me. It outlines a research-driven process for testing several hypotheses about merits of OMNI-channel. In short, getting shoppers to buy online had a negative effect on retail profitability. However, getting online shopper to buy in-store gave a major boost to profitability. Perhaps the article is biased toward brick and mortar, but not blindly so. There are some good insights into what criteria make for more profitable channel shoppers, including a shopper’s proximity to the store. The conclusion I drew from this was that if retailers can win shoppers in any channel, go for it. But if they can get online shoppers to go in-store, they will boost margins and sales. That’s why ship-to-store is the best OMNI-channel strategy to capture this online to offline customer behavior.
