NEW YORK – Consumers no longer think in terms of channels the way they are traditionally defined and instead expect mobile, online and offline retail experiences to match up, an executive from American Apparel said in a panel.

The discussion, which was held at ad:tech New York 2016 in New York, was about bridging the gap between online and offline retail. While marketers and retailers have long held silos between online and offline aspects of the retail business, these distinctions seem arbitrary to consumers who expect that the retail experience will be consistent across every touchpoint.

“The main problem for retailers there is attribution,” said Thoryn Stephens, chief digital officer at American Apparel. “If I tailor a push notification and it drives you in store, where does that attribution go to?

“The channels are blurred constantly.”

Bridging the gap
The discussion was moderated by Anne Marie Stephen, CEO and founder of Kwolia, who spoke with Mr. Stephens, Graham Morris of Bazaar Voice, Lori Marcus of Pelaton Cycle and Gwen Morrison of The Store WPP.

The panel discussed the ways that the modern retailer can connect the customer experience across the many channels that make up the modern shopping experience.

The consensus was that “channels” as modern retailers understand them is a concept that is completely unimportant in the consumer mindset. Channels, such as mobile or ecommerce, etc., are historically useful only to the retailers, though their usefulness is beginning to run thin.

For example, consumers now expect that an item they see on a retailer’s site or mobile app will be available and be identical in the physical store. Conversely, an item that a consumer sees in-store is expected to be available to be purchased online later.

“Omnichannel is an antiquated notion because it presupposes that there are channels,” Ms. Marcus said. “The best way to move forward is to start with what the consumer wants and move backwards from there,”

Location data
One of the biggest ways brands and retailers are bridging the gap between online and offline is through the use of geolocation. Programs that make use of mobile and location data to track a customer’s comings and goings can be a powerful signal to help them target that customer properly and make their physical in-store experience mesh with their digital one.

Mr. Stephens pointed to a recent partnership that American Apparel held with the delivery app Postmates where users could order an item of clothing from American Apparel and have it delivered directly to their homes in under an hour.

But as for other mobile projects such as a native mobile application, Mr. Stephens is more hesitant.

“I’m not interested in developing a mobile app until we have a rock solid mobile experience behind it,” he said. “There definitely is a desire for it but first we need to have a rock solid mobile system.”

Mr. Stephens even speculated on the need for mobile apps in today’s mobile landscape in the first place.

“Mobile apps are outdated,” he said. “Look at chatbots. Watch how young consumers are interacting with mobile.

“They are doing conversational commerce, using Facebook Messenger and Kik. That’s where we need to put our focus.”