Fynd Voices Episode 2: How AND & Global Desi Implemented Omni-channel Retailing
House of Anita Dongre(HOAD) is one of the few organisations who have been able to surpass the traditional norms of retailing. They have incorporated some of the best technologies in their stores to boost their sales and stay ahead of their competitors. This has not only helped the brand to improve customer’s shopping experience but also establish effective store operations. It’s western wear brand, AND bagged the IMAGES Most Effective Tech Implementation Award at the 18th Annual IMAGES Fashion Awards (IFA), for effective integration of technologies in all it’s stores. Omni-channel model played a major role behind this achievement.
In the previous webinar episode, we had Reliance Brands Limited (RBL) where we discussed about the challenges they faced while adopting an omni-channel model. This time we invited Deepikesh Hira, Head — Special Projects and Divya Kumar, Senior Buyer & Merchandiser from HOAD to talk about their success story in terms of executing omni-channel retailing at 200+ AND and Global Desi (GD) stores pan-India. Not only this, there were a few nuances which were different in case of AND and GD as compared to RBL that has been covered in the next section.
Why was the omni-channel or save the sale module important for AND and GD? When did they decide to implement this at their stores?
Lost sales had been a big challenge for AND and GD since the very inception of the brands and same hold true for most retailers. However, three-four years back when they were trying to look for a solution, they were not able to figure out a way to address this issue. During that time, they were manually capturing the data to identify the reasons of customers walking out of the store empty handed, which was not a long term solution. Since then the organisation had been looking for a full fledged technology solution that could help them extract the data automatically and also act on it.
“Since 2–3 years, we have been trying to look at how we can merge online and offline retail and as soon as we saw the opportunity with Fynd, we seized it.” — Deepikesh Hira
Did HOAD consider building an in-house omni-channel tool? What were they looking at while choosing a partner?
AND and GD thought about building an in-house tool but after much contemplation it didn’t seem to be the most effective solution. Since, this was a new challenge for the company, they were looking for a partner who has had prior experience and intelligence to execute this. At the same time they wanted a partner who was agile enough to make changes in the processes whenever it was required and was also ready to learn along with them in this journey.
Internally, which teams needed to be aligned to execute this model successfully?
According to HOAD, it was paramount that the following four teams were involved at all times in order to drive the “save-the-sale” model:
- Content: To ensure on-time upload of content and catalog on the platform. In the case of HOAD, this was the e-commerce team
- Buying and Merchandising: To proclaim the new merchandise that would be introduced in the next season, so that they can prepare the data in advance
- Retail/ Store Ops: To take the lead and drive sales in order to roll out the solution, actively provide store training to the sales staff and ensure everyone is comfortable using the solution
- IT: To ensure the backend integration and infrastructure is in place so that the inventory sync happens seamlessly
Many brands face delays in cataloging the product from the time the drops hit the stores? How does AND and GD manage this issue?
HOAD is aware of the importance of having the 100% catalogue coverage on the app, as complete catalogue allows them to use the app as an “endless aisle”. Internally, at an organisation level they have set a principle to catalogue everything that goes to the store by default. These shoots are then shared to the e-com and omni-channel partner instantly.
Few month’s back catalog used to be a huge hinderance and it is not completely resolved yet. However, they are trying to ensure that the process runs as smoothly as possible. Nevertheless, there are still significant improvements that can happen.
Why should the Retail or Store Ops team lead the roll out of omni-channel module?
The purpose of rolling out the “save the sale” module is to plug loss of store sales. Logically driving store sales is the prerogative of the retail team. Be it through any medium. Additionally, retail team is the one who is actually using the technology and convincing the customers to purchase a product from the app.
Training the store staff regarding the use cases of the technology, order processing norms, maintaining basic hygiene in terms of inventory, managing defective items and proper tagging of product, conveying the importance of SLA’s, managing customer queries, avoiding order cancellations etc is of utmost importance. If they do not see value in this solution, then it is impossible to drive the “save-the-sale” module successfully.
