De schadelijke effecten van overpromis in multichannelland

Op DMnews.com stond een aardig artikel naar aanleiding van een onderzoek onder 15.000 Amerikaanse consumenten naar hun tevredenheid over multichannelretailing. Het bleek dat er een grote daling is in tevredenheid over de dienstverlening van de retailers. Klanten raken in toenemende mate gefrustreerd.

De moraal van het verhaal: wanneer je de suggestie wekt dat je multichannel kan leveren (van orientatie tot service) en je maakt het niet waar, leidt dat tot een daling in de klantentevredenheid. In de ogen van de onderzoekers is multichannel:

Ellis defined true multichannel retailing as the ability to buy product from any source, return it via any source and inquire about it using any source.

During the most recent holiday season Best Buy and Circuit City let shoppers order products online and pick them up in a store. But when those who took advantage of the offer arrived at the stores, it was unclear where they were supposed to pick up their purchases. Also, the lines for orders placed online often were longer than for in-store purchases.
“Some of those customers said they would never go back to Circuit City and Best Buy,” Beemer said.
No one has developed the technology to handle the logistics of multichannel retailing adequately, making it difficult for merchants to integrate their operations, Ellis said.
“The companies that will be successful in the future will be the ones that get their back end in place before they start their marketing,” she said. Once true integration occurs across multiple channels, “the sky’s the limit.”

Oftewel: het managen van het verwachtingspatroon van je klant is cruciaal. Beter underpromis en overperformance dan andersom........

Met dank aan: Tom Ruisbroek