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A data-driven analysis of the cross-channel strategies

of Top 500 retailersCompliments of

OMNICHANNEL

RETAIL AND THE FUTURE OF STORES

OMNICHANNEL

RETAIL FUTURE OF

STORES

AND THE

IR RESEARCH the global leader in e-commerce data

I N T E R N E TR E T A I L E R

AS FEATURED IN

More than 20 retail chains have gone bankrupt in the past two years, and store closings in that span number in the thousands. Only the store-based retailers that adapt to the new realities of online and mobile shopping will survive the increasingly intense competition from Amazon.com Inc. and other online retailers, analysts say.

“We’re probably at the most difficult strategic inflection point that any retail executive has faced in 50 years or more,” says Rod Sides, U.S. leader of the retail and distribution practice at Deloitte. “One of the big challenges from the last five years is so many companies will test everything and do nothing. In the absence of doing something bold, the market’s going to pass many, many players by.”

But the most forward-thinking retailers that operate stores are doing something, often redesigning their websites so that they drive more traffic into their stores. And they’re investing in services and tech-nology in their stores so that they can offer conveniences a web-only retailer like Amazon can’t. Changes in retail stores are essential for their survival, says Michael Brown, a partner in the retail practice at global strategy and management consultancy A.T. Kearney.

“The true route to profitability is to transform the physical network,” he says. “Less stores, smaller stores, more digital inte-gration in the stores that allows me to access the inventory that’s not specifically there, and that’s when the inventory will start to return to much more profitability growth.”

THE FUTURE OF STORES

©Copyright 2017 Internet Retailer® & Vertical Web Media LLC. All rights reserved. Data as of May 2017.

INTERNET RETAILER OMNICHANNEL RETAIL AND THE FUTURE OF STORES 2

INTRODUCTION

When it comes to omnichannel retailing in 2017, there is no one strategy that will work for all retailers. What’s most effective will vary with the products sold, the size of stores and the type of customer looking for a particular product. But certain core omnichannel strategies are emerging.

This report will examine the five key strategies leading retail chains are employing to cater to cross-channel shoppers, and provide examples of how top retailers are adapting each strategy to their needs. Those strategies are:

Buy online, pick up in store Ship from store Enabling store associates to order from online inventory Designing websites to allow shoppers to see inventory

available in stores Innovative in-store tools that enable store shoppers

to complete a purchase later

It also includes a section (on page 24) on the so-called reverse omnichannel scenario—or the slew of previously online only retailers opening physical stores— a survey on changing buyer behavior amid the decline of phys-ical stores (page 32) and in-depth profiles on how effectively each of the 30 top retail chains have linked their stores with the web (page 35).

Some of the five key strategies outlined in this report have been around for more than a decade, notably in-store pickup of online orders. But the constant evolution of shopping habits and technology, particularly the fact that most shoppers now carry a web-connected smartphone with them, are changing how consumers respond to these services. And, as more retail stores turn to omnichannel programs, they find that they pose new problems to address. Here is a report of the state of the market on these five critical omnichannel strategies, and a look at how retail chains are addressing the new challenges these strategies create.

J.C Penney

77%

Lowe’s

70%DSW

40%

Best Buy

40%

Kohl’s

33%Percentage of online orders

that touch a store location

Source: Company reports



INTRODUCTION

CONTENTS Omnichannel Retail and the Future of Stores

Overview5 digital strategies boosting the value of retail stores . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Buy online, pick up in store | Ship from store | In-store ordering from online stockShow store inventory online | Digital innovations in stores | New omnichannel strategies

Feature Offline retail on the eve of disruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Amazon | Blue Nile | ModCloth | Fabletics

Profiles Omnichannel strategies of top 5 retail chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Sponsored Thought

LeadershipKibo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9



PART I

BUY ONLINE, PICK UP IN STOREAn analysis of the Internet Retailer Top 1000 retailers in North America shows that a greater percentage of retail chains in 2016 leveraged their stores to fulfill online orders. Nearly half are offering online shoppers the option of picking up orders in stores.

There’s a reason many retailers offer this option: Many consumers like it, mainly because it allows them to avoid shipping fees or get their items right away. 78% of consumers surveyed online in February 2017 said they wanted to be able to order online and pick up the item in person. The survey was sponsored by payments company Adyen.

Retailers also like this option because oftentimes a shopper who comes in to pick up an online order buys something else.

“We find that roughly around 30% of consumers will add on to their order when they go in store to pick up an order,” says Brendan Witcher, principal analyst at Forrester Research Inc. “Most people when they make a trip to the store, they want to make sure there’s one specific

5 DIGITALSTRATEGIES BOOSTING

THE VALUE OFRETAILSTORES

While thousandsof stores are closing,

surviving retailers are finding ways to

meld stores and digital assets to offer added

convenience and selection

BYMATT

LINDNER



item there. We find that most customers use this service to reserve an item they want but because they’re there already, they’ll use this as an opportunity to convenience shop.”

While in-store pickup of online orders has been around for well over a decade, that doesn’t mean this pillar of omnichannel retailing can’t be improved on—and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is trying to do just that.

Wal-Mart announced in April 2017 that it would begin discounting orders of certain online-only products if the shopper opts to pick up the product in one of its stores. Termed Pickup Discount, the offering started with 10,000 items on April 19 with plans to expand to a million products by June. The aim is to cut Wal-Mart’s costs of delivering web orders.

“We can remove the last-mile delivery costs (that represent the lion’s share of the costs to ship products to customers’ homes) when we leverage our fleet of more than 6,700 trucks to deliver products directly from fulfillment centers to our 4,700 stores,” Wal-Mart CEO of U.S. e-commerce Marc Lore wrote in a blog post announcing the move. “This means, quite simply, it costs less for us to ship to stores. So, our customers should share in those savings.”

How much less, exactly? “Our cost to ship it to the store is 75 cents a box, but to ship it to your home, it’s $5,” Lore said in a speech in May 2017.

Percentage of retail chains in the Top 1000 offering

omnichannel options

2015

2016

Buy online pick up in store

Ship from store Return to store

42 .1%

14 .9%

60 .4%47 .7%

12 .1%

56 .7%

Source: Top500Guide.com

Percentage of online shoppers who make an additional purchase in store when picking up

an item

Lowe’s

40%

J.C. Penney 1

30%

Kohl’s

28%1. J.C. Penney’s data reflects

shoppers who make an additional purchase of $50 or more in store.




