Navigating Omnichannel: A Comprehensive Look into the Retail Landscape

Ready to decode the retail revolution? Join us for a panel discussion with our industry experts Lisa Taylor, Scott Benedict, Ted McCaffrey & Brandon Rael as we navigate the dynamic world of Omnichannel. We promise a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities that this versatile approach presents, with a sharp focus on the significance of coordinated efforts across all touchpoints. With customers at the helm, we'll understand the critical role of digital and social selling, especially against the backdrop of the recent pandemic.

Ever wondered how retailers are adjusting to the changing consumer behavior? We pull back the curtain on this fascinating transition and the critical role of Omnichannel in it all. From seamless returns and reordering processes to personalization enhancing customer experience, we've got it all covered. Hear from our panelists as they discuss the potential of implementing RFID technology, peak season challenges, and the rising consumer expectations for a tailored shopping experience.

RetailWire is the retail industry's premier source for news, analysis, and discussion. With a focus on the latest trends, technology, and consumer behavior, RetailWire provides a platform for industry experts and thought leaders to share their insights and perspectives. Whether you're a retailer, supplier, or service provider, RetailWire is your go-to destination for staying informed and ahead of the curve.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

Hello and welcome to another RetailWireLir. We have a roundtable of experts talking about a theme's topic of the day. Today's topic is Omni Channel, and I have three experts here on the stage. A fourth may be joining us in a few minutes. The topic is what lies ahead for the future of Omni Channel. A discussion has already been started on RetailWirecom. One of the facts I wanted to bring up from the article was that Gartner estimated that 60% of B2C brands will move toward a functional channel list organizational approach by 2025. This is another way of saying Omni Channel channel list. The fact still remains that only 11% of companies feel like they have the technology prepared to do so. To kick us off, here we have Ted McAfrey. Ted, what do you have to say about Omni Channel?

Speaker 2: 1:14

If you looked at my Lake Dennis Omni Channel champion, this is a game changer when physical retailers want to compete with Amazon. When I was at eBay Enterprise or I sold Omni Channel to DSW, abercrown, b&s and Payless, we got to host data from over 45 different retailers, some of the big store goods. We ran the website, the fulfillment center and we ran their Omni Channel. We got to see the explosion in digital volume and then how it was fulfilled. What happened is the DC eventually would push more fulfillment to the stores, especially during peak, and that's where we saw the magic happen. Lisa and I were just talking about this notion that Best Buy 40% of all their e-commerce orders are picked up in store. That is where the magic really happens. Lisa, maybe you could talk to that, since you came from Best Buy.

Speaker 3: 2:09

I'm not going to speak to Best Buy specifically, but we do working there. I do know that it was very important. You saw what an excellent job they did when COVID hit and they turned on their buy online pick up in store. It was amazing. Got great reviews from their customers I think we've seen. Target was another one that we were talking about too. It's an excellent job with the buy online pick up in store. It's really seamless, helping their customers get what they need when they need it, how they need it. If you have little kids, it's a really easy way to swing through and pick some stuff up.

Speaker 3: 2:43

One of the things we talk about at our company, tpc, is we think of Omni Channel as really almost like a symphony. You've got all the different departments and players playing their specific instrument. Everybody knows their role and how to play it. Sometimes one comes to the forefront, sometimes something falls to the back, depending on how the customer wants. It's all working together in concert and that's what really is a seamless Omni Channel experience for customers. Because if you don't have that, if no one knows what their role is, and if they're working in silos individually, you cannot create this seamless Omni Channel experience for customers Really keen when you're thinking about selling across, because if you don't have that, they'll go somewhere that will.

Speaker 4: 3:36

Great points, lisa, and then Ted. I completely agree with you about the harmonization and just coordinating with different parts and pieces of an organization. I think it's been a challenge that in our increasingly digital first world that retailers like if you retail is in particular a face with was A how to start and establish an e-commerce presence and operating model, and B how to actually integrate those two together with your brick and mortar strategy. It's a seamless experience across channels. Now, that's for the last five years of the proliferation of digital and social selling, live streaming, retail media networks you name it live video commerce, live streaming and so forth. There's all these touch points now that actually create so much more complexity.

