Study: 87% of Retailers Agree Omnichannel is Critical to their Business, Yet Only 8% Have 'Mastered' it

AUSTIN, Texas and BRISTOL, England, Dec. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report published by Brightpearl, a provider of retail management systems that streamline back-office operations for high-growth omnichannel retailers, finds an enormous gap between omnichannel importance and execution.

Today, over 90% of retailers and brands have an omnichannel strategy or plan to invest in one soon and 87% of retailers agree omnichannel is critical or very important to their business success. However, only a small segment (8%) believes they have mastered omnichannel or (12%) have the right omnichannel technology.

The report – 'The State of Omnichannel' – provides survey findings from 352 retail leaders. In addition to the enormous gap between omnichannel importance versus execution, additional key themes were highlighted:

1. Almost half of retailers (45%) say they either do not have the right omnichannel technology or feel they would benefit from additional technology platforms
2. Over half of retailers consider their omnichannel approach a "Work in Progress" and 19% say it is a "Struggle" or a "Pipedream." 74% are dissatisfied with their strategy execution and progress
3. More than six out of ten survey respondents say the key payoff from implementing omnichannel successfully is to provide better customer service

"The ability to effectively operate across all possible retail channels is difficult," said Derek O'Carroll, CEO of Brightpearl. "The retail industry is undergoing a metamorphosis unlike anything it has experienced in decades. Customers are demanding, competitors are relentless in their pursuit of customer acquisition, and operational challenges abound as retail extends beyond brick and mortar to include online sales driven by mobile commerce. Disruption in retail is greater than all most all other industries.

"However, none of that is an excuse. Omnichannel execution needs significant improvement. Retailers need to invest more time and resource into technology to effectively implement their omnichannel strategies or face being left behind."

The competitive retail environment faces relentless change in which success requires technology to capture and analyze data and learn deep insights about customers to ultimately enhance the entire customer experience.

O'Carroll adds, "Today's customer expects retailers to know him or her. This is made difficult when the merchant spends considerable time on cost-consuming backend processes. Instead, technology that automates back office processes like order fulfillment, carrier integrations, automated accounting and integrated purchase ordering can free retailers to focus more time on creating authentic omnichannel experiences across platforms."

Embracing the promise of omnichannel is not the same as implementing strategies and technology. Just four years ago, less than 50% of retailers pursued an omnichannel approach. Today the interest is high but the execution needs substantial improvement. Omnichannel strategies and platforms use are ineffective or not delivering on their promises.

Retailers curious to find out more should read The State of Omnichannel. Respondents represent  a cross section of retailers ranging from independent to enterprise level .

The full report is available for download at info.brightpearl.com/the-state-of-omnichannel. The report includes insights and benchmarks on:

• What omnichannel means to retailers
• How omnichannel is used
• Management of sales spikes and returns
• Challenges and c-level hurdles

Methodology
The State of Omnichannel report results are from an electronic survey conducted between August and September 2017. Brightpearl received qualified responses from leading retail executives headquartered primarily in the United States. All respondents come from the top companies in retail, information technology, financial services, consumer products, education, and other key sectors. Total number of employees at respondent companies was nearly equally split – 49% had between 1-25 employees, 50% had between 51-5,0001 employees.

23% report their company's annual gross revenue to be under $1million (U.S.), 27% between $1 million and $50 million (U.S.), 30% between $50 million and $500 million (U.S.), and 20% between $500 million and $1 billion (U.S.).

About Brightpearl
Brightpearl is a cloud-based ERP system for retailers and wholesalers. Our mission is clear: automate the back office so merchants can spend their time and money growing the business. Brightpearl's complete back-office solution includes financial management, inventory and sales order management, purchasing and supplier management, CRM, fulfilment, warehouse and logistics. In addition, the solution has high-performing connectors to the major e-commerce platforms, including Magento, BigCommerce and Shopify.

Brightpearl is designed  for retailers and wholesalers and enables omnichannel merchants to manage the heart of their business easily from one single system. Our team guides merchants through a highly efficient implementation process which typically gets them up and running in less than 60 days.

Founded in 2008 with offices in the U.S. and UK, Brightpearl is used by more than 1,200 merchants around the world processing over $1.4bn of orders in the last 12 months. For more information, visit www.brightpearl.com. Connect with Brightpearl on Twitter (@BrightpearlHQ), LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/Brightpearl), and Facebook (facebook.com/brightpearl).

SOURCE Brightpearl

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http://www.brightpearl.com