One of the best indications of Ecommerce growth is how its jargon has entered the common lexicon worldwide. In 2021 Clic&Collect became a term that does not require translation.
I saw this store when walking in Barcelona. What caught my eye was the array of Click&Collect lockers replacing one of the store’s windows. Lockers are accessible from the street, so customers can pick up their orders even when the store is closed.
La Sirena is a modern chain of frozen food stores, and you can see that lockers are mini-fridges maintaining the temperature of -18C.
It is not an easy task to create a seamless unified commerce experience. Most of Ecommerce s/w was designed for selling online, and support for retail locations and pick-up in store was added as an afterthought. And the POS systems installed in retail locations are oblivious to the online world.
With ever-expanding types of pick-up points (in-store, in-locker, curb-site, DHL office, …), it is challenging to model different types of locations and their capabilities in an Ecommerce platform. You also need to take care of synchronizing inventories across retail and Ecommerce fulfillment locations, omnichannel returns and unifying product and customer data. Anyone who took part in implementing such a project knows how difficult it is to get it right.
After encountering innovative locker usage, I was curious to see the online side of the la Sirena business. It has not disappointed – https://www.lasirena.es/es/.
La Sirena has done an excellent job providing an actual Unified Commerce experience. Customers are offered both home delivery and pick-up in-store. When pick-up in-store has been selected, the site gives customers the exact time when the order will be ready.
The la Sirena has implemented many best Ecommerce practices. There is a lot of relevant content on food preparation and ingredients and recommended recipes. There is even a map of oceans where their seafood comes from and information about the fishing gear used.
Shops also offer cooking workshops to which customers can sign up online. There is a loyalty club, shopping lists support, and product search is practically instantaneous.
La Sirena gives an excellent example of a retailed business designed from the ground up to exist in interconnected online and offline worlds.
If you want to succeed with Unified Commerce, start by rethinking the customer experience from scratch, leaving behind the separation of online and offline experiences, and focusing on customers who are comfortable living in both worlds.
