Key performance indicators (KPIs) form the foundation of companies’ future growth. For omnichannel retailers that are constantly implementing new processes, certain omnichannel metrics need to be critically measured for the success of omnichannel initiatives. However, many retailers are struggling to define omnichannel metrics at the same pace they launch their omnichannel strategies.
According to Forrester, only 31% of retail leaders measure the contribution of digital touchpoints compared to other sales channels. If the leadership team receives regular updates on how their omnichannel programs are delivering against their strategic plans, decisions makers can:
- Identify and fix the issues negatively impacting their omnichannel metrics
- Minimize damage to customer satisfaction
- Ensure the adoption of the omnichannel program across the company
In this blog, we’ll discuss:
- What are the most important omnichannel metrics that need to be measured for successful omnichannel retailing?
- How to verify the financial results to best align with the organization's business case?
Buy Online Pick-Up In Store
The Buy Online Pick-Up In Store (BOPIS) retail model blends the best of the physical retail experience with the flexibility of online shopping. BOPIS is one of the backbones behind a successful omnichannel initiative. With a BOPIS strategy in place, your company can increase your average order value (the average total of every order placed during a defined period of time), conversion rate, and customer lifetime value.
Increase Average Order Value
A BOPIS service will increase your average order value by cross-selling/upselling customers when they pick up orders in-store. Your company should measure in-store purchases made by customers on the same day they pick up their BOPIS orders. By measuring the average order size of your BOPIS orders, compared to the average order size of your non-BOPIS orders, you can discover if the average order value of your BOPIS sales are higher than traditional orders.
Increase in Sales
One of the promises of a successful omnichannel initiative is to generate more revenue. Oftentimes, a new store increases online orders of that surrounding market. Measure the online orders in that new store's region/geography after opening up the store and compare it with historical data. This will show how opening up a new store contributes to an increase in the online sales of that particular store’s region.
Increase Conversion Rates
BOPIS offerings have a positive impact on conversion rates. Same-day BOPIS services ensure customers receive their items on the same day as they order, thus encouraging them to go ahead with a purchase and increasing conversion rates as a result. Measure what % of online orders are BOPIS orders to see if you can increase these types of purchases moving forward.
Increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)
A CLTV is the total worth of a customer to your business over the whole period of their relationship. Measure if your CLTV is higher for BOPIS customers versus non-BOPIS customers, and also measure the % of existing customers who have adopted BOPIS.
Improve Order Fulfillment
Your company should measure your BOPIS fill rates by dividing the number of BOPIS orders fulfilled by the number of orders received. If the BOPIS fill rate is low, then your management should evaluate why orders aren’t being fulfilled. If BOPIS orders were canceled when customers walked in to pick up their orders, what was the reason for the cancellation? If their reason was because the inventory wasn’t available in the store, your business must improve your systems or operation to ensure you can fulfill your BOPIS orders.
Buy Online Return In-Store
Customers love options, there’s no questions about it. People want instant gratification, and if a product they ordered online didn’t meet their satisfaction, they want the ability to quickly return their orders to a store and pick out something that matches their taste. They also don’t want to go through the hassle of shipping the order back to the retailer.
Enter the Buy Online Return in Store (BORIS) model, which enables your company to reduce net-revenue loss due to online orders. How is this possible, you ask? BORIS is ideal for converting those online returns into in-store exchanges. Your business should be measuring the number of online orders exchanged in your stores to identify the return percentage and measure additional purchases at the time of BORIS.
Order Brokering
Order brokering enables retailers to ship items from their nearest stores or warehouses to fulfill online orders. There are countless benefits to order brokering that will allow your business to increase sales. For online orders with next-day delivery, retailers broker the orders to the nearest store or warehouse to fulfill these orders the next day through a ground-delivery method. To broker these orders, businesses deploy an Order Management System (OMS), while companies without an OMS must resort to Next-Day Air Delivery methods, which is an expensive alternative.
Some omnichannel metrics you should consider for order brokering include:
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Reduction in Shipping Costs
Your company should measure the shipment costs of orders fulfilled from the warehouse using FedEx’s Next-Day Delivery option against the shipping costs when using the brokering engine. This data will help calculate your cost savings by switching to an order-brokering system.
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On-time Shipping Rates
Order brokering is also effective at improving on-time shipping rates from your stores. An on-time shipping rate is the percentage of orders that are shipped on time. Same-day shipping is critical to ensuring orders are delivered in a timely fashion, as many customers are unlikely to continue shopping with your brand if you can’t meet your promised delivery window.
Measure your stores’ shipping rates to determine how many orders were processed for on-time deliveries to measure which stores are performing best. This can be calculated by dividing the number of orders accepted and fulfilled by the number of orders brokered to the store in one day.
Increase in Full-Price Sell-Through Rate
To achieve order-brokering bliss, your company should also pay attention to your sell-through rate (percent of inventory sold in a month versus the amount of inventory received). In the fashion industry, it’s important that merchandising items are sold at the full price at the beginning of the season. As time goes by, the opportunity to sell the item at full price is reduced. To liquidate the inventory, items are sold at a discount during the end of the season. Selling items at a discounted rate reduces the net profit of retailers.
By fulfilling online orders from your stores, you can increase your full-price sell-through rates. Measure the full-price sell-through rates of your stores before and after the implementation of a Fulfill from Store initiative. An increase in your sell-through rates means an increase in net profits and revenue.
Reduction in Backorders
Lastly, order brokering will help your business reduce your item backorders. Generally, online orders are fulfilled from fulfillment centers. If a product is out of stock in the fulfillment center, the order is backordered and delivery times are delayed. If an item is available in the store and the order is fulfilled from that store, then backorders can be avoided altogether. Measure the number of orders that were out of stock in fulfillment centers and how many can be fulfilled from stores. This will show a reduction in the backorders.
Endless Aisle
Retailers in search of saving every sale they can will benefit greatly from endless aisle solutions, which capture orders for out-of-stock items and fulfill these products from nearby stores and distribution centers. KPIs related to Endless Aisle should center around increasing sales. Your company should measure the number of send-sale/endless aisle orders from your stores. This process will help your business calculate the number of sales saved and the sales per store, the latter of which will identify locations that are best at leveraging omnichannel initiatives.
With an endless solution, your company can provide faster assistance to customers and avoid losing sales due to items that are out of stock.
Omni Customer
With customers buying items across various channels, does it always make sense to measure individual purchasing events? Or should your company analyze the entire spectrum of consumer spending? This is where the Omni Customer model comes into effect, which tracks total spend for shoppers across all channels of your business. Omni Customer events can be sorted by timeline, which are the effective omnichannel metrics of how customer buying habits are evolving and how your company must shift strategy to capitalize on these trends.
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The retail industry and customers’ buying trends are fluid and constantly evolving. If your business stagnates at any point, you run the risk of losing revenue and losing ground to your competitors. By identifying the right omnichannel metrics and constantly analyzing them, you will be in a position to track your omnichannel efficiency. Remember, you can’t improve what you don’t measure.
You can track the overall brand performance using these critical omnichannel metrics and fine-tune it to align with your organization goals. Start measuring omnichannel metrics that will fuel your brand’s growth. Contact HotWax Commerce today to identify, analyze, and optimize your business across the board.
