The Foschini Group, which owns a large number of well-known retail brands, including Foschini, Totalsports and @home, has launched head first into e-commerce, allowing customers to purchase goods across all of its stores online.
The idea, according to the retail group, is to offer a seamless shopping experience not just online, but also in-store.
Its new technology platform supports cross-site shopping and allows the group to connect its brands — including DueSouth, Sportscene, Fabiani and Markham — into a single shopping experience.
Customers will be able to shop from the group’s website, or via the individual store sites.
“We have been researching [the industry] for over two years now. We have looked at a lot of first-world countries to see what has been happening there, especially with big retailers,” says The Foschini Group chief information officer Brent Curry. “We expect our omni-channel project to deliver 5% of our total turnover by 2018. But we see much more opportunity coming out of it in the long term.”
Curry explains that “omni-channel” describes how the group’s stores and online platforms are seamlessly connected.
The project started a year ago and the complete roll-out across all of its 17 brands is expected over the next 24 months.
“Our competitive advantage is two-fold,” says Curry. “We have 17 brands across which consumers can now purchase goods, and there is one checkout process which will allow customers to pay for goods online using a credit card or our in-store cards.”
The new platform will allow shoppers to have goods delivered to them directly, or they can opt to pick them up in store. Delivery times will vary based on the customer’s location, but Curry says the group has successfully trialled same-day and next-day deliveries.
The Foschini Group plans to roll out Wi-Fi access and tablets in its top stores, giving customers the opportunity to shop online should stock of what they are looking for not be available.
Curry says the group has built a dedicated call centre so it can keep e-commerce clients informed of any delays or stock issues.
It is also working on trials in-store to accept other forms of electronic payment like SnapScan and Zapper.
“We will also be replacing our in-store point-of-sale systems so they can be fully integrated into our online platform. This roll-out will commence in 2017.”
Curry says the new point-of-sale systems will support technologies which are most convenient to consumers and is likely to include support for near-field communications, an increasingly popular way of making payments using mobile phones. — © 2014 NewsCentral Media
