The omnichannel promise
Routines are funny.
They are what adds up to complete personalities, actions and goals. And as much as we all like to think we are spontaneous and creative, the truth is we are routine beings. We wake up every day, routinely at about the same time. We eat, most times than not, the same breakfast. We commute to work using the same route and go about our day, usually in the same manner we did the days before, just to come home and finish the day with an experience as the day before. Sun rises and we go through the same carousel.
Routines are a compilation of continuous actions, that normally, after a 90-day period repetition, become a must in our lives.
Well, we are way past 90 days of this Contingency. Old routines have mostly broken, and fresh ones have set. That means the old gym membership might not come back. The routine coffee and breakfast at Starbucks might change to a freshly grounded coffee made at home. And definitely a traditional shopping experience will not come back again.
Pandemic became real fast for all of us. Buying something as simple as a bottle of water, changed. It was not a slow move; it was an abrupt transformation. All of us, no matter the generation or digital knowledge, had to move to buy pretty much everything online. Buying digital as difficult as it might seem for some non-digital natives felt new and great. It did not matter if there were some errors on the delivery or the products, the novel experience was enough for issues to go unnoticed.
As the novelty went away, details on that experience mattered, and matter a lot. Orders delayed, items missing or not the ones requested became normal. The lack of visibility on the status of the order, something that didn’t seem to matter before, now was more important than ever. People started questioning the experience, call centers set up for help got overwork and social media became the best way of complaining.
Time went by, and people wished things would come back to normal. They started longing for what they lost: human interaction. Physical experience looked to matter more than the acquisition of the product itself.
Most companies turned to the concept of Omnichannel to face this challenge. As the concept goes, having a smooth and equal experience through every channel would substitute in some part the need for a physical experience. At least it should have. The long lasting promise of the concept is that convenience will trump the human interaction; that easy access would win over driving to the store. But this doesn’t look to be true.
As stores, restaurants and shopping centers opened up, we saw lines at the doors; thousands of people driving to eat in, walking around the shopping centers or buying at the stores.
We are definitely past the point of no return, as a matter of routine setting goes. So what happened? Aren’t we supposed, by now, to do and buy everything on line?
As with every concept, having the word Omnichannel in your strategy is a noble idea until it is not. Omnichannel was to solve every issue physical stores were facing until it didn’t. E-commerce was to save every dying retailer until they went belly up.
All the strategies and focus of business were on these Omnichannel Strategies, when the only ‘channel’ business needed to figure out started at the mind of the shopper.
It has become clear, at least in my perception, that thinking digital will substitute whatever experience we have in the physical world, is a misconception. Shoppers enjoy using technology, and yes, convenience works. That a person doesn’t have to leave the house to buy or order something is great. But it is not sustainable.
As much as Technology has grown, it will not substitute the experience you get when someone greets you at a store with a smile. It is not enough having a bot taking your order. That doesn’t compare to the fact of meeting a friend over lunch. Or the unconscious feeling of being seen in a top end store or a top end restaurant. Service, people and physical matter.
What the Pandemic has shown us is that we are as flexible and adaptable as any other being; but with time we realize the only thing that we need, and we cannot get fully online, is the interaction with the outer world.
We are social beings. As much as we would love to say they can live on their own, no matter the capital or the comfort a person has, with time, what drives you crazy is not being able to belong to something, to experience something in the physical world.
That’s the greatest lie of the Omnichannel concept. We spent too much time thinking about the best digital platform and how to give an Omni-experience but we forget that the only focus we should have is the client. Why are clients rushing to go back to stores, restaurants or shopping centers? The risk of contracting the virus has not dropped, at least not in most places, and you still see thousands of people going for it. Could it be that we tired ourselves of buying online? Could it be that dining in was too much for too long? Why are people going to bars? Crowded bars to get a 30 dollar beer, when you can get it at home, delivered to you, at a fraction of the cost, and with zero to none risk of getting sick?
Online sales have and will keep on increasing. There is no turning back to that reality. But what if that reality is just a stepping stone into the next phase? A focus on the human experience and how to complement it with the digital tools. Not the other way around.
Retailers need to rethink their Omnichannel strategies and start looking at what is driving consumers to rush back to the stores, no matter the risk. Those who really understand it will drive ahead fast and with a sustainable approach.
Focus on the only channel that matters, the client.