5 DIGITAL STRATEGIES BOOSTING THE VALUE OF RETAIL STORES

While Wal-Mart and many other retail chains have offered store pickup for online orders for years, plenty are just getting around to offering the service. Among them are department store chain Bon-Ton, which introduced the option in September 2016, and crafts retailer Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores, which launched the service in March 2017.

Jo-Ann offers around 150,000 SKUs online for in-store pickup. Chris DiTullio, senior vice president of marketing and omnichannel, says the in-store pickup locations are located at the main register area. The retailer tested that placement during the second half of 2016 before rolling the service out to all 860 of its store locations.

“We literally started with one store and grew from there,” he says. “To ensure we provided customers with a pleasant experience, we were methodical in how we expanded store and market coverage through the year. As we entered 2017, we were confident that we could properly train our associates and roll out this service to all 860 of our stores.”

DiTullio says Jo-Ann rolled out the service to make it easier for shoppers to buy how and when they want. Because the offering is so new, he says the company’s focus is on making sure its store associates are educated on how to best serve online shoppers that visit a store.

“In-depth training for our store employees is critical to the success of this service,” he says. “If store employees fail to deliver on the promise of fast and easy fulfillment, the trust of customers is jeopardized. We provide robust, ongoing training on both the systems required for buy

Percentage of online orders picked up in a

store, by retailer

‘To ensure we provided customers with a pleasant experience, we were methodical in

how we expanded [in-store pickup] .’

Lowe’s Home Depot

J.C. Penney

Vitamin Shoppe

Kohl’s

60%45%

8%

40%

6%





online, pick up in store, along with the process for physically picking the products and distributing the orders.”

Rod Sides of Deloitte says that if a retailer isn’t already offering in-store pickup for online orders by now, it should absolutely do so in the near future.

“Buy online, pick up in store, is table stakes now,” he says. “It’s an expectation of the consumer that everyone has that capability. That started about three years ago.”

Offering the service is one thing. Making it convenient for shop-pers is another.

Brian Seewald, vice president of digital at footwear retailer DSW, remembers when the retailer first talked about rolling out buy online, pick up in store two years ago. There was some discussion of putting the online order pickup area towards the back of a store, he says. The reason was that a back-of-the-store location would force a shopper to pass by rows and rows of prod-ucts, presumably making it likely she would buy something besides the order she was picking up.

That idea ultimately never got beyond the discussion phase because DSW decided it was important to make the pickup process as quick and painless for shoppers as possible.

“We decided as a group of leaders in a boardroom that we wanted to think customer first and what the customer wants,” he says. “We decided to give them the one thing that they wanted, which was convenience. We decided it wasn’t worth giving them any sort of inconvenience throughout the process.”

DSW shoppers instead pick up online orders in store at either the main cash register or, in larger stores, at a specific register in the front of the store designated for online order pickup.

While the potential does exist for DSW to gain some incre-mental revenue by upselling online shoppers picking up orders in stores, and around 15-20% of those shoppers do wind up buying something else, Seewald says store associates take a low-key approach with online shoppers who show up in stores.

“At the end of the day, our buy online, pick up in store is about providing convenience to the customer and that was the goal,” he says. “We don’t aggressively upsell them.”

‘Buy online, pick up in store, is

table stakes now . It’s an expectation of the consumer

that everyone has that capability .’

15-20%Portion of DSW online shoppers

picking up orders in stores who wind up buying something

else




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Consumers want options.They want to visit a store or ecommerce site and find

the exact product they’re looking for. If it’s not there, they want the store or website to point to where they can find it. That might mean locating the product at a store in the next city, and then having the product shipped to them. They also want to be able to choose whether to pay to have an item shipped directly to them, or save money by shipping it to a nearby store where they can pick it up themselves.

In developing their omnichannel capabilities, retailers need to focus on the consumer and the consumer’s expectations for a seamless experience, says Tushar Patel, Chief Marketing Officer for Kibo, a cloud-based omnichannel commerce platform.

Transforming the in-store experience is a top concern for retailers. “We hear time and time again in the headlines that stores are closing,” Patel says. “That doesn’t mean the in-store experience is gone, or that stores are irrelevant. What that means is that we need to transform the in-store experience.”

Retailers are using personalization as one strategy for making that transformation. Making online customer data available to store associates means that the associate has access to customer’s digital browsing and purchasing habits and can personalize the face-to-face interaction—much like online retailers create targeted promotions or recommen-dations based on that same information.

Inventory poses challenges for retailers and manufac-turers because their products are in warehouses and stores across the country. Retailers are tasked with trying to track and manage that inventory to run appropriate promotions in-store and online, and to get those products to the consumers who want them.

Through its distributed order management system software, Kibo allows retailers and manufacturers to link all of their warehouses and stores. For example, if a customer went online to look for a specific brand of basketball on the manufacturer’s site, the manufacturer might list all of the stores nearby that carry their products.

If the consumer goes to the nearest store and discovers that the brand of basketball isn’t in stock, the consumer might instead buy a similar product made by a competitor’s brand. But the Kibo distributed order management system would enable the manufacturer to show the customer which

nearby stores have that specific product in stock, potentially saving the manufacturer from losing the sale.

Retailers can use ship-to-store to combine the benefit of searching for and buying a product online, with the conve-nience of picking up the purchase at a nearby store.

Patel points out that most customers make purchases based on pricing, rather than brand loyalty, and at-home delivery can be costly. Through ship-to-store, consumers can avoid shipping fees and then pick up the product when it is convenient for them.

For more immediate fulfillment, retailers can also deploy buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS) for those items the local stores already have in stock. While the strategy is meant to drive up online sales, it also boosts in-store sales. Patel has observed that 40% to 50% of buy-online and pick-up-in-store purchases drive additional in-store purchases because customers find other items they need when they go to the store to pick up an order.

Many times, stores end up carrying inventory that may not be available online. In those cases, retailers use ship-from-store as a strategy. By integrating in-store inventory into the ecommerce site, a retailer can make that inventory available to additional consumers.

By uncovering in-store products, a retailer has more products to choose from when creating targeted promotions. Ship-to-store can also make shipping faster, easier and less expensive because the store might be much closer to the consumer than a warehouse that’s across the country, Patel says.

