Crate & Barrel Brings Omnichannel Back

Omnichannel commerce, a popular buzzword during the pandemic, is making a comeback. Crate & Barrel—which experiences an almost even split between online and in-store purchases—is streamlining the customer experience across all channels, including its 110 physical retail stores in the U.S. and Canada.

The retailer is leveraging Adyen’s unified commerce solution to consolidate all payment channels and transactions into a single system. In addition to enhancing convenience for customers, it also gives retailers integrated insights into customer behavior, regardless of where they shop.

A Long-Simmering Problem

When retailers began developing e-commerce options two decades ago, most payment processors were not well-equipped to handle online transactions. Some processors gained recognition by specializing in the emerging field of online shopping, leading many retailers, like Crate & Barrel, to work with two separate processors—one for in-store transactions and one for e-commerce. However, these systems often failed to communicate with each other.

“You order something online, but you can’t return it in-store because the store staff doesn’t have access to the e-commerce payments system to issue a refund,” said Don Apgar, Director of the Merchant Services at Javelin Strategy & Research. “You buy something online and then use that same card to shop in-store, and they don’t know you’re the same guy for marketing purposes. What a common payment platform does is allow the store to assist you with any transaction wherever you show up, whether online or in-store.”

In addition to streamlining processes, an omnichannel strategy has driven significant business for many retailers. For example, once McDonald’s adopted an omnichannel model, over 20% of its sales in its top six markets came through digital channels within the first three quarters of fiscal year 2021.

A Journey, Not a Destination

Like McDonald’s, Crate & Barrel has always prioritized customer experience, but it still saw opportunities to improve both their customer interactions and internal processes.

“Payments is a journey, not a destination, and there is always room to improve and make the customer experience better,” said Apgar. “A fully integrated omnichannel payments platform delivers the best experience for use cases like buy online and ship to store, buy online and return in-store, as well as buy in-store and have it shipped to your home.

“The payment credential is a key piece of data that not only facilitates these use cases but enables the retailer to identify a customer as they shop across the different channels offered by the retailer,” he said. “Every retailer that operates in an omnichannel environment like Crate & Barrel should be looking at this if they haven’t done it already.”