Canadian Retailer - Fall 2015 - 24

MERCHANDISING

Marriage between online and at-store needs to be seamless.

enjoy in Walmart stores with the added convenience
of online shopping with at-store pickup." The system
allows shoppers to shop in a time and place that's
convenient for them, schedule a pickup at the store,
pull into a parking spot outside a participating store
and watch as Walmart employees load the groceries
into the car.
"Marrying online shopping and at-store pickup
allows us to offer customers more time in their day
while saving them money," says Rodrigue.
Walter Manning, owner of the Old Faithful Shop,
has witnessed a similar synergy in his online/instore experience.
Old Faithful Shop opened its first store in 2010,
and, prompted by what Manning says was "overwhelming demand," the retailer opened a web store
six months later. Earlier this year, Manning opened
a Toronto location.
"We were in-store first, with no intention of going online," he says, adding that he believes his store would
have gone out of business if it hadn't opened an online
store for customers to browse and research product.
Today, the majority of the store's sales happen in
the physical store, even though the web store inspires many of these sales. Customers see what they
like online and buy it in person.
"At this point there is no difference [between channels]," he says. "One hand shakes the other. The two
are inseparable."

ognized the differences "At this point there is
in how users manipulate
Don't forget Mobile
their digital devices and no difference [between
Stairs says retailers need to remember the unique
began merchandising dif- channels]. One hand
properties of mobile devices-and the opportunity for
ferently depending on what shakes the other. The
growth-when they merchandise through mobile.
device the customer uses.
"Mobile can't be an afterthought. It needs to be
The ebay iPhone app, for two are inseparable."
front-and-centre," she says. Canada is heading to a
- WALTER MANNING point when mobile will dominate a retailer's digital
example, was designed for
Old Faithful Shop channels. As Stairs puts it, "Canadian consumers
customers who know what
they're buying. The app is
are over the web and now they're onto mobile."
transactional compared to the iPad app, a more
Canadian retailers need to be prepared for the
entertaining app geared toward customers who shift to mobile. The shift will require different approaches to
want to browse and discover products.
merchandising and different technical considerations.
"It's a whole other set of considerations," says Stairs. "You can't
Integrate channels
shrink your website to fit a mobile device, call it a day and say
Different channels, like digital stores and that mobile is done."
physical stores, should integrate in ways that
leverage the other's strengths. Case in point is Keep learning
Walmart Canada. The retail giant launched an "Everybody is still in a learning mode," says Applebaum. Reonline shopping and at-store grocery pickup tailers can expect to see more change and more creative venservice in the Ottawa-area to serve busy, mo- tures as retailers test ideas across channels.
bile customers better.
While channels have multiplied, the core principles of mer "Our goal was clear," says Simon Rodrigue, chandising remain constant: to present product in ways that insenior vice president, e-commerce, Walmart spire customers to purchase. To know what products customers
Canada. "Provide our customers with the prod- want to purchase. To put the right inventory in front of the right
uct assortment and low prices they already customer at the right moment.
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CANADIAN RETAILER | FALL 2015

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