“Ultimately, consumers expect to be able to get their product when they want it, how they want it and at the price that they want,” he says. “And if you’re able to provide that seamless experience, and you’re able to do it in a cost-competitive way, then retailers will shine.”

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PART II

SHIP FROM STOREFootwear retail chain Shoe Carnival Inc. made the switch to fulfilling all of its online orders from its store locations in September 2014.

Vice president of e-commerce Kent Zimmerman says the retailer had previously used an outside logistics provider to house its online inventory and fulfill its online orders. When Shoe Carnival relied on the inventory in the warehouse of its fulfillment provider to fulfill online orders it could easily run out of stock on a size 13 shoe in a particular style, for example, even though many of its 415 stores would have that shoe in stock. Now that it fulfills orders from its stores, it has a far larger inventory to draw from when serving web shoppers.

“Once we had a base of 250 stores up, we were looking at a few million units,” he says. “That took our (online) assortment to a place where we didn’t have a concern about being out of stock on a particular shoe because we knew across our stores we’d be able to fulfill that.” Zimmerman says. He adds that opening up the store network has resulted in the retailer’s out-of-stock rate for online orders becoming “practically non-existent.” He says the retailer was not able to track online out-of-stocks previously.

Forrester’s Brendan Witcher says this type of fulfillment model tends to work better for an apparel or footwear retailer than one that sells bigger products.

“There’s some efficiencies in things like apparel because they tend to be small, lightweight items,” he says. “Ship from store doesn’t tend to work well for a desk,” because of the large size of the product.

Forty-one retail chains in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 1000 rankings offer ship-from-store including Wal-Mart, Staples, Macy’s and Gap.

250 storesBase of retail

locations shipping online orders that allowed Shoe Carnival to achieve a “practically non-existent”

out-of-stock rate.

‘There’s some efficiencies in things like apparel because they tend to be small, lightweight items. Ship from store doesn’t tend to work well for a desk.’

—BRENDAN WITCHER, PRINCIPAL ANALYST, FORRESTER RESEARCH INC.




PART III

IN-STORE ORDERING FROM ONLINE STOCKOnce a retailer gets a shopper into a store, the pressure is on for associ-ates to complete a sale, even if the product is not in stock at that store.

That’s why a number of retail chains have given associates internet-connected devices to access all of the retailer’s inventory, wherever it is located. That way a shopper who doesn’t see a sweater in the color she wants can be sold that sweater by an employee who can place the order on the spot for delivery to the shopper’s home.

“Every omnichannel sale we have could theoretically be looked at as a lost sale because they looked for something, we didn’t have it and they were going to leave,” says Boot Barn chief information officer Steve Williams. “Even if the take-home margin (on an online sale) is a little lower, it’s still money you never had.”

In November, Boot Barn Inc. equipped each of its 212 store locations with a pair of internet-connected tablets as part of its new “We Have It Promise” initiative, or WHIP. Williams says store associates can access the retailer’s entire inventory so that if a shopper’s preferred item or size isn’t available in that store, the associate can have it shipped from another store location, one of the retailer’s distribution centers, or have it drop-shipped directly from a supplier.

“You have from an assortment perspective 10x more square footage because you have way more opportunity to sell (with WHIP) than you did (when a store associate was limited to what’s in store),” he says.

Besides saving sales, this system helps Boot Barn executives determine where to allocate store inventory.

“We analyze what we’re selling on WHIP at the location level and if we see we’re getting a lot of people buying this on WHIP, we’re probably understocked in that department,” he says. “We can see that we thought this was going to be predominantly one type of customer and we see what the WHIP sales are and we can say maybe we need to rethink our plans for this particular store.”

Dick’s Sporting Goods has taken a similar tack when it comes to giving store associates greater access to online inventory.

18%Online portion of

Boot Barn’s overall sales. The figure has grown by double digits each of the

past five quarters




Dick’s equips its associates with mobile devices so that they can place online orders directly from the store or access product information that will allow them to more knowledgeably discuss products with customers.

Equipping associates with mobile devices is an effective way to increase sales to the many consumers who still like to shop in stores, says Rafeh Masood, now former vice president of customer inno-vation technology at Dick’s. Masood became chief digital officer at BJ’s Wholesale Club in May.

“Many customers like to touch, feel and try out sporting goods equipment and apparel before purchasing, which is why they often come into the store to make selec-tions,” he says. “They want to romanticize about making a basket, scoring a goal or driving the ball down the middle of a fairway.” By equipping associates with mobile devices, he says, “if an item is sold out, or only sold online, associates can place an order for a customer from anywhere in the store and have it shipped directly to their homes, in most cases with free shipping.”

With many retailers reducing the size of their stores, and the inventory in each store, the ability to place orders from online inventory becomes even more important.

“Being able to save the sale or get the fringe size that isn’t available in every store is huge,” says Mike Rutkowski, a manager at supply chain consultancy Sedlak. “What the typical consumer doesn’t realize is the back room is small and the retailer doesn’t want things in the back room. You can’t sell things in the back room.”

Consumers are coming to expect this service: In the February 2017 Adyen survey, 75% of consumers said they want sales associates to be able to order them an item if they can’t find it in a store.

75%Portion of consumers who want sales associates to be able to order them an item

if they can’t find it in stores

‘E-commerce sales in new markets typically double when we open a Dick’s store in the area. Approximately 80% of our orders are shipped to a customer within the trade area of a Dick’s store.’

—RAFEH MASOOD, VICE PRESIDENT OF CUSTOMER INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY, DICK’S SPORTING GOODS




PART IV

SHOW STORE INVENTORY ONLINEBefore setting out to a store, shoppers want to be sure they will find what they want. In the February 2017 Adyen survey, 66% said being able to check inventory online would make it more likely they would head out to a store.

No surprise then that home improve-ment retail giants Home Depot and Lowe’s have made it a priority to ensure that online shoppers can see whether a product is available in a nearby store.

“The goal of the website is to improve store traffic and conversion and in the stores, we try to improve online and mobile traffic and conversion,” says Stephanie Smith, vice presi-dent of direct fulfillment and delivery at Home Depot. “We do know that a lot of customers will do research online before they go in stores and we think that’s a huge convenience for our customers.”

Lowe’s takes a similar approach.