Speaker 4: 4:18

You said it really extended beyond what we know as Omni Channel From a customer perspective. I don't think average customer know what the Omni Channel means. What they do know is what's a good experience, what's a bad experience, whether it's shopping, discovery, fulfillment, product returns, those all working harming, like you said, lisa and Ted, and those. There's data, alex, foundation things behind it and the ecosystems there. I will go through and turn it there that Michaels the cork is talking about, my good friend. It's a immersive commerce which Transcends every channel, so it's definitely a big evolution we're seeing and you know it's all about the customer and all the various touch points.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Really good point that you said the customer doesn't even know what the word omni channel means. No, we have to go.

Speaker 3: 4:59

Yeah, it's done right.

Speaker 4: 5:02

No, then there and we know, as a consumer, your your strategy to hide off. As a consumer, you go to a store, wherever that friction is for counties are. You can see the broken processes. A consumer, try to buy an order out. I return to a store. You know the ones do it Well, I best buy target, have a QR code seamlessly attached to your, you know, in your email or the app. Or there's curbside pickup. This focus options. All these are in these harmonization. We talked about Lisa and Ted. So those who don't have that, they obviously don't have the strategies in place, though they're falling behind. So I know Scott's here in the wing, so what they hear his perspective is too.

Speaker 5: 5:38

I gotta tell you it's it's it's been so fun for me to Continue to have this conversation about omni channel because for those of us that were around in the late 90s into the early 2000s, this is we're seeing today, the things that we thought e-commerce could evolve to at some point. And it's it's humorous that there are videos out there somewhere of me having this conversation with somebody as recently as you know, 2015, where there was still this concept that felt like it was, it was out there in the future but it hadn't yet happened. And If there are some things silver lining in the horrible events related to the pandemic, that it caused folks to have to engage with a retailer digitally that they were used to reengaging with in physical stores and that caused this interconnection to be even possible. Because Even if you shopped in someone's store, if you shopped at a best buy, lisa, or if you shopped in a Walmart or you take the retailer, you didn't have their app, didn't have an online account. The pandemic probably caused you to get one and to get those signups where now, at least that retailer had the opportunity To engage you in multiple ways.

Speaker 5: 7:00

And then one of the things that I've seen Well recently the number of retailers have done is that they've connected a in-store purchase history and an online purchase history in a way that you know makes returns seamless.

Speaker 5: 7:16

It makes Reorders or rebuying something something more seamless, particularly in a food and beverage in the that weekly grocery Trip.

Speaker 5: 7:24

They just made it that much easier now, and we even have to Give Amazon props for using some of their physical store partners Coles is a go-to example for returns or the fact that now you can walk into a UPS store with a Amazon return and it's very seamless in terms of that.

Speaker 5: 7:49

So all of those are our examples of the things that we talked about 20 years ago as theoretical constructs that have now come to life, and the consumer is showing us that what we thought they might Think is neat about that, what might cause them to embrace it. In fact, it has has occurred, and that's the exciting thing. At the same time, I still think we have plenty of headroom as an industry to improve, and there's they're still both retailers that aren't doing as well as they can, aspects of the of the experience that are as Buttoned up as they they should be, and taking advantage of that to use personalization to make more personalized Promotions or recommendations to a consumer based on their prior Browsing and buying behavior. There's still lots of head room to improve, even though we started to see this day that we all thought was possible, become mainstream.

Speaker 2: 8:53

Yet so, speaking to that friction, this is what I noticed. So we had at eBay. We had about 45 different retailers on our platform so what I've got to see was how well they fulfilled those items from the stores and one retailer. In the months of, just in the months in November, december, that was 40% of their on machine for the year. Everything was pushed that back in.

