Why retailers should emulate Nordstrom

Internet Retailing

23rd May 2018

There is an urgent need for retailers to embrace omnichannel capabilities, as the divide between digital and bricks-and-mortar retailing has an increasingly negative impact on businesses.

That is according to Andrew Gorecki, managing director of Retail Directions, whose conversations with retailers, technology and marketing experts at Shop.org last year made him realise that industry leaders are beginning to notice that omnichannel capabilities are crucial to achieve real growth.

He added that it’s clear that retailers that have managed to shift 10 per cent of their sales online are the ones that have greater bandwidth across their omnichannel sales platforms.

But too many retailers continue to think in terms of online and in-store sales, he said in a statement released last week.

“Let’s take a moment to look at Nordstrom in the US and how they have improved their growth trajectory,” he said.

“This leading department store has deliberately stopped reporting online sales separately, recognising that measuring their in-store and online sales was improving shareholder dividends.”

Gorecki thinks this approach makes sense. If customers demand a consistent and seamless ‘one’ brand experience, unifying the client engagement structure of the business is the only way to effectively meet and exceed shareholder expectations.

“A retail business must operate as one rather than two separate entities. A house divided against itself cannot stand. Without reunification, further fragmentation and eventually business failure will follow,” he said.

“The sooner retailers accept omnichannel pathways the better the customer experience and shareholder return.”