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A truly seamless omnichannel experience is “nirvana”, in the words of Amanda Hudson, former Global Head of Business Transformation at fashion brand All Saints.
“I think it’s a journey that everybody’s still on – but I think that seamless [omnichannel means] the customer knows: wherever they touch, it’s the same brand.”
Hudson was speaking on a panel at Retail Week x The Grocer Live earlier this week, alongside digital heads from L’Occitane and Dr. Martens. For each brand, stores play a key role in the customer experience in different ways. During the discussion, entitled ‘Bricks and clicks: Harmonising the in-store and digital experience’, the panellists discussed how they keep customers coming back to their brands.
L’Occitane: clienteling, consultations and welcome rituals
For L’Occitane, the brick and mortar retail stores are part of creating a very specific customer experience that feels attentive and personal, and the brand has grappled with the challenge of replicating this in an online space.
“We have a welcome ritual at L’Occitane where you’re greeted in-store with a dab of the shea hand cream in order to be able to experience the product,” said Cherie Amner, Digital and CRM Director at L’Occitane. “We wanted to be able to utilise that online for new customers; so it’s been about us looking at how we can offer sampling to just those new customers who come in.
“That sounds really simple, in itself, but actually it’s about us having the data, being able to target in the right way… It’s not without its challenges, in terms of encouraging people to sign in, and not just use guest checkout.
“I think we can do so much more with harmonisation, if we’ve got the data of course – it’s about us working around, and about how that seamlessly flows from web to store and through our email communications and our clienteling.”
L’Occitane launched clienteling about a year ago after trialling bookable consultations amid Covid-19 restrictions and finding that they didn’t quite work to replicate the “sensorial” aspect of the beauty brand. “We found … we needed something that felt a little bit more personal, and it wasn’t really replacing the in-store piece – especially coming out of Covid, when retail was opening more.
“[Clienteling] for us is really about bringing the sensorial piece of the brand to life, whether that’s on web, or that’s on retail – we treat our customers exactly the same, inviting them in for consultations…” Amner pointed out that many web customers are unaware that they can come in-store for a complimentary hand massage.
“As soon as we can get those people in for a service – we find their AOV, and their retention, skyrockets.
“For us, that’s been the real [unlock] – but the stumbling block before that has been: how do we marry up that in-store experience with the BA [Beauty Advisor], offering those services with the online piece. And I think there isn’t the perfect answer – but… the clienteling… and that personal one-on-one touch has really helped.”
All Saints: Brand leaders in store; improved POS and fulfilment
Amanda Hudson also spoke about the importance of bringing customers into stores, noting that stores play a role both in showcasing the brand and in closing sales. “The brand leaders in the stores are phenomenal. They are real ambassadors for the brand and they sell product amazingly.”
Selling All Saints can be “challenging”, Hudson said, because the brand’s signature look is edgy and might involve wearing things that a customer would never have thought might suit them. “They convince people that would never try things on to try them on – and then they buy them, and they buy a lot of them, and they come back again and again…
“The stores do act very much as a showcase and a window into what All Saints is all about.” All Saints uses events as a key way of bringing customers into stores, and uses the website and social media channels to get the word out and “show things that are happening in stores”.
A major addition to All Saints’ omnichannel toolkit has been its recent launch of a brand new retail system that works “seamlessly with our app and with the website”. “I think the biggest part of that is going to be getting all the customer profiles in one place and understanding [them] across the entire journey … I think that’s going to be a game-changer, and it will enable clienteling, it will enable all of the end result,” said Hudson.
“The customer comes into the store; they want to order a gift for a friend, or they want to get something to be delivered at home, or they want to take it away – they can do all of it in one transaction.”
Simple brand messaging for clear execution across channels
L’Occitane’s Amner said that keeping the brand’s messaging simple has been an important component of making sure its execution is clear and consistent across channels.
“For L’Occitane especially, we have so many brand core values – that actually, it can be quite confusing [as to] what we stand for as a brand. So it’s about really dialling it back, and saying, ‘This is what we stand for … How do we execute that?’”
Amner pointed out that it’s also crucial to ensure that teams are aligned on what campaigns are being run on different channels, again to make sure that the customer receives consistent messaging about products and promotions.
“It’s simply just running the same campaigns across our wholesale estate, across D2C – so that when we’re focusing on, say, our almond shower oil, we’re focusing on that absolutely everywhere.
“And so, if you receive an email from our ecommerce website or you go onto Sephora – you have exactly the same experience and we are talking about the same thing. We’ve found that is really key, given that circular journey, so that [customers] feel like they can shop the brand anywhere and have the same experience.”
Lynn Ritson, Global Digital Director at Dr. Martens, echoed this when talking about the challenges with keeping the shopping experience consistent across touchpoints the brand may not own – such as wholesale. “I think every retailer has challenges around that space; we have really good partner relationships with our wholesale partners…
“We will all work really closely with our marketing teams” to co-ordinate a campaign – for example, the launch of Dr. Martens’ new ‘Buzz’ collection, which harks back to iconic 90s shoe styles. “It’s seamless across our wholesale partners, it’s seamless across our retail estate, and also online, and across social, email, et cetera.
“…When it works better is when it hits the consumer at every single touchpoint – whether it’s wholesale, whether it’s retail – and then everyone benefits. … But [the key is] around communication, and it starts with the marketing teams.”
We’ve found that is really key, given that circular journey, [that customers] feel like they can shop the brand anywhere and have the same experience.
Social commerce: “it’s where the consumer is”, but few brands are nailing it
Social commerce has risen to new prominence in the last year or two as TikTok has pushed its Shop offering more heavily and also placed emphasis on live shopping, a fusion of livestreaming and shopping that blends entertainment with commerce. The panellists reflected on what social commerce looks like for their brands and whether it plays a part in their omnichannel strategy.
“It’s where the consumer is, so you’ve got to be on there in some way, shape or form,” commented Lynn Ritson. “But I don’t know many brands that are actually nailing it either, because you’ve got a certain amount of marketing spend, and you’ve got to decide where you’re going to spend it … It’s a much longer timeframe in terms of payback, and there is a lot of nervousness from lots of different businesses and retailers…
“You can control your brand, but you can’t control the consumer – so therefore, it’s around being really clear, being really purposeful around which channels you want to be on, and being mindful of all of the new ones coming up, and understanding what their roles are and their purpose – and being really clear about where your target consumers are; and then focus on those.
“And then, have a bit of fun!”
Amner pointed out that L’Occitane is unusual as a brand in that QVC is still a major driver of business, and this has given the brand a leg up when it comes to trying out live shopping. However, it hasn’t begun to pay dividends just yet.
“We’re there, we’re on TikTok Shop; we have some great partnerships and have done live selling with, say, Glamour magazine, SheerLuxe, et cetera; so we are exploring, but I think the key piece is the consistency.
“That’s something we haven’t cracked, right now… The up front investment that you’ll need for creators to market the brand and really explore is something you’ll only see later, much later, in a sale,” Amner explained.
“…It has its place, and I’d like to say that this year, it will also have further focus; but I think it’s about the brand buy-in around how you execute that as a viable wholesale place. And I think, unfortunately, it sometimes takes a trend to boost [things] to say, ‘This is really viable, and we want to invest there.’
“I think we’re on that journey, but I think we’re not owning it yet, and there’s a long way to go.”
TikTok Shop and social commerce trends for 2025: We ask the experts
