PYOO is a smart move
Sir: The Waitrose Pick Your Own Offers initiative is actually very smart for two reasons not seemingly identified so far (Leader, 20 June, p3).First, insight generation. If you wanted to find out what the most important products were for your core postcode areas, what better way? Second, spreading the load across the store. Waitrose already has issues managing promotion supply when the same products are demanded by hundreds at the same store. This makes it easier to cope. Even if this initiative fails in isolation, the information it gains could be invaluable.
Colin Harper, CEO RetailVitalStatistics
Demanding ‘natural’
Sir: Your digital report on dairy (Digital Features>Dairy Report 2015, ‘10 Things You Need To Know About…Dairy,’ thegrocer.co.uk, 12 June) was very interesting. I think producers need to be careful here - ‘natural’ to ordinary people means fewer (or no) chemicals and more welfare-friendly production. Just adding a different variety of chocolate or making it into ice cream isn’t going to cut the mustard with the consumers of the 21st century. Just look at the rise and rise of home-made kefir.
Lesley Whittle, via thegrocer.co.uk
Omnichannel journey
Sir: Technology is creating big opportunities for brands, but activities need to meet digitally savvy customers’ high expectations (‘How to make sense of omnichannel,’ 30 May, p26). Clever brands are using customer data to benefit the entire customer journey.
One way a company can improve its customer service with digital even further is to implement omnichannel instead of multichannel. The difference with the former is true integration between channels. If a store were to implement omnichannel, the customer service rep in the store would be immediately able to reference a customer’s previous purchases. Or, for instance, the customer could use a desktop computer to check stock levels in store on the company’s website, purchase the item later on a smartphone and pick up the product at a chosen location.
The current lack of looking at the complete customer journey, before, during and after a purchase, is why we should argue for clients to create an omnichannel approach.
St.John Dunne, MD and Client Partner of Rockpool
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