WHY OMNICHANNEL RETAIL IS ESSENTIAL TODAY?

Posted by Nabin Shaw on June 25th, 2019

The growth of smartphones and mobile shopping has completely blurred the line between online retail and brick and mortar shopping. What’s more, people are today demanding a seamless shopping experience between the two channels. Looking at the huge demand, business in online retail has started adding competencies to build Omnichannel retail capabilities. It helps offer a wholesome shopping experience to the shoppers.

How?

Let’s first understand the concept of Omnichannel in a brief.

What is Omnichannel Retailing?

Omnichannel Retailing is a well-coordinated multichannel sales approach with an objective to offer the consumer with a seamless shopping experience.

A customer may choose to shop by visiting a physical store, online store, or even use mobile, desktop, or telephone. They would expect that their shopping experience would be completely flawless and consistent irrespective of whether it is online or at a physical store. This is the advantage that Omnichannel retail provides.

The Rise of Omnichannel Retailing

Ongoing digitalization has generated customers who make use of different channels and devices during their buying journey. They not only want high-quality products but the well-coordinated user experience is what they expect from a retailer.  And this is the reason why Omnichannel retail is becoming important these days.

Importance of Omnichannel

The way the retailer reaches to their targeted customers and guides them throughout their complete buying journey is very much important for driving sales and boosting up ROI. There is the following benefit that Omnichannel can offer that’s why it is gaining more acceptances nowadays.

1)    Seamless Customer Experience

Retail has been always about the consumer experience and Omnichannel takes it to the next level. Today, customers see their Smartphone as their personal assistance when it comes to shopping from a particular store.

If any business owner wants to be successful today then it means they must have knowledge of how to connect with their customers and offer them unified customer experience. Omnichannel offers shoppers multiple platforms to engage with information about your brand, products, and services. It ultimately offers the finest customer engagement and seamless customer experience.

2)    Purchase Habits

Omnichannel helps a retailer in recognizing that different customer will use different channels to make purchase decisions. Even, different consumers have different purchase habits and they’ll complete the buying process in different ways.

If a retailer wants to capture his/her customers in the way that works for them then a retailer must have Omnichannel presence. It offers consumers the most convenient way to purchase from a retailer.

3)    Efficiency

Omnichannel software provides single data point storage for all the product information. It has a centralized data storage system. It offers end-to-end supply chain management empowered by cross-channel inventory visibility.

It means that when a retailer changes a price or any other information on one platform, it will automatically get updated on all other platforms. Omnichannel software provides centralized control on data and drives greater sales than multi-channel or single-channel. 

Also Read:Store as Fulfillment Center: Omnichannel and the Future of Retail

4)    Centre of Attention Should be on the Right KPIs

If a retailer who has Omnichannel presence wants to drive more sales by converting visitors into customers then he/she should focus on five key performance indicators.

• Awareness
• Engagement
• Trial
• Conversion
• Loyalty

Each KPI has their own unique roles, but the two most important is conversion and loyalty. It is because conversion drives more business and loyalty brings repeat business. If Omnichannel marketing is consistent and offers seamless user experience to customers then it makes sure that customers will love to shop from that retailer again and again.

5)    Improved Insights on Customer Behavior

Omnichannel retailing offers better insights on consumer behavior. It is really important to assess the behavior of visitors starting from when he/she first makes contact with a retailer or brand and finally converts into a customer.

Omnichannel helps in knowing whether a visitor first visits an Instagram page of a company or Facebook page and then purchase a product from the company’s online store or has a completely different purchasing behavior. Through, these different pathways a company can offer better user experience to their customers and can understand where people coming through their door.

Final Thoughts

In a nutshell, Omnichannel retailingemphasizes on the consumer experiences more rather than anything else. Through Omnichannel presence an Omnichannel retailer can track data and provide more personalized solutions to his/her customers.

The most important thing that an Omnichannel retailer should keep in mind is that consistency in user experience. After all, a consumer wants things to be simple and straight, easily reached, and accessible to them without any confusion.