Electronics retailer MediaMarkt is to go fully omnichannel. The business processes for the online and offline customer will be fused. The distribution centre in Etten-Leur, which MediaMarkt commissioned in 2019, will play a central role in this.
Parent company MediaMarkt Saturn has chosen the Netherlands as a pilot country for its new omnichannel concept. The retailer organises its main business processes from the 'one customer' principle. There is thus no distinction between the offline and online customer. The customer has one basket for all purchases, made in the shops or through the online channels.
The first steps have already been taken, says Pieter Odijk, Head of Supply Chain Benelux. The Dutch webshop has been improved and stock availability more transparent. "And apart from simplifying the warehouse processes, our 'last mile delivery' processes have also been streamlined and improved."
According to Odijk, the Netherlands has been chosen as the pilot country because of the steps already taken here and the behaviour of Dutch consumers. “With the
commissioning of our National Distribution Centre (NDC) in Etten-Leur in 2019, we didn’t
only gained a state-of-the-art warehouse that provides the right foundation for the omnichannel roll-out; it
it has also provided us with the knowledge and experience essential to
,” said Odijk. Furthermore, he noted that consumers in the Benelux region use
than in other countries, using all available channels more frequently and consistently to interact
. “Dutch and Belgian electronics consumers are well advanced when it comes to
switching between making purchases online or in our shops. The ‘customer journey’ in the Benelux
can therefore already be described as omnichannel.”