Speaker 2: 9:18

Ironically, the worst inventory accuracy happened in those last parts of the year because they take the physical inventory at the first Part of the year. So what we had, what we got to see, is a thing called a pick decline when you have an allocation list. So someone like a Dick's Florida goods would fulfill four to six hundred items a day during peak For hope for pickup or ship from store. They're picked declines in those two months for over 50%, meaning what they thought was there wasn't there. So they cancel a lot of orders, they split ship the lot of orders.

Speaker 2: 9:52

We had a woman that I worked with the start since you had a who had a little boy and she ordered 26 items on Baby Gap and free shipping and she got it in six different packages from six different locations. So, figure $5 times the additional five shipments and it was free shipping, so just went right against the margin. So there's split shipments, the order cancellations. There are people running around looking for items that aren't there or, worse, they're there and they can't sign them. So that's where I'm shameless to say it. But RFID enables a retailer to be able to scan their entire stores once a week and know what's there. So it's available to promise for omni-channel.

Speaker 3: 10:33

Right, yeah, and that's what I think is so interesting. So a lot of these. Like Scott, you mentioned the whole pandemic and what it's done in getting customers, bringing them along to engage with retailers in different ways beyond the store. And I think, as we get more and more technology and it progresses, I think it's really beholden to the retailers to make sure they're embracing that, so they do get things like RFID, things like integrating, planning and making sure all of your systems are connected. The whole idea of a single customer record is really moving towards have to have, not want to have, or optional to have, because customers really have an expectation that you know them and you know what they want. Like we said, suggested things you can. There's so much that can be done, but it's really critical when you're, when you're actually shopping across different channels, that you are talked to as that customer and seen as that one customer to maximize their sales as well as to maximize the experience for your consumers.

Speaker 5: 11:40

Yeah, indeed, and I still, Lisa. I still get email and social media promotions for things that in no way would you logically think that I'm going to purchase, and my children are both in their 20s. I still get advertisement for baby stuff and that day's gone. I think that either are different clothes than I would wear or items that I'd never purchase, and so it's just a reminder that we as an industry have an opportunity to continue to do our assigned and use technology to improve the customer experience, and I think you know the early days of personalization.

Speaker 5: 12:22

There was a concern hey, how do you know that about me and why are you promoting me to me? Exactly this thing that I was looking for on another website. That was a little freaky. Now I say that the consumers, at the point they give us permission, as long as we use that information well to make their life easier, to serve them better, and to continue to get emails for things that there is no reason I would ever buy, when I know the technology is out there that connects, is store and online purchases and shows my behavior over time and gives me things that, logically, my prior behavior would tell you, yeah, he's likely to buy that. It is, I think, the still the missed opportunity among many missed opportunities for us in the industry to really take out any channel to a whole other level.

Speaker 3: 13:16

Great, point, and it's the rise of all the loyalty programs. They're literally saying here's my information. I love you, retailer, here it is. You want to be seen. You have that expectation.

Speaker 4: 13:30

And great points, lisa and Scott.

Speaker 4: 13:32

I think the two front strategy here it's not only providing the consumer the choice, the options to see how they want the products fulfilled and how they discover, so a lot of it requires that perpetual inventory, real time availability of inventory and available to promise capabilities which, as the holy grail for retailers we've seen best buy, walmart, target.

Speaker 4: 13:54

They provide and power consumers online and they do to elapsed the options of if you want to travel 125 miles away, you can go pick up today in the store, or you can have that store shipped to your home, or you can whatever option you want.

Speaker 4: 14:07

But the democratization of that process is really what's powering on the channel and or immersive commerce, or unified commerce, whatever you want to call it they want to make the sale and while you're at the store, if the Best Buy Associate doesn't have the item in the store in stock, or if it's in Dick's Sporting, they can seamlessly go in their mobile apps and they have the capabilities and tools. Say, the store 20 miles from here has this particular size and product, we can fulfill it today, ship it to your home for tomorrow, save the sale. So, just as much you want to provide an outstanding customer experience. You need to empower an outstanding associate experience with the tools and capabilities to keep up with that digital first consumer comes to the store and convert the sale. Whether it's in store or digital, it doesn't matter. I mean it's going to be a sale.