Once a shopper has designated which store is closest to him, clicking on a product page will show you exactly where that product is in the store—for instance, on April 28, a Kobalt 13-piece bi-metal hole saw kit could be found in Aisle 9, Bay 4 at the Lowe’s location in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Each product page also has a link to an in-store map, making it easier for shoppers to locate a particular product while in a store.

“The number one and two reasons people come to our site are to check pricing and availability for a local location,” says Gihad Jawhar, vice president of digital at Lowe’s. In the redesign of Lowes.com in 2016, the retailer prioritized making price and availability in a nearby store prominent on each product page.

After a customer selects

her local store, the Home Depot website

shows in-store availablity as part of product

search results.

Lowe’s product pages show where

an item is located in a particular store via an aisle and bay number

and a store map.




Analysts say providing accurate inventory counts down to the indi-vidual store level is a crucial part of attracting online shoppers into a store location.

“Online access to in-store inventory is one of the primary core capa-bilities you need to have to offer buy online, pick up in store, so not just showing me what’s in my local store but what’s in other stores,” Forrester’s Witcher says. “It’s about creating the aware-ness for the consumer. When things are not in store, showing when it’s going to be coming into stock.”

“Real-time inventory view across the enter-prise is what’s critical to making it all work,” Sedlak’s Rutkowski adds. “You have to know who’s got it and how can I get it there. More work in that area is what’s next.”

And in some cases, offering online visibility into store inventory winds up driving store sales at the expense of online sales.

Boating products and accessories retailer West Marine began offering online shoppers visibility into store inventory in November. West Marine CEO Matt Hyde told analysts on the retailer’s Q1 2017 earnings call in April that putting inventory infor-mation on the website has resulted in fewer consumers placing orders online that the retailer had to ship to stores and more consumers going directly into a local store.

“Looking at the different delivery methods of our e-commerce business, our ship-to-store orders were down about 7% year over year and this is directly a result of our store inventory visibility functionality that we implemented late last year,” he told analysts on the call, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha. “Our analysis has shown that customers who check their local store inventory are less likely to use the ship-to-store functionality but rather just shop in the store. From this, we’ve expe-rienced a transfer of sales from online into our retail stores, because we are able to immediately satisfy our customers, increase store traffic and save on logistics cost. We view this as a positive shift for West Marine.”

‘Real-time inventory view across the enterprise is what’s critical to making

[buy online, pick up in store] work . You have to know

who’s got it and how can I get it there .’

‘Customers who check their local store inventory are less likely to use the ship-to-storefunctionality but rather just shop in the store.’ —MATT HYDE, CEO, WEST MARINE




PART V

DIGITAL INNOVATIONS IN STORESOmnichannel innovations can also help a retailer save a sale when a shopper who comes into a store isn’t ready to buy. Women’s activewear and accessories retailer Fabletics, for example, has developed a technology it calls Omnicart designed to make it easy for a shopper who leaves the store without buying to complete the purchase online.

Here’s how it works: A shopper who has provided Fabletics with an email address previously will give that email address to a store associate when trying on items in one of the retailer’s stores. The associate will then scan the items that the shopper is trying on using an iPad or an iPod touch, which automatically puts those items into an online shopping cart.

“If she comes in on her lunch break and goes back to the office, she can still have those items in her cart,” explains Fabletics president Gregg Throgmartin. “We think it’s a great benefit to the customer experience. We don’t care whether she transacts online or in store.”

Once a shopper leaves the fitting room, she can give feedback on the item to an associate, choosing from several positive and negative options designed to let the company know how well the item fit. If a shopper ultimately winds up completing the purchase in-store or decides she doesn’t want the item that she tried on, the item is removed from her online shopping cart. Otherwise, the item remains in the online shopping cart along with the shopper’s feedback on that item until the shopper herself logs into her account and manually removes it.

Throgmartin says this service allows Fabletics to capture sales it might otherwise lose, while at the same time saving the shopper the hassle of trying to remember what she tried on in the store. It also provides Fabletics with instant feedback on which items are popular and how items are fitting.

“When she comes into our store and tries on a new legging and she has to buy that item in a small, we can learn that that item is running a little large and then update our website to tell shoppers on our site that that item is running a little large,” he says. “We can learn conversion rates by SKU, and we get feedback on what the customers didn’t buy.”

‘We can learn [from store customers that an] item is

running a little large and then update our website to tell shoppers on our site that

that item is running a little large .’




Throgmartin says it took about a year for Fabletics to develop the technology, which the company rolled out to its stores in the summer of 2016. He didn’t specify what kind of an impact it has had on store sales, but did say the company’s Net Promoter Score has increased every month. NPS is a scoring system widely used by retailers to measure customer satisfaction.

“The more outlets you have for the customer, the easier you make it for them (to shop),” Throgmartin says. “You just give them the most amount of options. It simplifies the entire process whether it’s ‘I want to try it in store and then buy it online.’ They get to experience the brand in a different way.”

Digital technology can simplify in-store shopping in other ways, as Southern California-based furniture retail chain Jerome’s Furniture is seeking to demonstrate with a mobile app introduced late last year called Smart Shopper.

A shopper in a Jerome’s store can scan a QR code on a product sign, which will then pop up a product page including reviews and videos. The app gives the customer the option to buy the item, even as he’s standing in the store.

Vice president of digital Scott Perry says he’s seen customers do just that.

“A customer came in, scanned a few price tags, so I walked by to check it out,” he says. “He had not yet been approached by a salesperson, the store was pretty busy. I looked at his phone and he was in the shopping cart, then a few minutes later I watched him leave the store. I looked at my reports and there was his transaction, a dinette set.”

Store associates use the app to build product lists for clients in store as a way of potentially saving sales that would otherwise be lost. Shoppers can also use the app to build their own shopping lists.

In addition to developing the app, Jerome’s Furniture had to reprint store signage in all 13 of its locations to add the QR codes necessary for the app to work.

3 .2xIncreased profit from

Fabletics customers who shop with the retailer via multiple channels,

compared to those who shop via a single channel.

‘A customer came in, scanned a few

price tags . I looked at his phone and he was in the shopping cart, then a few minutes later I watched him

leave the store . I looked at my reports and there was his transaction,

a dinette set .’




Perry declined to specify how much Jerome’s does in online sales each year, but did say that those online shoppers who come into one of the retailer’s 13 store locations have both the highest conversion rate and overall average order value.

