particular must ensure their websites are mobile friendly and that their brands

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to update customers on promotions, send them real-time targeted promotions, 
and keep them informed at each stage of the delivery process. In a related effort, 
companies should develop a social media strategy and enable interactive consumer 
experiences through social media, allowing consumers to engage with firms and 
learn about the latest offerings, various product features, uses of various product 
features, installations, and troubleshooting. In parallel, firms might develop apps 
or incorporate gaming into their omni-channel strategy.
Consider the healthcare industry as an interesting example. It is fragmented 
and has been relatively slow to embrace online experiences,
44
 though that status 
is changing, as consumers increasingly turn to reviews to find the best physicians 
or queue up a video chat with a medical professional to receive a diagnosis of 
easily treatable illnesses. They can access their medical records electronically and 
order prescription refills through mobile apps, as well as have those prescriptions 
delivered to their door. As wearable technology devices become more sophisti-
cated and widely adopted, these technologies also could help monitor patient 
health, giving physicians detailed, real-time information about their health sta-
tus. As this example shows, leveraging technology means vastly expanding the 
omni-channel possibilities.
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The use of technologies also should span every stage in the purchase process, 
wherever they take place.
46
 For example, retailers might develop apps that con-
sumers can use in their physical stores, to accept mobile payments and allow 
shoppers to bypass checkout lines, or else to provide them with e-coupons that 
reflect location-based promotions. Alternatively, technology tools can facilitate 
more seamless integration across channels, as in arrangements such as click-and-
collect, showrooming, and ordering a home delivery of heavy products while in 
the store. Other technologies are more devoted to the decision-making stage, 
including examples we have noted previously in this book, such as virtual mir-
rors in fitting rooms, online comparison tools, and self-service kiosks that help 
consumers scan QR codes and access pricing information, product reviews, and 
so forth.
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,
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By leveraging technology to understand the customer’s 
journey
, sell-
ers make it easy for customers to complete the purchase, often without ever being 
tempted to compare offers from other sellers.
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 This concept of a customer journey 
refers to combinations of steps and interactions between the consumer and brand, 
such that people follow different paths and journeys. For marketers, the goal is to 
make these journeys efficient and easy, by predicting and removing any hurdles 
along the way.
50
 Ambitious companies even might try proactively to redesign con-
sumer journeys, by altering their organizational structure to reflect the stages of 
the journey, rather than products, brands, or other commonly used elements. As 
Sidebar 11.1 details, L’Oreal created a Make-Up Genius app—an excellent example 
of how technology can move consumers along in their journey to purchase the 
right cosmetics for them.

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SIDEBAR 11.1
L’Oreal’s Make-Up Genius
Cosmetic consumers can find their favorite products in various channels, including direct selling 
consultants such as Mary Kay or Avon representatives, drugstores, discount stores, and depart-
ment stores. A popular, traditional sales model involves higher-end make-up products being sold 
by dedicated beauty consultants who staff the counters in department stores. These experts in 
the field can spend extended time with luxury shoppers and recommend products that work best 
with the customer’s skin tone or style.
But not all consumers have the patience, ability, or desire to spend an hour with a beauty 
consultant in a store. In-store purchases of cosmetics declined by about 17 percent between 
2011 and 2016.
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 L’Oreal, as the world’s largest cosmetics company, with its offerings of lipstick, 
lip gloss, eye shadow, mascara, make-up foundation, concealers, and blush,
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 has responded to 
these trends by creating a make-up app that enables consumers to use their smartphones to 
access a virtual beauty consultant.
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The Make-Up Genius app relies on users’ phone cameras and proprietary image capture 
technology to reflect back to consumers how they would look if they put on specific make-up 
products, from various angles.
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Once consumers devise their favorite look, they can share the 
image and get instant feedback from friends. The app also allows consumers to scan various 
products while they are in stores, apply them to their faces virtually, and check how they look, 
even before they open a bottle.
Technology-enabled data analytics support advanced personalization, price 
optimization, and delivery efforts too.
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Data analytics might lead to unique 
product or product bundle ideas. The insights also might prompt sellers to organ-
ize their product lines more efficiently, in accordance with consumers’ actual 
purchase paths and search habits.
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 For example, old-fashioned, centralized distri-
bution centers that ship items in bulk to stores are no longer optimal, because this 
model struggles to deliver individual items to residences efficiently. Data analytics 
also can specify which items omni-channel sellers should limit only to certain 
channels, rather than allowing their online channel to become an 

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