Do you aim to engage, educate and sell to customers? Then Omnichannel retail is what you need because it puts your customers at the core of the shopping experience, allowing them to engage with your business across multiple channels—while strengthening your relationships with them. Over time, it generates more revenue and assures sustainable business growth over time.
The main goal of successful omnichannel retailers is to combine their brand’s digital and physical experiences to produce one cohesive experience for the customer. This is regardless of what channels they used.
What omnichannel retail means
The problem with traditional retail is that even they have a brick-and-mortar location, an online store, and social media accounts, however, they fail to unify the experience across these platforms. Therefore, inventory transparency, product research, and engagements with the merchant are not possible. In short, traditional retail is limited and not customer-centric.
With omnichannel retail, customers are able to discover, engage, research, buy and get post-purchase support all at once through whatever channels they prefer, in whatever order they want, and anytime they desire.
The importance of omnichannel retail
Recent studies showed that customers spend way more with omnichannel retailers than they do with traditional retailers. The reason behind this is simple. It’s because customers choose convenience—and Omnichannel retail is convenient while traditional retail isn’t.
Key Benefits of omnichannel commerce
- Brand Awareness and Discoverability
Back in 2020, significant growth in consumer spending in e-commerce was observed. One known factor is the covid-19 pandemic but expert says it is already booming even before the pandemic started.
The thing here is with an eCommerce store, you will not only have an online presence but also access to search engine optimization (SEO) tools. Along with social media, these will help you reach more shoppers locally and overseas. So if you are into omnichannel retail, your discovery and consumer brand awareness will be high because the translation of engagement into sales is likely using the available tools.
- Physical and Digital Commerce Connection
Having both physical and online stores is good because you will have an omnichannel impact on local shoppers who want to check out your store hours, stock levels, and reviews. All of these can be checked online. Aside from information dissemination, you can also benefit because customers who are reluctant of going to stores due to covid will be confident to make purchases from your online store knowing that they don’t have to go outside.
You should tandem this with safety in-store measures as part of transitioning to post-COVID. You can establish a system where shoppers can buy online, then pick up in-store.
- Unified Sales, Customer, and Inventory Data
Instead of connecting your sale system and eCommerce platform, it’s better to just use a unified omnichannel retail platform where inventory, sales, and customer data are all updated in real-time across all your different channels.
On the side of the customers, they will be able to check your complete and accurate inventory while shopping online. Their purchases online can then be synced to their purchase history across channels, allowing sales associates to formulate an effective approach based on past purchases. In short, customers will be given the same quality of service at every channel.
This means you will be able to use real-time, accurate data when making decisions. If it’s a bright future you want for your business, then going omnichannel using the right retail software is your way forward.