Speaker 2: 14:51

And Brad, would you agree that OmniChannel has become the Amazon equalizer in a sense for the physical stores, in that Amazon Prime came out with a two-day shipping where the rest of the retail world was five to seven days, right. So now you've got a local store that's shipping it. Now you can get within those two days and then I say, lisa, as they do, a Best Buy where 40% of all the e-commerce items are picked up in the store. That is where the magic happens. That's where they one-up Amazon, in that you're not only going to pick up that item, but there's this thing called attachment rate, where some of these people 30, 40% of people who come in they buy more and that is where the profits happen. So your inventory accuracy better be right, especially with BOPUS. You can't get it wrong with BOPUS.

Speaker 4: 15:38

You just have to point to the evolution of Best Buy in particular. I was rooting for them, especially in a seminar nine years ago when they were in the verge of bankruptcy. They were essentially coming into an Amazon showroom. You know, you go there it's here and try the products and they don't have it in stock. They don't have the item, or it wasn't in petal-y price or you didn't get the good associate experience. You end up buying on Amazon in the store. So they actually turn that whole narrative around and you're going at Best Buy with a purpose and you actually research it online or discover it somewhere else, and they were actually closed through a pickup in store or a curbside pickup. So that's been the game changer for them.

Speaker 2: 16:15

And during the pandemic you know getting back to that's no longer here but Lululemon they opened their stores just for the store managers to come in to fulfill that extreme volume of e-commerce orders that were being fulfilled. So it actually saved Lululemon in a lot of cases didn't save them and it produced so well through the years, but it really helped them satisfy the customer like there's no tomorrow, and so I think there's going to come a time, right now and again with RxID they're using these little handhelds where they scan their stores once a week and Macy's does it once a month. There's going to be a tight time where they're going to want something up in the ceiling that reads it in real time so that your both disorders you know what's there. Macy's had a problem where they held back, I think, $2 billion worth of safety stock for Amit Shale because they didn't feel comfortable promising it. Once they developed or deployed their RFID, they opened up all that inventory for available to promise. So that was a huge deal for Macy.

Speaker 3: 17:15

It just shows how important that back of house, all of those processes across the organization really have to work, like I mentioned, in concert with one another, because if they're disjointed, the customer experience is going to be totally disjointed. So we really need to have accuracy, real-time information and it all needs to be integrated.

Speaker 5: 17:37

Yeah, and that kind of brings to mind the fact that so much of the discussion about investment in retail technology has been always converted into well, that's in purpose to the website or to the mobile app. And the fact is, what both you and Lisa are raising is you know, some technology can be in the back office functions of you as a retailer and or equipped your store's both kids with information, the ability to solve a problem for a customer. We're not stocking this one, but I can have it shipped to your home or our other location across town has got it. Can I reserve it for you?

Speaker 5: 18:16

Those kind of scenarios are where I think a lot of the investment in Amit Shale is headed Is. It's yes, you want to continue to refine your digital experience, you want to continue to refine your in-store experience, but in some cases, it's just the back office functions where investments in the next few years are going to have to be made to bring about this better omnichannel experience, and in technology that equips the store associate, which is to your point, ted, earlier. That's, the game changer against Amazon is if you have a store and you have a store associate that can use technology to solve a problem for you as a consumer. That's that's really set you up to be, to be differentiated as a competitor in in the omnichannel space, going forward right.

Speaker 3: 19:09

Yeah, yeah, nothing. Exactly Because consumers really see retailers as a brand.

Speaker 3: 19:14

They don't see you as target and target and target and you know on Instagram or whatever, you know who knows what channels we're going to see for the future. You know, talk a lot about. You know Tiktok shop, right, is that going to be the next thing? Oh, but we have to be ready for these things and making sure we know how consumers use the different channels and how they interact with the different points, so then you can connect the dots across and make sure it's a consistent experience.