“We do not look at Fynd Store as an online platform but more of an offline platform to drive store sales. Hence, its important for the store team to understand the foundation of the omni-channel solution and how it would help them at a micro level. ” — Divya Kumar
What are the use cases when the store executives use the omni-channel solution?
The best use case for AND and GD has been saving the sale when a customer is not able to find the right size or colour of the product in a store. Also, the store sizes keep varying from location to location. Some of the smaller stores do not receive all the options that larger stores might have and therefore, through Fynd Store they are able to show entire collection to the customers. Consequently, it acts as an “endless aisle” for customers allowing them to browse for more styles when they are not able to find a product from the store they have walked in to.
Does HOAD consider Fynd Store as a customer facing solution or a store facing solution?
The “save the sale” technology works as both customer facing and store facing solution. They keep the solution very mobile in the stores by carrying the tablet in their hands. They also have table top stands in their stores where the store staff can place the tablets as some of the customers feel more comfortable in using the app themselves in order to browse through and experience the technology. In such cases the questions lead through the customers to the staff. So they use the app both ways where, on one hand they encourage store staff to use the tab and take it to the customers and on the other hand invite customers to use the app themselves and place an order.
“We have introduced in-store communication such as browser tags, signs inside the trial room to create curiosity among the customers, encouraging them to use the tablet.” — Divya Kumar
How has HOAD been able to train their store staff at such a large scale, across 200+ stores?
HOAD has a separate training team who takes region wise sessions on a monthly basis. Along with HOAD and Fynd’s training team, Deepikesh and Divya themselves visit the stores when the trainings happen. However, they have faced some issues with the training in the past where they saw that training just the store managers does not work well as the instructions does not percolate downwards. Because of that, they have put Fynd Store training as part of the new store staff on-boarding process.
Apart from this they have made some training videos of the use cases which can be used as a point of reference by the store employees. Also, online training happens periodically in order to refresh the process flow.
With so much churn in the store how is HOAD able to ensure that all their store staff is using the app effectively?
They have appointed regional managers in all the cities, who has been tasked to drive the omni-channel model. The management sets monthly meetings with them ensure that they are driving this effectively. The stores are given target every month which is then broken down to employee level. Employee level targets are decided by the store managers.
Every day a daily Sales report is circulated among the stores to compare the targets and the sales that they have achieved. Also, a ranking report is rolled out bi-monthly where they conduct a zone wise analysis, brand wise comparison in order to keep a check on the performance and identify what is working and not working in which store, city or zone.
How have they structured the incentive scheme?
“For AND and GD our incentive structure is planned in a way, where the ordering store; the store who places the order gets a Rs.50 incentive on every order and the fulfilling store; the store from where the inventory is sourced gets the sale.” — Deepikesh Hira
The above incentive structure has worked well till now, but internally they have received suggestions to split the sales between both the ordering and fulfilling store. This is still under speculation and some tweaking might happen in the future.
There has been instances where the stores have been ordering from Fynd Store inspite of having inventory to claim incentives. How did HOAD cope with these issues?
These challenges are inevitable, but after investigating it internally, the management found out that with some stores the problem were genuine, as they were unable to find the product physically at the time of placing order and hence they booked it via the app. On the other hand few stores mentioned that the customer’s were insisting to deliver the product at their home or they did not carry much cash and wanted to place a COD order.
However, to avoid any gaming of the system, the management has conveyed it to their teams to only use the app when they are sure about not having the inventory physically at the store. Also, they took this as a learning and are keeping a close track of such accounts.
Rolling the omni-channel model in company owned stores is one thing but how did they manage to implement this in the Franchisee stores? What are the possible push backs that one can get from the franchisee partners?
