Increase retail sales by 10% with an Endless Aisle strategy

Can you afford not to have an Endless Aisle strategy?

It’s clear then that one of the benefits of Endless Aisle is that it gives retailers more control over what the customer sees as in-stock and out of stock. This is significant because a recent report found that 17% of consumers would use their mobile device to make an immediate purchase on a competitors website if a product was out of stock.

In addition, 37% said they would buy that item from an online retailer when they get home and 35% said they would just go to a different store to buy it. In this fast-paced, “I need it and I need it now” consumer landscape simply having an item in stock, or being able to ship it instantly, is enough to win, as convenience becomes a top priority.

The cost of not having an Endless Aisle strategy, and therefore not having products in stock when the customer wants them, can be devastating. A Harvard Business Review study suggests retailers can lose nearly half of intended purchases when customers encounter stock-outs. Those abandoned purchases translate into sales losses of about 4% for a typical retailer, that’s £400,000 of lost sales for a £10m retailer.

Maintaining real-time stock visibility

Critical to Endless Aisle success is having real-time visibility on stock in all locations. A recent retailer survey found that only 19% of retail brands were able to offer Endless Aisle by purchasing inventory from a distribution centre or warehouse, and only 13% could purchase inventory from another store.

To overcome this, retailers should be investing in a unified retail management system that feeds and updates all sales channels and stock locations in real-time. Out-dated systems that rely on integrations can often cause delays in reporting and inaccurate stock figures which severely hinder the success of an Endless Aisle strategy.

Keeping customers updated on their order

It’s all too common to see retailers excel in the early stages of the customer journey by offering out-of-stock or an extended range of products to the customer while they’re in the store. But this is only half of the story and failing to keep the customer updated on their order can jeopardise the whole customer experience.

A Mycustomer consumer survey found that 82% of consumers said it was important that retailers proactively communicate every fulfilment and delivery stage, with 45% saying they track order status by SMS/phone and 85% using email to stay updated.

It’s clear then that for retailers using Endless Aisle to ship directly from suppliers, this challenge will be amplified without the right systems in place to keep the customer updated. 

Centralised order tracking

Tied closely to having real-time stock visibility is the need for orders to be managed in one central location. With orders being placed across multiple channels individual channel order tracking simply doesn’t work if orders are being fulfilled from multiple locations.

To be able to update inventory and fulfil orders from any location a centralised order management system is critical. Having this enables retailers to manage orders, stock and shipping irrespective of sales channel and maintain contact with the customer during the dispatch and delivery process.