Another factor driving omni-channel retailing is the increasing importance of social channels like Facebook and Twitter to Generation Y.
“This is a whole group of consumers that are moving in a direction that is quite different to previous generations,” Patel says.
“They fuse their lives with technology and they live through technology… they externalise their lives and most importantly they are really taken by what their family and friends think.”
But Patel says social channels will be important across all generations as Gen Y are influencing other generations as well.
“It is not just about the 20-somethings and 30-somethings, it is about the influence they have on other consumers as well,” he says.
Aurora has utilised technology to deliver its omni-channel strategy including 90 minute delivery times and iPads in stores.
In the UK, 93% of Aurora’s fashion stores now offer a 90 minute delivery at a cost of £7.99 ($A12).
“This fast delivery period had a big take-up simply because it was more predictable than a three to five-day delivery period,” Patel says.
Using iPads in stores was a no-brainer for Patel, as they are 25% cheaper than fixed tills and allow shop assistants access to the same resources that consumers have walking in with their smartphones.
“We were creating an underclass of employees who had less information at their fingertips than the consumer did walking in the door,” he says.
But Patel says technology is merely what delivers the customer experience, it shouldn’t be driving it.
“The technology itself is not the experience, it is purely the stuff that makes things happen,” he says.
The most radical change for Aurora in adopting omni-channel retailing strategy has been a move to a policy of “Anywhere Everywhere”.
This means that if the stock is available anywhere in the business then it is made available everywhere, so the last red dress in a store in London could be bought online by someone in Madrid.
“What that enabled us to do was ensure demand dictated supply,” says Patel.
“That created a significant shift in terms of the uptake we had on conversion.”
The Anywhere Everywhere policy doubled Aurora’s conversion overnight and now a quarter of its online sales are from store orders.
It does mean that Aurora runs out of stock and sometimes has to go to great lengths to deliver a stock item which would have sold in the store eventually anyway, but Patel says the benefit is Aurora is selling stock more quickly and selling at a higher margin than an eventual marked down price.
“In a fashion business, our business is to run out of stock,” he says.
Patel says retailers need to try out innovative and radical strategies like Aurora’s “Anywhere Everywhere” strategy which may at times feel counter-intuitive.
“You need to innovate and test and learn, in the digital space things are moving so quickly that if you do wait to act it will have passed you by,” he says.
Cara Waters is the editor of SmartCompany. Cara was previously a senior reporter at the Financial Times website FT Adviser in London and has also worked for The Sunday Times.