HOAD did not face much challenge with their franchisee partners as most of their partners have a bouquet of other brands apart from AND and GD where they have already seen the impact of the omni-channel solution. Also, they understand the challenge of lost sales and how they can drive additional revenue though this channel. Often the question that arises from franchisee partners is that, why should they place an order when the sale is going to the fulfilling store?
“If there is a push-back from the franchisee store, then the key is to explain to them that if today you are the ordering store and someone else is fulfilling the order, then there’s a quid pro quo that will also happen in future where someone else will be ordering and you will be getting the sales on order fulfilment.” — Harsh Shah
Apart from this when the franchise partner is able to service an order which the customer has liked, then the store is adding value to the customer’s shopping experience. Through this the store is able to retain that customer for life time which is beneficial for them in a longer run.
Has HOAD ever received any resistance from the fulfilling store while processing orders?
Initially, during the rolling phase they did receive a few queries from stores, where they mentioned that they have a regular set of customers for whom they would like to hold the merchandise as they expect them to visit the store and buy the product. However, it was explained to them that it is more important to fulfil the current order then waiting for a customer for 2–3 weeks, which might not convert for sure. Especially, when they have the advantage of placing the order for the regular customer much later if the product does go out-of-stock.
“There is no point in blocking the inventory for a potential order rather than fulfilling a predominant order.” — Divya Kumar
How does HOAD tackle order failures and cancellations?
Fortunately, the inventory sync between their stores and the omni-channel technology has been happening on real time basis and they have not faced any issue regarding that. But, there have been cases when the store staff scans the price tag of a similar product in case the original price tag is missing, which disrupts the inventory and then they are unable to fulfil the order for the scanned product later. These issues cannot be solved systemically and brands need to live with the 1–2% margin of error.
However, these issues can be controlled to a large extent by training the store teams on a regular basis to maintain a basic hygiene check; keeping the system’s inventory clean, ensuring that there are no defective products in the store, if there is a price mismatch they should first consult the head office and then fulfil the order. Also, audits should be done on regular basis to track these issues.
How does HOAD process orders when the prices change in the system? For example, if the EOSS offers end on a Sunday and there are order’s pending from last week which needs do be processed on Monday, but the prices have changed as the offers are no more active.
HOAD has maintained a template where such scenarios have been articulated along with the solution to it. The timeline to fulfil the orders is till 12 pm next day which needs to be adhered to. Along with this they also give a free hand to the store managers to manually tweak the discounts in order to fulfil the order rather than keeping it on hold and missing the opportunity. The only thing they need to do is keep the management in the loop during such instances.
What is the next steps for AND and GD with respect to the omni-channel model?
Going forward HOAD is planning to incorporate the omni-channel technology to their own website to fulfil the online orders from their stores. They are also looking at integrating this with their market place partners in the future so that the inventory flow can happen seamlessly at all possible touch point. After all, generating sales is what that matters for every retailer, be it from any platform.
It can be inferred that some of the issues faced by AND and Global Desi is similar to that of RBL’s which was mentioned in the previous webinar. However the way HOAD has tackled these issues at such a large scale is commendable. The key takeaways from HOAD’s experience is as below:
- Orchestrating the omni-channel roll out to 200+ stores
- Driving Fynd Store with franchisee partners by educating them about the quid pro quo of order fulfilment
- Willingness to explore the new ways of retailing by optimised the solution and leveraging it further to multiple sales platform
We thank HOAD’s team to share their experience on this topic and hope that this has been an insightful read for our audience. Stay tuned to read more on numerous other ways in which retailers can drive additional sales.
Joining us next on our third episode of Fynd Voices is Shubhankar Rai, Performance Solutions Expert, Google LIA and Malvika Sharma, Senior Strategist, GMB Vendor Ops who will talk about how brands can use Google My Business and Google LIA to drive additional footfall to their stores?
We welcome your feedbacks, insights and suggestions related to the webinars and topics that you would like us to cover.
If you wish to be a part our webinar sessions as a panelist or attendee, please reach out to us at brands@gofynd.com.
