<aside> 4️⃣ This is the fourth guide from Uppercase COVID19 Retail Guide for Founders

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Retail is being impacted more than ever before. There is a lot of change and new info that we're absorbing and implementing as retail reopens. We will dive into each of the topics below to give you insight into how the industry is reacting and where it is headed.

<aside> 📩 Email us at [email protected] — We are here to help.

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PART 1: Future of the Retail Experience

Omnichannel

What to consider?

Omnichannel retail is more critical than ever before with major disruptions to brick and mortar retail as a result of the pandemic. Being able to have a commerce experience that is optimized whether your customer is shopping in-store or online is important. When building out your omnichannel strategy, it's also important to think about how different sales channels will interact with each other. A common example of this is BOPIS (buy online, pick-up in store) which has become critical during the pandemic as many retailers have been forced to utilize curbside pickup.

Why it's important?

Inventory Management
- During the pandemic, inventory management is crucial. Your business has likely experienced disruptions and will likely continue to experience supply/demand changes over the course of the recovery.
Successful Fulfillment
Drive Sales
- The ICSC refers to positive sales impact driven by effective mix between brick and mortar retail, and a successful e-commerce platform as The Halo Effect. At Uppercase, we firmly believe this to be true, and we've got the case studies to back it up. For more reading, check out the ICSC article linked here:
The Halo Effect II: Quantifying the Impact of Omnichannel

What can you do now?

If you haven't already explored selling on a variety of platforms, there's no better time to try than now. Many social channels; instagram, and facebook as prime examples, provide consumers the ability to interact and shop at your store within their own app.

This is an incredibly unique way to directly interact with your audience, and a seamless transition from an in-app purchase to their delivery or in store-pick up, will be a key contributor to a return customer, or a one time purchase.

Uppercase's insights:

The customer sales journey is much more complicated when you blend an online interface with in-person interaction. Having a great physical location to fulfill your orders, and drive sales in a specific geo-location is one of the most effective ways to ensure your customers have a positive experience shopping with you, whether it's online, or in person.