Omnichannel and shift towards on-off experiences: key topics at ESADECREAPOLIS's Retail Revolution Conference

• José Cantera (Accenture Digital): “We have to abandon the traditional paradigm of ‘selling products’ and embrace a model based on ‘making people have experiences’”

• Cédric Thomas (Nestlé): “We are in the process of eliminating the distinction between online and offline”

• Borja Abasolo (Vans Spain): “We need to abandon this idea that the Internet is one big outlet”

“Most companies started years ago to develop their online world separately as support for the offline world, and for many years these have been two different worlds. Now, thanks to technological advances, with mobile connectivity and the development of the Internet of Things, these two worlds have started to converge,” declared Francisco Vázquez, President of 3G Office, today at the Retail Revolution Conference at ESADE.
 
The conference focused on the possibilities of the growing interaction between the digital and physical worlds. The event featured presentations by speakers such as Luis Gallego, Director of Internet at Leroy Merlin, who remarked: “In our stores, we are gradually finding that the customers know more than we do. Our challenge is to make sure there is a flow of information and be able to manage that knowledge in real time so that we can help them.” He added: “Robotics is absolutely welcome. To be able to serve our customers well, we need time, and it would be helpful to be able to automate certain processes.”

Walter Schimdt, Marketing Director at Media Markt, shared his successful experience of digitising one of the company’s brick-and-mortar stores: “The store has only about 50 products on display. The vast majority of products are displayed through virtual catalogues connected to a warehouse, which allows us to provide the products on a moment’s notice. In this experience, we combine the best of the online world with the best of the offline world.”

Multiple channels, same consumer

One consequence of this confluence is the rise of the omnichannel approach. Ramón Álvarez, Head of Customer Relationship Management at Desigual, commented: “The first challenge of the omnichannel approach is to identify the consumer in every interaction.” He added: “The fact that there are more channels is a great opportunity to increase that emotional connection with the consumer. You have to know how to maximise this.”

Mr. Gallego, of Leroy Merlin, advocated a “zero-channel” approach: “We work for a single client, not for any channel in particular.” Along similar lines, Julián Sánchez, Director of Capraboacasa, observed: “Despite the omnichannel approach, there is only one customer. We have to put various services at the customers’ disposal and let them decide what suits them best.”

The importance of experience

Borja Abasolo, Country Manager of Vans Spain, commented: “We need to abandon this idea that the Internet is one big outlet.” He added: “Many consumers come to our stores looking for a specific product, but our challenge is to get them hooked on the experience and get them to feel identified with the brand.” Mr. Schmidt, of Media Markt, commented: “We are creating new roles in our classic stores. We have introduced the role of costumer experience manager, who is responsible for managing the user experience in the stores.”

José Cantera, Managing Director at Accenture Digital, commented: “Users’ happiness has to do with how well their expectations are met. The problem is that the big revolutionary brands have made these expectations higher than ever. That’s why 92% of Spanish brands are irrelevant to consumers.” According to Mr. Cantera, the key is to “put the customer at the centre of the model, forget about sectors and become an ‘on-life’ brand – a brand that improves people’s lives through smart services.” He concluded: “We have to abandon the traditional paradigm of ‘selling products’ and embrace a model based on ‘making people have experiences.’”

Cédric Thomas, E-commerce Service Manager at Nestlé, commented: “Omnichannel communication has become the norm.” At Nestlé, he added, “we are in the process of eliminating the distinction between online and offline” and “transforming our points of sale into service points”. Mr. Thomas gave a presentation about Nestlé’s Global Digital Hub, a team of 100 experts of 25 nationalities that has been based in Barcelona since last year. He described this team as “a key tool for carrying out this transformation”.

A revolution in retail

Oriol Alcoba, Director General of ESADECREAPOLIS, stressed the need for an event like the Retail Revolution Conference at a time of great challenges for the sector. He also cited the need to create “strategies between the physical and virtual worlds” in the retail industry. In a nod to the conference theme, Mr. Alcoba described the changes taking place in the sector as a true “revolution”.

Carme Juanes, Retail Forum Director at ESADECREAPOLIS, wrapped up the conference with a summary of the proceedings. The two editions of the Retail Revolution Conference held to date, she explained, have brought together 60 experts and 500 attendees, with the participation of 50 affiliated companies.