Klaus-Peter Voigt, CPO, MediaMarktSaturn Retail Group
The Future of Multichannel
Sergio Klaus Peter Voigt – Chief Procurement Officer – MediaMarktSaturn explains where he sees the future of multichannel sales heading.
Multichannel is more than just a sales model for us. We want to support customers as extensively as possible in their everyday lives in the digital world. Therefore, we try to make looking for products and purchasing them – and hence the customer journey – as easy as possible in all situations, whether by smartphone when they’re out and about, at the computer in the office, in one of our stores or at home. We think this type of retail reflects the way our customers typically act in many situations. Think about ordering a taxi. Customers decide whether to use an app to call a taxi or simply flag one down on the street depending on their current situation. It’s the same with shopping. We’re available to our customers on all channels – and they obviously approve, as about 10% of our sales take place online. Moreover, about half those customers visit one of our stores to collect their orders.
What do you imagine the balance between online and bricks & mortar retail will be in five years’ time, and what will be the key to sales success?
The traditional divide between bricks & mortar retail and online sales doesn’t apply to us. On the contrary, we’re convinced that the two models complement each other superbly. Online retail will continue to increase over the next few years.