Speaker 4: 19:45

And then, yeah, it's increasingly important now with the emergence of Tiktok shop and the immersive commerce, video commerce, live streaming. We know Gen Z is there. We know they're interacting with videos. There are 85% or 80 plus percent content view of that generation is video and it's authentic, it's storytelling. It will lead to commerce, it will lead to discovery.

Speaker 4: 20:06

You know they're going to look at clicking on binocular abilities within Tiktok or Instagram and it better lead to a great experience. But to 10th point earlier you know RFID, real time and mentor availability available promise that'd be immediate and accurate and light and speed and the product could be fulfilled. You know I mean those expectations. But that's the future and who knows what Gen Alpha is going to do in the future. You know whether it's metaverse related, but it's not, in that your ecosystem is not set up to handle the scalability and flexibility to fulfill orders, whether in store or digitally. You're right behind the table. We saw QR codes take off during a pandemic. I'm starting to see video, immersive commerce and live streaming take off in the next couple of years. I know Walmart is in that space too. You're in TikTok and they do live streams as well.

Speaker 5: 20:54

Right, what's interesting and I particularly noticed this in the grocery space that much of what we've talked about and that we see as consumers is providing a seamless solution to a problem or a need a consumer already knows that they have. Where I think there's opportunity is what those of us who are raised in electronics were taught is this concept of solution selling, in other words, providing a solution or a group of products, or a group of products and services that solve a need. I still feel like that's an underdeveloped promise of Omni-Channel because and I'll take the grocery space for example yes, I know what products I want to buy in my grocery list. Can you solve that for me? Can you take my order? Can you have it ready at the park a lot when I want it? Yes, I'm going to have people over for football game tomorrow and I want to put together a food spread, one of the items I want to prepare this healthy dish for someone who's got special dietary needs.

Speaker 5: 22:02

I think I see examples, but I don't see the broad implementation of Omni-Channel solutions where you say here's the problem or the occasion or the issue that you're trying to solve and here's all the products that support that. Click here, one button goes to your cart and now I can go pick it up at my local store, whether that's a Best Buy store with a technology solution or a grocery store with an occasion solution. I still feel like that aspect of Omni-Channel is still. While we're solving some of these core back office issues and we need to, they're foundational there's still another level of performance available on Omni-Channel when you start proactively solving the customer's need, not just reacting to the things that they know that they need.

Speaker 4: 22:56

Yeah, that sounds like we're talking about Omni-Channel, enhanced with general AI capabilities to integrate all those great insights and data in there, to provide those recommendations and then, like you said, point the consumer in the direction they need to go to solve their use case. Like you said, if it's a party or a simple party, or where it may be, what are the things they need to do to solve that and then connect to the retailers?

Speaker 3: 23:21

The whole conversation reminded me of a conversation I had with the data scientist on our team and we're talking about Omni-Channel and he said what I think would be really cool. Say, you're part of your local grocery store's loyalty program and they see that you're continually ordering the same things every single week. Why aren't they coming up with hey, we can just fulfill this for you, tell us of these. Here's what we think you want. You check the box and it's just like clockwork. That's the next level of buy online pickup in the store, where they're just like doing it for you. I just show up, pick it up, we're good to go. And then you can even expand further, increasing your list. And oh well, you know what? If you add these three things, you could make this recipe, things like that. You're really taking data and doing it for them and really building very strong brand loyalty. I would be excited if somebody does that for me.

Speaker 2: 24:17

Big time, big time, If you think of you know, you've heard of Scott Galloway I don't know if he's, I love him. He talks about this notion of A-commerce, algorithmic commerce, and he said someday, someday, you're just going to get a tote every day from Amazon that's going to have the things they think you want and the things that you want, and then all you do is whatever you don't want, you leave it there and they'll pick it up the next day and you'll get credited for whatever you didn't pick up, Because they're going to send those things to you knowing and that's what growth, that's what physical stores should be able to have the same data, and I think that that would be that's what people wanted that type of response from their retinas. They want to be, they want you to know who they are and they want to react in real time. So that's kind of a cool concept.

