In today’s world, customers demand and expect a seamless and unified experience across all channels. So how do you achieve this? By implementing omnichannel. Here, we’ll explore what it is and why it’s important for retailers to utilise omnichannel as soon as possible.
What is omnichannel?
Omnichannel is the process of unifying channels to provide customers with a seamless experience.
Imagine that you’re in the market for a new bed. You go online and browse through different retailers, looking for the perfect bed based on your personal preferences. You find one that seems like it would work well for you, but you’re worried about its delivery time.
Here’s where omnichannel can come into play. If the retailer has an omnichannel strategy, they’ll be able to take your online search offline by contacting you directly through their phone or email after seeing your browsing history. They’ll be able to answer any questions you have about their products and services, whether they were answered online or not. If what they offer works best for you, they’ll also be able to deliver it quickly to ensure that it arrives before Christmas.
Why is it important to have omnichannel?
Retailers are finding it more important to have an omnichannel strategy in place. According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, an omnichannel strategy is one that “encompasses all aspects of the customer journey, from discovery to purchase.”
Retailers that are successful with their omnichannel strategies are delivering a unified experience across channels that are tailored to the customer’s needs at each step of the way.
When customers visit your website, they’ll find different navigation options depending on what they’re looking for. They’ll be able to browse by category or search for certain products or services. If they want to shop in-store, you’ll be able to see which store near them has what they’re looking for and pick up where they left off online.
Omnichannel also helps retailers improve their marketing strategies by connecting all channels together. Marketing folks can create more targeted messages with better information about who the recipients will be based on what channel they’re on at any given time.
How does omnichannel work?
Imagine this: You’re shopping for bags online and you find the perfect green bag at your favourite brand based in Oxford Circus. Your sister who is visiting you in London also wants the same bag but in red, however, she is leaving in a couple of days. The bag is only available in the Birmingham store and the delivery date is a few days after her departure.
If you were using an omnichannel strategy, with BOPIS (buy online pick up in-store), the customer would have had the option to pay online and pick the bag up tomorrow evening from the Oxford Street store. The system will notify the Birmingham store that a BOPIS order has been fulfilled and the product is required to be at the Oxford Circus store by the next evening. It is then fulfilled and the order is picked up. A message can then be communicated via the customer’s preferred choice of text, thanking them for the purchase. She can further receive news from the brand via email of new shoes to be released.
In this way, omnichannel helps retailers target their customers in a more personalised way while providing a seamless experience across channels.
How will the future of retail be different if you have omnichannel?
It used to be that customers would go into a store, find what they needed and then purchase it. Today, the majority of shopping is done online. This means that more and more people are going online to do their research before they go to a brick-and-mortar store.
Each year, the number of people who shop on mobile phones increases. In other words, each year there are more people browsing on mobile devices than on desktops. As technology develops, shopping on mobile phones will increase and users will look for brands that cater to their means of communication. Knowing this, it seems like implementing omnichannel should be a no-brainer for retailers.
Conclusion
It’s time to make the switch. Retail technology has never been any better than it is now, so, invest in omnichannel with us now and benefit from providing your customers with the most seamless shopping experience.
Omnichannel is important because it provides a seamless experience for customers across channels, like mobile, social media, and in-store experiences. Take advantage of omnichannel by contacting us for your brand. It can help you grow your customer base and target them more efficiently than before.
This way, customers can find what they need no matter where or when they want it – even if that means shopping online after seeing something in the store.
