The shift in consumers’ expectations and the changing retail landscape is creating an explosion of complexity. Stores, city hubs, and international and new delivery services mean that retailers need to invest in new technologies to survive. To examine the current state of ecommerce and how retailers can respond to increasing challenges, Internet Retailer recently spoke with Duncan Licence, vice president of global product at MetaPack, an omnichannel technology company.

IR: What omnichannel trends are emerging?

DL: The convergence of selling and delivery channels is driving a significant reconfiguration of the retail landscape. While ecommerce will continue to take a greater share of retail sales in all markets, retailers are also reimagining their store fleet. Stores can play a central role in creating a positive consumer experience if they accommodate this shift in consumer behavior.

Duncan Licence, vice president of global product, MetaPack

At the same time, more brands are selling direct to consumer, and in some cases, leapfrogging some traditional retailers’ capabilities. A number of those brands are investing heavily in stores, technology and logistics to help them serve consumers directly. Those investments create new challenges for traditional retailers that are struggling with legacy costs and often are unable to invest quickly enough to keep up.

IR: How are retailers responding?

DL: Retailers are striving to differentiate themselves. With increasing price transparency and fickle customers, improving the customer experience across the board is becoming a key battleground for customer loyalty. They’re also looking for new ways to maintain and accelerate growth. Many are moving into new product verticals and expanding internationally.

IR: Overall, how are they doing?

DL: The retailers and brands that are thriving all have a distinct value proposition. But there is a polarization of retail—with marketplaces and big-box retailers at one end of the spectrum and brands and distinct retailers at the other. Those stuck in the middle are struggling.

IR: What specific challenges do they face?

DL: Retailers that invest in technology often struggle to realize the value promised. Stitching together an array of point solutions is risky and often creates additional complexity that reduces retailers’ agility. Reconfiguration is difficult and requires vision and a sense of purpose. Too often, the retailers that struggle don’t have the courage required to make difficult decisions and stay the course.

IR: How can they address these challenges?

DL: They should focus on their own game. Create a clear brand identity and make sure their customer delivery experience matches this identity across all channels. They should also work hard to bring previously separate functions within their business together. Solutions like MetaPack’s end-to-end customer delivery experience platform can help bring together and enable the disparate elements within a retailer’s business—from checkout to shipping from warehouses and stores to post-purchase.

Retailers also need to keep a close eye on the key indicators—customer acquisition, abandonment, cost to serve and lifetime value. Don’t measure these differently in stores and online.

IR: What should retailers do now?

DL: The convergence of channels is a massive opportunity for retailers to foster customer loyalty, reduce costs, and to create a unique and compelling customer experience. For example, John Lewis, one of the U.K.’s largest omnichannel retailers, improved its cross-channel shopping experience by launching its first click-and-collect service through MetaPack in 2008. By broadening the delivery and collection options for customers, the company has seen a significant increase in click-and-collect sales; it is now the brand’s fastest-growing delivery channel, representing more than 40% of online delivery activity. (Read the full John Lewis case study here.)