According to Craig Jordan, The Warehouse Group’s chief digital officer, The Warehouse has continued to make a steady move in the direction of online retail in response to meeting customers’ requirement to shop in the way they want to shop.
“We’ve had an online presence for quite a long time,” says Jordan.
“A number of years ago we began investing in multichannel opportunities in tandem with reinvestment in our stores. Now we’ve gone a step further with
our digital strategy which sees each store integrating physical and an online sales channels. And the group has a small online only presence with Shop HQ and Shotgun supplements.
“The philosophy hasn’t changed, which is about ensuring we follow our customers and provide the range of options for them to research, buy and fulfil when they want, where they want.”
Jordan explains that the purchase of Torpedo 7 seemed like a really smart way of learning the online business faster – “most people DIY it”.
“Bringing T7 into the group was an important milestone because of its breadth of category, and yes, it was partly motivated by a desire to have a leading player in the online space as part of the family,” he says.
“We’ve learned a lot about fulfilment and other aspects of the business during this process. But let me stress again that, in the case of T7, by merging with R&R Sport we’ve actually added a physical store network to the business to complement the online business.
“Our goal is to be the best at ‘clicks and bricks’, in other words an integrated physical and online offer, and T7’s success is a good example of this, proving that online brands can grow into a more traditional space as well as the other way around.
“This is a shift from mass marketing to micro marketing.”
Jordan points out that The Warehouse traditionally has been a mass market retailer.
“Online offers the opportunity of building one on one relationships. How have customers responded to the change? Do they have different expectations now?” he queries.
“Yes, and this is an exciting part of the digital story.
“Beyond offering online research and buying as well as a physical store network, our digital strategy is also about getting to know our customers better so that they can customise and personalise what they want from us, and our service to them improves as a result.”
Customers have responded enthusiastically to The Warehouse, letting it be known that they want to be notified personally when The Warehouse has deals or offers that interest them and to be allowed the choice of online order delivery location.
“A good example is click and collect, which can only be offered as a result on online presence and store network,” says Jordan.
“One change with the digital world is that customers want things more quickly. Sometimes delivery or fulfilment of an online purchase can take time or might miss someone at home. Click and collect means that for some customers near a major store they can buy online and collect the item as soon as it’s available. Endless aisles is another good example of using digital to further our store servicing of customers. In a smaller store, customers need not leave the store without finding what they want. If it’s not in stock, they can ask any team member to order the item at checkout and have it either sent to the store for collection or delivered to home.” Source: BNZ MarketView.