NEW OMNICHANNEL CHALLENGESFor retailers operating many stores any change to store operations has a waterfall effect, requiring other changes in store layout, technology and policy. For example, Gap Inc. announced in 2014 that it would raise the pay of store associates, in large measure because they were required to carry out the retailer’s cross-channel strategies, including enabling consumers to reserve an item for in-store pickup. Since then, many other retailers have followed suit.

Shipping online orders from stores, in particular, creates thorny problems for retailers. For one thing, stores weren’t designed to fulfill online orders efficiently in the way that distribution centers are.

“The distribution centers have been automated,” says Steve Osburn, managing director at retail consultancy Kurt Salmon. “They’re designed to efficiently find the inventory. Typically in distribution centers, you’re picking in batches. Instead of picking one to two orders, you’re picking for hundreds of orders at a time whereas in the stores, you’re picking just a couple of orders at a time.”

Plus, finding an item in a store isn’t always easy, even if the inventory says it’s there. Macy’s, for example, had to instruct employees to devote no more than five minutes to finding an item ordered online, after finding some employees were wandering around for extended periods trying to find the item a customer had ordered on Macys.com.

That’s not a problem unique to Macy’s, retail executives agree. “If I’m going to go pick off a shelf, the problem is that even locating the product in a retail store is pretty tough,” Rod Sides of Deloitte says. “The issue is you handle the product by getting it to the store, then you send an associate to pick the product in store, pack it—you end up with a lot more cost. The issue becomes the ability to locate the inventory and then be able to efficiently pick it. The big challenge,

‘[At a distribution center] you’re picking for hundreds

of orders at a time whereas in the stores, you’re picking

just a couple of orders at a time .’

‘If I’m going to go pick off a shelf, the

problem is that even locating the product in a retail store

is pretty tough .’




especially for a lot of the big-box guys, is their inventory accuracy isn’t what we think it should be.”

Because store inventory counts are often inaccurate, a retailer may confirm an online order, only to have to cancel it a couple of days later when it becomes clear the item is not available, Osburn says. “In that instance,” he says, “all you’ve done is disappoint the customer because they thought you had something and you didn’t.”

And what if a customer orders several items that are in different stores? Fulfilling that kind of order can be costly.

“When retailers turn on ship-from-store, their packages per order tend to go up because when all my inventory sits in one distribution center, it’s pretty easy to fulfill that order,” Osburn says, using a hypothetical apparel order as an example. “When I open up (store) inventory for a customer and they may order a shirt that sits in a store in New York and a shirt that sits in a store in Florida, I’m shipping two packages instead of one.”

But, in an industry with a monthly turnover rate of 4-5% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the biggest hurdle for retailers is training store associates to execute on the omnichannel strategies being deployed, says Forrester’s Witcher.

Better associate training is essential, he says, “because we still see shoppers have a bad experience in store. The online part is the easy part. Everyone who has done this has told me the tech was easy compared to people and process. It’s all new. You don’t see job descrip-tions looking for pick and pack skills. We’re just in the early stages.”

But that doesn’t mean retail chains have a lot of time to get it right. Those that don’t effectively use their stores in concert with their mobile and online assets run the risk of being added to the growing list of retail chain failures.

‘Everyone who has done [ship-from-store] has told me the tech was easy compared to people

and process .’

‘When I open up [store] inventory for a customer and they may order a shirt that sits in a store in New York and a shirt that sits in a store in Florida, I’m shipping two packages instead of one.’

—STEVE OSBURN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, KURT SALMON




If there is any business sector that is ripe for disruption it’s offline retail. And if there is any group poised to help drive that disruption, it’s retailers that got started by selling only online and now are opening bricks-and-mortar stores.

With roughly 10 percent of overall retail sales taking place online, a handful of former online-only retailers have decided to take a crack at the 90 percent taking place offline. It is unclear whether any of them will succeed in the long haul, but one thing is obvious: They are reimagining the physical retail experience in ways that may rock the industry.

“The physical retail space hasn’t really changed in about 200 years,” says Forrester’s Witcher. “I walk into a store pull something off the shelf. I go to a register. I pay and then I walk out the door. To offer a service that is not only your parents’ way of shopping but your grand-parents’ and great grandparents’ way of shopping is not going to fly with today’s digitally savvy consumer.”

The most prominent online retailer to see the opening for offline retail disruption is Amazon. Ironically, the former bricks-and-mortar bookstore assassin has opened physical bookstores in Seattle, San Diego, Chicago, Portland, and

OFFLINE RETAIL ON THE EVE OF DISRUPTION

BYKEN

MAGILL



Dedhamand Lynnfield, Mass. Amazon also has announced plans to open six more locations.

Amazon has integrated some of its well-known online features into its bricks-and-mortar locations, such as a “Highly Rated” section of books that features titles with online ratings of 4.8 or above, and an “If you like, you’ll love” shelf, which mirrors the “people who bought this, also bought that” marketing technique Amazon helped popularize.

Amazon also considers its bookstores places to push its devices, such as its Kindle e-book readers and tablets and its home devices like Echo and Dot that allow consumers to speak their commands to Amazon’s voice-activated assistant, Alexa.

“We think bookstores, for instance, are a great way for customers to engage with our devices, to see them, touch and play with them, and become fans, so we see a lot of value in that,” said Amazon chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky during an earnings call in February.

Amazon is also dabbling in other retail formats including Amazon Go, a grab-and-go no-point-of-sale convenience store currently available only to employees, grocery-delivery service Amazon Fresh, and Amazon Fresh Pickup where Fresh members can pick up their online orders at physical locations in a few as 15 minutes.

Couple Amazon’s offline retail ambitions with its digital value-added services such as Prime, where customers can get free two-day shipping, streaming music and videos, and where they can store their family photos and videos, and it’s difficult not to think bigger things are coming.

“The one thing to remember about Amazon is that Amazon is customer-obsessed,” says Witcher. “They have found the key to customer loyalty and that is through value-added services. And when they take that value-added services [model] and apply it to the retail model, organizations are going to need to rethink how they think about the physical space.”

However, Amazon’s bricks-and-mortar dominance is not a done deal. The company will have to learn to deal with issues specific to offline retail, such as managing store employees, theft, insur-ance, face-to-face customer service, and challenges inherent in commercial real estate.

