Omnichannel retail: Media Markt is up to speed!

One of the nominees for the bpost Omnichannel Award at RetailDetail’s omnichannel congress on 2 February is Media Markt. We talked to Philippe Depautex, omnichannel and eCommerce director for the electronics chain.

Huge speed increase

Are you happy MediaMarkt was nominated?

Depautex: “This nomination is a recognition that we are on the right track with our omnichannel journey. We haven’t reached our goal yet, which is why I use the term “journey”, but the award nomination is a nice encouragement nonetheless.”

What does omnichannel mean for your company? 
Depautex: “Back in May 2013, we launched our web shop, which means we have been working in an omnichannel environment for 3.5 years. During that time, we caught up to others who had been working in this environment for much longer. We have learned and developed quickly. In some areas, we have surpassed the competition, but there is definitely a lot of work left.”

Is a customer’s purchase behaviour moving towards online and mobile?
Depautex: “Generally, it is believed a Belgian consumer will move towards mobile and online slower than the consumers in the neighbouring countries, but we have seen a huge speed increase over the past few months. Particularly in specific segments like photography and smaller household appliances, the online share is increasingly rapidly. It is a simple fact that people buy more online, even though they more often use every one of a retailer’s channels, all together. That behaviour does mean it is slightly more difficult to measure several things.”

Home delivery is free

Is the limited size of the Belgian market a hindrance?
Depautex: “One of the typical complexities is that you have to provide two languages if you are a retailer in this market, both online and offline in an omnichannel strategy. It gives you a lot of additional work, but if you fail to do so (like some parties do when they just service the Belgian market in one single language), you could create an obstacle for successful online sales. Belgium being a small country can also be a benefit: pretty much every consumer will run across a store during their commute and pick up their online order.”

How is your logistics, cost-wise for example?
Depautex: “When we launched our web shop, we decided to open a Belgian warehouse, which turned out to be an excellent decision. Some competitors ship from abroad, which makes it more difficult to deliver online orders at the customer’s door step the next day, like we are able to do (provided the order was made before 10h the day before). The many kilometers they have to do because they come from abroad, makes it more expensive for the customer. We do not do that: home delivery at Media Markt is free, because we take that up ourselves. We can do that because our Belgian “handling” is both cost efficient for us and user-friendly for the consumer.”

Everything is related

Free delivery and right of return: who pays for that?
Depautex: “The right of return is part of the European legislation and a Media Markt consumer has different options to exercise that right. Most often, the customer returns the goods to one of our stores, with the added benefit one our employees can assist him and instantly give him another product (when it consists of a wrong choice for example, which can happen online, like when it does not have the colour you expected).”

How did you incorporate the digital world into your physical stores?
Depautex: “Everything is related! That is sometimes the hardest part of an omnichannel strategy implementation. You can see it in every field: the most popular items in our product range are available everywhere. When it comes to price, we are number one among the non-food retailers, because we use “electronic shelf labelling”. That allows us to alter the pricing in every store and online in a single move. It is quite an investment, but the speed with which we can have the right price everywhere, is unparalleled and this way, the consumer never pays too much. Manual changes simply require too much time nowadays.”

Consistent added value

Can you sell through social media? Is it profitable?
Depautex: “You cannot go on without a complete integration of your communication channels. We have a 360° approach for our marketing and communication, with radio, tv, press, digital activities on Facebook, Twitter and the likes. This provides us traffic to both our online and online stores that we can measure. Our social media are not a sales channel, but purely a communication channel. Our sponsored ads on Facebook result in website clicks and are a way to bring our store promotions to the customer.”

What are your expectations for the omnichannel future?
Depautex: “Physical and online stores will merge completely and we will need to find the right recipe, because the consumer is continuously evolving and we have to follow suit. Every “touch point” will need to provide added value. The amount of information and the efficiency of the online world cannot be equaled, just like the human advice and physical store experience in the offline world. There is also technology available to adjust your content to each and every device, even mobile devices, but smartphones and laptops have different commercial uses. Whichever device a consumer uses for his interaction with Media Markt, he always needs to consistently find added value.”

In April, Media Markt will open a concept store in Wilrijk, displaying its newest omnichannel vision and applications. Ferran Revert Planet (COO Media-Saturn and CEO Media Markt Iberica) will be a speaker at RetailDetail’s omnichannel congress and give us an insight into Media Markt’s future.

The RetailDetail Omnichannel Congress 2017 will take place on 2 February in Urban City – Antwerp. Want to subscribe? Click here!