Speaker 1: 25:10

That makes me think of the ease of returns, because you know they in that case Ted, they'd pick it up. But if something's shipped, a lot of people are buying you know 10 shirts online and then knowing they'll just return nine of them. And so the ease of return. It's like it does bring some challenges, but it also brings the customer into the store. Is that opportunity being leveraged right now in the way that you think it could be leveraged?

Speaker 2: 25:42

Well, from my standpoint, when we were working with DSW, they actually liked the returns because 60% no, 65% of their e-commerce returns came back to the stores local to the customer, and that gave them another opportunity to show your products in their stores, and so for them, it was another opportunity to interact with the customer. You just look for visits. You want as many visits as possible. Think about calls. Takes back Amazon's junk in order to get visits. You know what? I hate to say it now, but they do, and so the more you get people to come back we have focus via veterinary services at Walmart, whatever it is the more you get them to come back, the more you build your brand if you perform well.

Speaker 1: 26:23

You know, getting your customer to go to the UPS store or the post office does not help you.

Speaker 5: 26:29

No, if you're Amazon, because if you've made it easy, that's great, but if you're thinking about on each channel as a retailer, no, you want them to come and you want to tell us. Point, let me serve you in our store. And oh, by the way, is there anything else I can help you with while you're here? That's part of the promise of on each channel, beyond the individual transaction, that I think a lot of retailers are just starting to unlock.

Speaker 3: 26:55

That value, yeah, but I think that's also where the humanization comes in. That's coming in the store Fuck people. Visual merchandising creates that oh, I need to buy XYZ. So it creates that whole different experience that you really can't get from Amazon.

Speaker 4: 27:16

That's the differentiator. If you are in capitalizing and getting consumers back in your store I mean Best Buy and Dix, four Nougurs and a few others do this very well. They make a. We've seen this for you. There's a dedicated area for both this and returns right by the front entrance. So, a QR code enabled, you show your phone. You don't have to print in the alley anymore, you're just showing emails and while you're in the store usually it's a very compelling offer In the front of the store you might want to buy something else. So if you're a retailer and you're in the game and you don't have the capabilities to attract the consumer back to your store where a frictionless return to engage them and show them new products and have more discovery then you're failing and you'll fall in the line. The best breeder at now.

Speaker 5: 27:58

Yeah, brandon, it feels like that. So much of the evaluation on the modeling channel in the early days was a transactional, got-loved accountants View is set of a lifetime value, of the customer view and the several of those points a lot of retailers are now learning about. The engagement I can tell you not confidential information from my Walmart and Sam's Club days. Both Walmart and Sam's we knew that if a customer or a member in the case of Sam's engaged us across channels, there wasn't a metric that that customer wasn't more valuable than one that just engaged us in physical locations or online, whether it's frequency of shopping, average purchase, likelihood to, in the case of Sam's, renew their membership.

Speaker 5: 28:52

Lifetime value and I think that's the lens through which a lot of retailers are now starting to look at on the channel is, yes, the transactions have to be profitable. Yes, we have to make sure that we're being good stewards of our company's resources, but we also have to look at it through the lens of lifetime value of the customer retention, loyalty all of those lenses as well as transactional. Like a lot of us looked at Prime in the early days and thought they've lost their mind. There's no way they can make up enough on what they're losing, or free shipping to justify that. And we were all wrong. Yes, as it turns out, they got a level of loyalty out of that, and now, as you bring that into more omni-channel retailers, the math looks a whole lot better when you consider lifetime value, not just evaluating individual transactions.