Amazon has opened book stores in Seattle (pictured), San Diego, Chicago,

Portland, and Dedhamand Lynnfield,

Mass.

The “If you like, you’ll love” section at Amazon Books mirrors

the recommendations the retailer features on its website.

Photos: Jonathan Kim, chief digital officer, Media Kitchen




“They’re going to have a lot of the same challenges that a lot of retailers do,” says Witcher. “Let’s not be naïve about it, but they do think differently. And that thinking differently could generate some really big ideas going forward.”

BLUE NILEAmazon isn’t the only former online-only retailer to establish a beachhead offline. Some smaller brands have made the leap, as well. And, like Amazon, they are extending the digital experience into their physical spaces.

Diamond jewelry merchant Blue Nile, which has been selling online since 1999, began testing offline retail in 2013 with two installations in Nordstrom’s bridal shops.

“When we went into Nordstrom’s we did well north of $1 million [in a year] out of a six-foot-by-two-foot fixture, and when we opened the second Nordstrom’s we did even more than that,” says Blue Nile CEO Harvey Kanter.

That led Blue Nile to open its own physical locations, which it calls “Webrooms.” These are small retail spaces in high-end malls where customers can consult with non-commissioned employees while examining jewelry set with cubic zirconia.

“We wanted to create an actual experience as opposed to just selling something,” says Kanter. “In Nordstrom’s we were selling an engagement ring. In the Webrooms we’re creating an experience.”

Blue Nile has five physical locations: two in New York, and one each in Portland, Seattle and Tysons Corner, Va.

The Blue Nile offline retail shop is clean, sleek and has not strayed from its digital roots. For example, there is no conventional cash register or checkout counter. That’s because the stores carry no inventory. If store visitors buy, they do it through the browser either on their digital devices or Blue Nile consultants’ laptops.

“I describe it as a three-dimensional online experience,” says Kanter. “I say that because it’s literally as if you could be at home on your couch.”

The model allows Blue Nile to capture all the data it has always captured on BlueNile.com, plus some new data.

Amazon Books’ “Highly Rated” section

features titles that have garnered ratings of 4.8 or above on the retailer’s website.

Excerpts from customer reviews

submitted to Amazon.com are featured on shelves

in the Amazon Books store.

Photos: Jonathan Kim, chief digital officer, Media Kitchen




“We’re getting all of the rich data that we get in any other digital- experience-device interaction, be it a phone, a tablet or a PC,” says Kanter. “Where they’re going, how often they’re coming, what they’re looking at, how many minutes they’re spending on the page, what their conversion rate is ... plus new customer data, how far people are willing to travel, how many customers know us and don’t know us.”

Blue Nile has also seen different purchasing patterns in different geographical areas and has adjusted its in-store selections accordingly.

For example, in New York there is more demand for big-name designers than in the locations in Virginia, Washington and Oregon, says Kanter. “New Yorkers and Manhattanites have a greater propensity for buying a designer ring that has cache.”

Blue Nile stores have a significantly smaller footprint than most traditional jewelry retailers, with spaces averaging 500 gross square feet and 300 net (gross is the total space rented and net is the space used to actually sell inventory).

“Our storefront is literally 15 percent the size of a traditional jewelry store,” says Kanter. “We typically have two people and a general manager in the Webroom. A traditional jewelry store may be more like six or eight or 10 people.”

Each Blue Nile store employee drives an average of $1.4 million in sales per year, according to Kanter.

“With a storefront with two plus a general manager on average [per shift], five to six overall employees, and $1.4 million times five employees that’s approximately $7 million [a year]. So if you think about $7 million coming out of 500 gross square feet, the produc-tivity is pretty phenomenal, certainly much, much higher than a traditional jewelry store.”

MODCLOTHAnother former online-only retailer that has recently established a physical presence is vintage-inspired apparel retailer ModCloth, which also doesn’t refer to its physical manifestation as a store.

“We don’t call it a store, purposely,” says ModCloth CEO Matthew Kaness, who joined the company in January 2015 after serving as

Blue Nile’s “Webrooms” allow

customers to consult with non-commissioned

employees while examining jewelry

set with cubic zirconia.

Blue Nile stores are smaller than most traditional jewelry retailers,

with spaces averaging 300 net square feet.




chief strategy officer at Urban Outfitters. “We call it a fit shop not just from an external perspective, but internally.”

ModCloth, one of a handful of online-only retailers bought in the past year by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., currently has one perma-nent fit shop operating in Austin, Texas. Previously, ModCloth hosted a series of seven pop-ups from the summer of 2015 to the end of 2016 in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Portland, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh and Austin.

Dubbed the IRL, or In Real Life tour, the idea behind the pop-ups was to get customers in front of ModCloth’s designers and buyers to get more immediate feedback than ModCloth could get interacting with customers online. The Los Angeles pop-up was reportedly received with lines around the block.

“When a customer makes an appointment in our fit shop, she converts on average between 80 and 90 percent of the time,” says Kaness. “And, in our experience with the IRL tour and the Austin fit shop, the average order value on that purchase is a multiple of our online average order value.

“The lifetime value of a multichannel customer for us is higher than online-only. But I caveat that with: It’s a real small sample and a pretty short window, so there is nothing statistically I can point to and say is significant.”

The store is a hybrid showroom and traditional store where most of the merchandise and shoes are samples that customers can try on and have shipped to their homes. The concept allows ModCloth to get much more product per square foot into the store than traditional retail, and allows associates to spend more one-on-one time with customers, says Kaness.

Though ModCloth customers can pay in the store using their phones or tablets, purchases are typically made through kiosks through which they access their accounts.

All of the data that ModCloth captures goes into a personal-ization engine, enabling the retailer to more accurately target each shopper’s interests in the future, according to Kaness. For example, ModCloth uses customers’ measurements to present items in its app that women of similar shapes and sizes have already reviewed positively.

“Everything we do in the store is personalized to her,” says Kaness.

‘We don’t call it a store, purposely. We call it a fit shop,’ says ModCloth CEO Matthew Kaness.

Most of the merchandise at

ModCloth stores are samples that customers

can try on and have shipped to their

homes.




ModCloth is also seeing geographical nuances in product prefer-ences at its physical locations.

“In Austin we found that there is a much larger appetite for our quirky aesthetic as well as our wear-to-work business than what we offer online,” says Kaness. “And when we hosted a pop-up in Washington we found that aesthetically it was much more of a classic, feminine customer and a little bit more formal.”

