As Team GB celebrates its first Winter Paralympic gold medal, the results are in for the 2014 Omni-lympic Games which saw over 50 retailers compete in range of events from the supply chain slalom to the personalisation half-pipe.

As Team GB celebrates its first Winter Paralympic gold medal, the results are in for the 2014 Omni-lympic Games which saw over 50 retailers compete in range of events from the supply chain slalom to the personalisation half-pipe.

And as the closing ceremony marks the end of the inaugural Omni-lympics, here are the overall results:

 

RankRetailerTotal medals
1Miss Selfridge2
2Maplin1
3Warehouse1
4Oasis1
5L.K. Bennett1
6Joules1
7Fat Face1
8Mint Velvet1
9Fred Perry1
10Sweaty Betty1

 

Supply Chain Slalom

This event was about optimising stock while at the same time providing an excellent shopping experience.

This event saw standout performances from four retailers; Maplin, Miss Selfridge, Oasis and Warehouse.  With a clear view of stock across channel, they are in a position to delight customers and reduce the need for mark-downs by optimising stock sell through.

Snow-cross Channel Experience

This event was about providing a consistent experience across all customer touch points.

This was a very difficult event but there were some stand out contenders.  Fred Perry’s customer order tracking impressed the judges while both Fat Face and Miss Selfridge also picked up medals for their mobile offering.

Personalisation Half-Pipe

The final event in the Omnilympics was all about the customer and judged how well and how consistently retailers engaged with them across all channels.

While a number of retailers offered great service, very few provided a consistently great service across online, stores and the contact centre.  Joules, Sweaty Betty, Mint Velvet and LK Bennett were the medal winners.

Room for improvement

So while undoubtedly a number of retailers have made impressive strides on the road to an end-to-end omnichannel customer experience, there are still lots of areas to focus on.  Some retailers provided our research team with information on in-store stock which was out of date.  This is likely down to batch updates – but it illustrates the importance of providing real-time information. A wasted trip to the store as a result of out-of-date information could cost retailers customers. 

Similarly, one retailer we benchmarked had QR codes on the shelf labels in-store – a great way to get more product information you might think, except the codes led the user to the wrong product, so instead of enriching the in-store shopping experience they served to frustrate the customer.

While the latest technology can be a distraction, for some retailers one of the keys to success could simply be refocusing on the basics.  For example, our research team found many need to coach their staff in the art of customer service. For some, the problem was in store – where shop assistants made customers feel unwelcome. For others the issue was in the call centre – where ending the call was more important than answering the query.

Mark Williams, European Sales Director, eCommera