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"There needs to be a digital fluency, but really there needs to be an omni fluency." — Chris Perry, Chief Learning Officer, firstmovr
Every brand is laser-focused on growth and profitability. While there’s not a one-size-fits-all strategy to get there, brands that focus on developing and executing an omnichannel strategy will achieve these aims faster.
Chris Perry, chief learning officer at firstmovr, a consumer packaged goods (CPG) and ecommerce strategy firm, believes that omnichannel is the way forward for ecommerce.
However, many companies have tried and failed to make this a reality.
To better position brands to avoid this outcome, Perry and his team have conducted research that collates best practices in omnicommerce. Perry appeared on an episode of the “Unpacking the Digital Shelf” podcast, “2024: The Year of OMNIGEDDON!", to share four trends from firstmovr’s research that brands can capitalize on to drive growth in the coming years.
We’re on the precipice of a new era in category management, or what Perry refers to as “Catman 2.0.”
"For the last decade-plus, I almost feel like we went from enlightenment to the dark ages a little bit, where we didn't actually leverage all that amazing category management expertise that was sitting next to us," Perry says.
But this is beginning to change as ecommerce matures. Nearly every brand is focused on product content, reviews, availability, and their assortment mix, but the prevailing conundrum is how to effectively pull all these levers to drive incrementality, increased market share, and deeper customer connections.
Perry sees more effective category management as companies’ best opportunity to accomplish this — whether that means cross-selling across brands, getting customers to trade up to a premium item, or offering creative product bundles.
Procter & Gamble does this well, for example, using Tide as a gateway product before presenting customers with an opportunity to trade up to Pods and then Power Pods.
"It's choosing a specific type of growth — not just all growth, but baskets. A lot of brands just try to do everything with all their levers. And arguably we need to design our levers or the 'how' around a 'why,' right? Maybe pick one 'why.'" — Chris Perry, Chief Learning Officer, firstmovr
As the saying goes, you can’t manage what you can’t measure.
Brands previously didn’t have reliable sources for omnichannel data, but this is starting to change thanks to a growing number of channels and first-party data sources, such as direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites and retail media networks like Walmart Connect, Target Roundel, and Kroger 84.51.
Perry contends that brands can build or increase their competitive advantage and establish better joint business planning (JBP) relationships with major retailers by combining lagging category sales data and share of growth metrics with leading digital shelf retail media metrics to achieve a holistic view of their ecommerce performance.
Perry offers a range of data points brands should examine, including availability rates for their top SKUs, distribution, top keywords, content completeness and quality, and whether a product is gaining or losing placement on the digital shelf.
In their report, Perry and his team state that shoppers are now so fluent in omnichannel they’re starting to dream in it. Therefore, a multichannel marketing strategy is no longer the best approach to engage them.
"First-movers will be omni-storytellers … thinking omni, engaging omni, activating omni and measuring omni or fall behind those who do," firmovr says in its report.
Perry says omnichannel "has to become more mature in thinking about the total business" rather than being confined to operational and channel silos. Each part of the business now affects the other and contributes to driving incrementality.
"There needs to be a digital fluency, but really there needs to be an omni fluency," Perry says.
The bottom line is that omnichannel can’t be bolted on as an afterthought — brands must integrate an omnichannel strategy into every part of their business.
Media and brand marketing teams have traditionally operated in silos, but the rapid growth of retail media now necessitates an integrated approach across the full funnel.
However, Perry acknowledges that there are some sensitivities around even using the term “full funnel” in these conversations. During a workshop, one organization even asked him to remove any reference of the word. Perry admits that many companies haven’t yet perfected their full-funnel planning processes. Still, it’s the right approach to navigate today’s omnichannel environment successfully.
"Full funnel represents this idea of integrating retail media, paid search, and everything else, all the way up the funnel," he says. "Thinking about how the national, traditional media flows down the funnel all the way to the point of purchase, and can actually aid that. Also, planning our media activations. Again, it’s very similar to Catman thinking and omni — all of this is in that same vein."
Whether it’s a full-funnel approach, better category management, or bringing together category sales and retail media data, brands now must adapt to a world in which consumers expect a seamless, connected experience across every touch point and channel. Those that develop a thoughtful omnichannel strategy — and drive the internal change management necessary to make it happen — will be the first-movers and leaders in this space.
To hear more of Perry’s insights on omnichannel commerce, listen to the full episode.
