Retailers Use Silo Busting To Increase Sales

Released on: Wednesday, November 1, 2006 8:00 AM

        

Retailers Use Silo Busting To Increase Sales

Silo busting helps sales. For nearly a decade, customers have expected to be remembered and treated with courtesy, regardless of how they choose to interact with a company, and are regularly disappointed.  A company’s communications and shopping interaction points are called sales channels. The channel might be in a store, online, on the phone, by mail, chat, or email.

For years, each sales channel was an independently operated silo’ avoiding team work. The store’s catalog phone representative couldn’t tell you what the Saturday specials were at their local store.  The store’s gift cards couldn’t be redeemed online.  The customer service chat function might be manned by a person in another country who had a very limited view of customer needs and expectations. Building communication and information bridges between silos is known as channel integration.  The Internet is forcing channel integration.

As customers increasingly use the Internet to compare prices, research products, and gather gift ideas, many retailers are finally aware that they must rely on their websites to not only sell merchandise but to also increase visits and sales in their stores. Tactics differ, but trends are emerging. More than three-fourths of retailers now have consistent pricing across sales channels. Nearly half allow their customers to buy and redeem gift cards online and in stores. 

With a growing need for customer repeat-purchases, over one-third provide the ability for customers to accrue loyalty program points across the sales channels.  As part of the bridge building effort between site and store, one in four retailers now make in-store product information available online.  Cooperation and communication is paying off. In a recent survey, retailers report that 22 percent of their offline sales are influenced by the Web.

    

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