Digitally upskilling staff key to cross-channel success, says Asda multichannel boss

Wragg told the Retail Week Ecommerce Summit: “You need to digitally upskill from the boardroom to the shop floor. You need to take your organisation to a level where employees are an expert in all channels.”

Asda has made moves such as allocating digital sales to stores, giving store managers iPads and putting wi-fi into stores to integrate ecommerce into its culture.

Wragg said it is vital that all employees understand and buy into a retailer’s “multichannel mission” which he said meant a clear strategy is needed where it is “crystal clear” who is accountable for what.

Wragg said that retailers did not necessarily need to have a multichannel or ecommerce director on the board but warned: “If you don’t, you’d better be really, really sure that someone around the table has a great grasp of ecommerce and the potential for it to work alongside your existing estate.”