It is easy to see that since the first time the covid 19 pandemic hit our world, the retail industry in Canada has experienced a massive shift from traditional stores to online shopping experiences. However, when it comes to a long-term successful business, the future of the Canadian retail industry is not all about digital or brick and mortar. In fact, according to Statista, 80% of Canadians reported shopping in both physical and online stores equally during the last 12 months. Forrester Consulting also pointed out that this industry is heading toward a comprehensive omnichannel experience – the combination of those two business models.
Here are the case studies of 3 big brands that have successfully developed their omnichannel business in Canada. Let’s see how they are developing their own omnichannel business.
Walmart Canada
In 2020, the leaders of Walmart have announced that they will pour $100 million into developing their omnichannel business in Canada. According to Walmart Canada, they are making huge efforts to offer Canadian a faster, safer, and simpler shopping experience in both physical and online superstores.
To be more specific, Walmart Canada is working on piloting 10 hybrid stores and renovating 130 others in the next few years. The hybrid stores will be used for testing new omnichannel features, which play an important role in enhancing their speed of fulfillment. During the same time, the process of renovating old stores is taking place to make room for advanced eCommerce in the future. For example, a Canadian Tire store in Vaughan owns a large drive-up area and advanced technology that enables customers to have their orders loaded into their vehicles after their shopping journey.
Canadian Tire
Canadian Tire has come up with a unique omnichannel idea in Canada. They have developed robotics technology to deliver orders to their customers in just a minute. With this technological innovation, this business has enhanced its customer satisfaction with a convenient and futuristic method to collect their online orders from the huge brick-and-mortar network in Canada.
In 2018, some of those new pickup towers were tested in five Canadian stores with the capacity for 250 packages. Canadian customers can easily receive their packages by entering a retrieval code on the control panel or using their mobile device to scan a QR code.
After this idea is put into practice, Canadian Tire has received loads of positive feedback for minimizing their queuing and waiting time. Also, picking up orders themselves in these pickup points appears to be a safer option in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
David’s Tea
David’s Tea is a big name in the field of retailing specialty tea and tea accessories in Canada. This retailer has expanded its business with over 200 stores across Canada and the US and a large number of loyal customers. The key factor of David’s Tea’s omnichannel business is their rewards program named Frequent Steeper.
To illustrate, every customer when making a purchase in any of their physical or online stores will receive equal points. A cross-channel strategy is developed to make sure all of their Canadian customers’ information will be recorded and stored in their database. Then, loads of different promotions are offered and informed to their customers via email, which is a powerful tool to drive them back to their stores.
Lastly,
As you can see, these three giant brands in the Canadian retail industry are trying their best to engage with their customers at every touchpoint. As a result, they will be able to gain bigger sales as well as build up customer loyalty. The benefit of the new business model is far more than what you can expect. If you are also in the pursuit of building an omnichannel business strategy, you may know that you are not alone. There are many technological innovations developed to support modern retailers. Our feature-rich ConnectPOS is one of those powerful solutions. Read more about how our connections paved the way for your omnichannel journey on this page. And if you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.
ConnectPOS is a all-in-one point of sale solution tailored to meet your eCommerce POS needs, streamline business operations, boost sales, and enhance customer experience in diverse industries. We offer custom POS with features, pricing, and plans to suit your unique business requirements.