Speaker 2: 29:53

Yeah, and you know, when we were working with Dick Sporting Goods, with eBay, and we had, as I said, we had their omni-channel, we had their fulfillment. I tested we just enabled them to have BOPUS and I tested it I ordered something and I went to my store. I checked at the kiosk and I just happened to turn to this person that had a little walkie-talkie on, a little headset on, and he gave me a look and he knew it was me. He walked up to me. Can I help you? I said, yes, you can. So that, right, there is the epitome of being a customer that look, you're a customer, you're valuable and I'm going to take care of you right now. Now, it doesn't happen all the time, but it just so happens like, wow, it just felt.

Speaker 5: 30:33

If it felt good, it just felt good as we talk about you know, there's less conversation about malls and our malls remain relevant, that sort of thing and that's where omni-channel I think still has a lot of opportunity, because the physical desire of most malls dates back to before e-commerce and before that and a lot of well-meaning department store chains have got, you know, store pickup opportunities out there in the parking lot.

Speaker 5: 31:04

But it doesn't feel like malls and mall-based retailers have completely figured out how to do omni-channel right, whether in the physical design, other facilities or the experience to what you're talking about, and they were known for a level of service that that's what made or will continue to make some department stores relevant in this century, but it's, you know. What I wonder about sometime is is will malls, in either remodeling or any construction of new malls, change their design to make omni-channel more easily done the way that a lot of the companies we've talked about, whether it's Dix or Best Buy or Walmart or others? They can change their own stores pretty quickly, but malls have not changed their infrastructure or their experience in a way that really fits taking full advantage of omni-channel. In my view.

Speaker 1: 32:08

I'm hearing that that push-pull between maybe when omni-channel first started, it really was let's make a fast food lane and that's it. And then there's. And then they're thinking well, this is an opportunity. They're in the store. It costs us how much to advertise to get them to walk through our door where this acquisition can be happening, and we're missing that discovery point. I think that Brandon was saying so if you go too far into fast food lanes, you're going to miss that other opportunity of lifetime value. And now, when I interviewed the CEO of Sweetwater, which is an online retailer of music instruments, he said they had. This was one example that connected the dots for me. They had a customer calling who was really mad about a product. Something was broken and they found out later in the conversation it wasn't even purchased at their store. Well, they empower their employees to fix the problem almost no matter what. Right to a certain level of permission, right. And so they just replaced the part, and that was the first room. Does that right?

Speaker 2: 33:15

they should do that you know they were. They were really Legendary about that, I'm sorry. So they're timeless.

Speaker 1: 33:21

You mentioned Northstrom. It's a timeless thing. This is customer service 101. And now it's just like you go through the the storm of new technology and new Environment, new behaviors. Oh wait, we're back at customer service 101 again.

Speaker 5: 33:37

Yeah, but now chase its customer service enabled by technology, not supplanted by technology. I think that's been the change in the narrative of the thinking right.

Speaker 1: 33:48

Exactly I should. So many good takeaways. Any final thoughts on this before we wrap up?

Speaker 4: 33:55

I think everything has to be done in service of the consumer. Everything has to be customer-centric, customer first, and We've all all four of us, and I chase you to have been talking about this extensively About technology for its purpose driven, value driven, not only for the customer but for the associates, and then parables, just as critical. So there are equal ground to fulfill it and and drive that discovery process. And, to Scott's earlier point, move from a Transactional let's get the item in, out the door the customer and the door to a relationship, to a lifelong value, across any channel. The customer is channelists, the customer is always connected. There's no dial-up being there. There's no thing to a motor. Everyone has smart devices, will, or ten years now. So the world, this is the world we live in now.

Speaker 2: 34:40

So yeah and yeah. Just to a quick the numbers. A target fulfills 95.6 percent of the e-commerce volume with store inventory. I just saw that the numbers with Walmart 50% of the commerce volume from store inventory. There's a company called zoomies, the clothing fulfillment center 100% of the e-commerce volume from the 700 stores. So stores have never been more valuable because of on the channel such a great conversation.

Speaker 1: 35:06

We'll do some more of these and I appreciate all of your time being here. You.