Leader in Multichannel Management Highlights Multichannel Predictions for 2017

Columbus, OH – December 14th, 2016 – The National Retail Federation predicts online sales in November and December will increase 10 percent to $117 billion, bringing total holiday sales to $655 billion in 2016. Today, nChannel, the leading provider of multichannel management software that simplifies selling for retailers, is announcing record growth, thanks to an increased demand for ways to optimize sales and fulfillment capabilities. More merchants are realizing the importance of streamlining processes across channels in order to help them standout in a very crowded marketplace and deliver a better customer experience this season and beyond. In addition to its momentum metrics, nChannel is revealing top predictions for the multichannel market in 2017.

“2016 was a big year for nChannel thanks to the continued gap in the industry for a better way to provide better experiences across multiple sales channels,” said Steve Weber, president and CEO of nChannel. “We’re in the midst of a retail revolution and its imperative that today’s merchants maximize every opportunity to be more efficient and differentiated across every consumer touch point.”

nChannel is on track to achieve more than 100 percent annual growth in recurring revenue by the end Q4. Much of this impressive growth is the result of significant partnerships with Shopify Plus, Lightspeed and Mozu and an expansion of its US federal contract. These collaborations put nChannel’s robust customer experience and migration solutions at the center of helping growing merchants migrate from legacy on-premises platforms to more robust and flexible cloud-based platforms and connect them to their fulfillment systems.

“We turned to nChannel when making the transition to Shopify’s platform and quickly realized what we had been missing,” said Jonathan Bell, director of e-commerce at afloral.com, the premiere provider of silk flowers and floral supplies online. “With nChannel, we have much more control and real-time insight about our four-thousand plus SKUs and orders placed. As a result, we can deliver a better experience for our customers, because they have increased visibility into inventory availability and order status.”

Orders processed through nChannel’s platform in 2016 increased by 75 percent over 2015 and the number of items in the nChannel catalog increased nearly 70 percent.

nChannel also made noteworthy hires at the executive level to address mid-market and enterprise merchants – including adding former GSX/OpenText Customer Executive Hani Silwani as its VP of Client Services, along with Ryan Lunka as VP of Product from ICF Olson. The company expects to continue this momentum by expanding its workforce by 25 percent in the year ahead.

Looking ahead to 2017, nChannel predicts that merchants will continue to evolve to meet the demands of today’s buyer with a strong emphasis on creating better customer experiences. Here are the top trends that merchants should have on their radar:.

• Auto Replenishment + Personalization: As more industries expand into the automatic recurring order space (i.e. StitchFix in apparel, Repeat Delivery by Petco, wine of the month clubs, etc.), merchants will combine replenishment with personalization to create more value for their customers. For example, if an outdoor sports merchant knows what fish are biting in a particular region, they could automatically send the right lures to their subscriber customers in that area. Or a cosmetic company might replenish lip color based on popular colors for the season based on the skin tone noted in their customer’s profile.
• The Anti-Amazon: While Amazon has become a go-to for nearly all of consumers’ needs, shoppers will look for more unique shopping experiences when making more meaningful purchases such as gifts, statement pieces of their wardrobe, furniture, or items related to their hobby like a musical instrument, biking gear, or ceramics supplies. As a result, specialty merchants that invest in customer experience will win in niche markets while Amazon will continue to dominate transactional purchases.
• Transparency is the New Trust: Shoppers used to equate trust with security – was it safe to give a merchant a credit card number? Trust is now based on how transparent the merchant is with the shopper on product availability, ship date and delivery date – and whether they meet the expectations they set. Customers believe they are forming relationships with merchants when they buy from them thus have higher expectations for how they are serviced.

For more insights and tips about managing the multichannel experience, visit https://www.nchannel.com/blog/.

About nChannel
nChannel is the leading provider of multichannel management software that simplifies selling for merchants of all sizes. nChannel enables merchants to sell any product in any channel, online or offline, by providing a single, cloud-based platform that easily integrates with existing systems to help sellers improve the management of product information, streamline supply chain processes and enhance the overall shopping experience for customers. With better business intelligence and increased exposure, nChannel subscribers are improving multichannel operations resulting in new opportunities for repeat business and revenue and making them more competitive than ever before.