Beyond cold data points, ModCloth has also experienced epipha-nies at its IRL pop-ups that could only come from personal inter-action. Kaness recounts an incident that took place at ModCloth’s Los Angeles pop-up where a customer apologized to an employee about her size.

“The woman on our team who was attending to her told her not to apologize because she was beautiful the way she was and it was our job to make her feel that way,” says Kaness. “And the woman started crying because she had never felt included by a fashion company. She never felt like she could have an intimate relationship with a brand.

“That was the moment I said: ‘That’s the reason we have to have an offline strategy. It’s to create more moments like that because that is something that not only advances our mission, it also is the way that we can grow our community and expand our reach and do well by doing good,’” says Kaness.

Another offline epiphany happened in San Francisco where it became clear that so-called plus-sized women—a term ModCloth has dropped—were used to being shunted off into corners, or even ignored by much of the fashion industry.

“My vision for how to scale ModCloth changed when we hosted our pop-up in San Francisco and we only included in the pop-up samples of clothing that were available in our full size range: extra-extra small to 4X,” says Kaness. “When women came in, especially groups of women, they couldn’t believe that the entire assortment was available to shop together.

“So many women said: ‘Where’s the plus section?’ or ‘Is this available in my size?’ and when we said: ‘There is no plus section’ and when we said everything’s available in every size, you should have seen the expression on these women’s faces.”

But, of course, online retailers are still all about the data. And the challenge of getting data offline on an individual basis is getting

ModCloth has one permanent fit shop

in Austin and has hosted pop-up stores in seven

U.S. cities.

Interactions in stores have given

ModCloth insight into its customers that could not

have been achieved through its website.




customers to identify themselves digitally when they are in the stores. To do that, a retailer has to offer the shopper something she considers justifies the effort of signing in or creating an account.

“It’s that exchange of value that retailers are struggling with,” says Forrester’s Witcher. “How do I provide value in the stores to get customers to self-identify?”

Blue Nile learns about a customer’s shopping behavior through cookies when they browse Blue Nile’s online catalog at home or in the Webrooms. All sales are completed online via the customer’s personal device or an in-Webroom iPad, which helps provide personalized follow-up customer service. If a customer doesn’t buy in a Webroom, Blue Nile also issues individualized discount codes to help track conversions down the road. ModCloth identifies customers with fit-room appointments that require the customer to identify herself.

FABLETICSWomen’s active apparel merchant Fabletics does it with a membership program. Fabletics members can save between 30 and 50 percent on non-member prices of its products.

When someone becomes a member of Fabletics, they agree they will shop with the company within five days of the beginning of each month and either buy something or opt to skip that month.

“The only catch for the customer is they’ve got to log into the site or come into the store within the first five days of every month and look at the product and either buy something or skip,” says Dustin Netral, senior vice president, Fabletics.

Fabletics, which is owned by the TechStyle Fashion Group, currently has 21 physical locations and plans to have 30 by the end of the year or in early 2018.

New members fill out a style-and-size profile that allows Fabletics to provide targeted product recommendations right from the start. The first day of each month, members get an email containing items that have been specifically curated for them. The monthly offerings evolve in accordance with members’ behavior online and in the stores.

‘It’s that exchange of value that

retailers are struggling with . How do I provide value in the

stores to get customers to self-identify?’




Information gleaned from online behavior is influencing the in-store experience and vice versa.

For example, when a customer puts something in their online shop-ping cart but does not buy, that non-transaction is recorded. So when that customer goes into a store and logs into her account, the store employee will see the shopping cart history and can ask the customer if she’d like to try on and possibly buy the item.

Every Fabletics employee has a handheld device they can use for such things as looking up reviews on Fabletics.com for a particular item to see if, say, other women are saying it’s sized properly or not.

In-store data is also allowing Fabletics to react more quickly to members’ behavior than was previously possible as an online-only retailer.

“When we bring product into a store and it goes live on the first of the month and we find out by the third that the conversion is very low on that particular product, then we know that maybe it’s not priced right or sized right and we gather all of that information digitally from our stores and flow that back to our design, merchandising and planning teams here in El Segundo,” says Netral, referring to the retailer’s California headquarters.

Everything that goes into the fitting room is scanned, as is everything that comes out. When members don’t buy an item they’re asked why. As result, Fabletics can spot trends and react appropriately.

“We’ll ask them something like: ‘What did you think of those capris?’ and maybe she’ll say, ‘They fit a little small,’” says Netral. “If we see enough of that trend we’ll resize and retag the product so we don’t ship a bunch of merchandise out that will disappoint customers or will end up in a return.”

One thing is clear: It’s not the products former online-only retailers offer that differentiates them so much as the data-driven personalized experience.

“The products you carry are irrelevant,” says Witcher. “The competitive advantage is in the experience, which is why the physical retail experi-ence needs to change.”

Everything that goes into the fitting room is

scanned, as is everything that comes out . As result, Fabletics

can spot trends and react appropriately .




Financial

Omnichannel Capabilities

Omnichannel Strategy

Store Visit Findings

1. Internet Retailer estimate

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.2017 Top 500 Rank: 3

Website Launched: 2000Merchant Category:

Mass Merchant702 S.W. 8th St.

Bentonville, AR 72716479-273-4000

Web Sales2016: $15,820,000,000 1 2015: $13,700,000,000 Growth: 15.5%Total Sales2016: $485,873,000,000 2015: $482,130,000,000 Growth: 0.8%E-commerce as a Percent of Total Sales2016: 3.3% 2015: 2.8%

Barcodes on ProductsBeaconsBuy Online Pick Up in StoreDirectionsGeofencingIn-store Kiosks

In-store Mobile PromotionsIn-store Stock CountsLocation-based OffersMobile Devices for Store AssociatesOnline Price MatchingRegistry on App

Reserve Online Pick Up in StoreReturn to StoreShip from StoreStore LocatorWayfinding

Wal-Mart acquired Jet.com in August for $3.3 billion. As part of the deal, Jet.com co-founder Mark Lore became president and CEO of e-commerce at Wal-Mart.

Speaking at the Bloomberg Breakaway Summit in New York in May 2017, Lore said

Wal-Mart is in some ways playing defense against Amazon.com Inc. But Wal-Mart is also playing offense by offering discounts on 1 million online items if customers agree to pick up the goods at one of its 4,700 stores. The program takes advantage of the retailer’s nationwide network of stores and its 6,700-strong trucking fleet. “Our cost to ship it to the store is 75 cents a box, but to ship it to your home, it’s $5 dollars,” Lore said.

ln late January, Wal-Mart dropped its $49 annual ShippingPass program and instead opted for a two-day free shipping model on all Walmart.com orders of $35 or more.

Pickup was easy, but slow. There was one person working the online

order pickup counter. The wait

for picking up the item was about 20 minutes.

Clerk said many customers don’t know how to properly use the app, leading to delays in retrieving orders. Wal-Mart might need to do more to educate its customers on how to use omnichannel options.

When shoppers enter the store, the app reminds them that they have an item waiting to be picked up. The app also allows shoppers to price-check items using a bar code reader.

TOP 30 OMNICHANNEL RETAILERS

©Copyright 2017 Internet Retailer® & Vertical Web Media LLC. All rights reserved. Data as of May 2017. In-store research reflects visits to one store of each retail chain.


Financial




Staples Inc.2017 Top 500 Rank: 5


Office Supplies500 Staples Drive

Framingham, MA 01702508-253-5000

Web Sales2016: $9,700,000,000 2015: $10,700,000,000 Growth: -9.3%Total Sales2016: $18,247,000,000 2015: $18,764,000,000 Growth: -2.8%E-commerce as a Percent of Total Sales2016: 53.2% 2015: 57.0%




In November 2016, Staples CEO Shira Goodman told Wall Street analysts that, going forward, Staples would rely more on its digital commerce offerings to acquire customers and retain them as loyal customers,

and to expand sales beyond traditional office supplies like paper and printer ink.

By tapping into IBM’s Watson Conversation service, Staples offers an ordering interface for customers across the Staples Easy System, whether via Staples’ Easy Button or other channels such as an app, text or email.

Staples Inc. is overhauling its marketing as part of a high-stakes pivot away from what it was built on—selling low-priced office supplies at big stores—and toward a stronger focus on selling a wide range of products and services to businesses. As part of that, Staples is pushing to expand its delivery business, which offers customers a sales representative and online ordering. This division was already generating more revenue than the brick-and-mortar stores, which have struggled as more consumers shop online.

Items ordered online can be picked up in an hour in many cases. The store

we visited had a sign at the checkout

counter indicating where to pick things up.

A staffer had to find the item in the back room. There was no dedicated place near the front of the store for storing online orders and there appeared to be no staff dedicated to in-store pickups of online orders.

App is integrated with the Staples Rewards program.




Financial




1. Internet Retailer estimate

Macy’s Inc.2017 Top 500 Rank: 6

Website Launched: 1998Merchant Category: Apparel/Accessories

680 Folsom St.San Francisco, CA 94107

513-579-7000

Web Sales2016: $6,893,100,000 1 2015: $6,210,000,000 1 Growth: 11.0%Total Sales2016: $25,778,000,000 2015: $27,079,000,000 Growth: -4.8%E-commerce as a Percent of Total Sales2016: 26.7% 2015: 22.9%




Macy’s is planning on closing 68 stores this year as part of an aggressive cost-savings initiative that will eventually allow it to invest $250 million in part on growing its online sales.

Macy’s offers same day delivery on select orders in select markets placed by 1 pm local time

Monday-Saturday or by 11 am on Sundays.

“We acknowledge that more experimentation with in-store technology and creative solutions for customers who are shopping in our physical stores is an opportunity for focused capital invest-ments in 2017,” now-former CEO and current executive chairman Terry Lundgren told analysts on Macy’s Q4 2016 earnings call.

Macy’s buy online, pick up in store area was very clearly marked by signs

on doors around the outside of the

store letting shoppers know of its exact location.

Macy’s will allow you to pick up orders placed through the app the same day in store by 3 p.m.

Macy’s offers free in-store WiFi which makes it easier to use the mobile app and shop on a mobile device while in store.




Financial




The Home Depot Inc.2017 Top 500 Rank: 8


Hardware/Home Improvement2455 Paces Ferry Road

Atlanta, GA 30339770-433-8211

Web Sales2016: $5,581,105,000 2015: $4,668,000,000 Growth: 19.6%Total Sales2016: $94,595,000,000 2015: $88,519,000,000 Growth: 6.9%E-commerce as a Percent of Total Sales2016: 5.9% 2015: 5.3%




Nearly 45% of all of Home Depot’s online orders are picked up in the store and 90% of returns are processed in the store.

Home Depot rolled out buy online, deliver from store to all of its store locations

in 2016. “Once we rolled out the new system, we’ve seen a double digit increase in the number

of orders delivered from stores,” says Stephanie Smith, vice president of direct fulfillment and delivery at Home Depot. “Any time we tie the store together with the online experience, we’re seeing a great response.”

Home Depot is consistently evaluating how store associates pick online orders and how much space is needed in stores to store those online orders for pickup.

Online order pickup area was very clearly marked with multiple signs.

There was no WiFi available in the

store which made using the barcode scanner a bit of a challenge. A shopper visiting the store was unable to get the barcode scanner to work.

Home Depot’s app will show you if something is in store before you go to the store to buy it.




Financial




Costco Wholesale Corp.

2017 Top 500 Rank: 9Website Launched: 1998

Merchant Category: Mass Merchant999 Lake Drive

Issaquah, WA 98027425-313-8100

Web Sales2016: $5,001,802,358 2015: $4,472,158,837 Growth: 11.8%Total Sales2016: $116,073,000,000 2015: $113,666,000,000 Growth: 2.1%E-commerce as a Percent of Total Sales2016: 4.3% 2015: 3.9%




Costco has been less aggressive in pushing into e-commerce than many rivals, but it’s working with Google Express delivery service on a program that would ship products in one to three days in the U.S. Costco is also

testing other third-party shipping providers, such as Instacart, and expanding its online selection of

apparel, appliances and other products.

In the U.S. and Canada, Costco fulfills online orders from 11 distribution points, allowing for faster delivery of online orders.

Unlike many other retailers, Costco continues to expand its physical footprint.

Basically no omnichannel capability. Customers cannot buy

online and pick up at the store.

The app reminds shoppers of things on their “shopping lists” once they enter the store.




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