Selling online has been one of the greatest leaps in the world of business. With growing digitization, people could now appeal to those customers sitting all the way across the globe. While they were making sales with their neighbourhood customers, they were also selling to someone in a different part of the world. The traditional retail approach in selling experienced a drastic shift. Therefore, many new business ideas came up that only had a digital model of selling. But, so did many businesses exist that only catered to the needs of their retail customers. Thanks to the newest approach in selling, businesses could sell in either of the two models without compromising on any one. Enter the world of Omnichannel retail!
The New Buzzword
Omnichannel retail brings the best of both worlds for the seller. While they can continue selling in their traditional retail approach, they also get to step out. Growing digitization has surely put a great deal of pressure on sellers to adopt to the new strategy. Most sellers that you see today, no matter what they are selling, are taking advantage of online selling. Be it Amazon, Flipkart of their own website. They are catering to the needs of the customers online. And this change is because of the rapid boost in the ecommerce sector.
On the other hand, when it comes to selling in the retail mode, brick and mortar stores are an important part of the economy. A majority of customers still prefer to purchase from stores than online. And that’s because of the obvious reasons. People want to have the look and feel of the products in person before making a purchase. Moreover, there are obvious trust issues in purchasing from a new seller online than in person.
Therefore, for sellers today, there is a huge opportunity to capitalize over. They have to be prepared with a solution that not only caters to their neighbourhood customers, but also to those sitting in any part of the world. This is where the omnichannel approach comes into the picture. The fully integrated approach provides an upperhand to sellers. This is especially in the rapidly changing market scenarios.
In simpler terms, you are not everywhere just because you have to be. Instead, you have a presence just where your customers are. And this becomes the basis of ultimate success and failure for an enterprise. So, if you’re interested in knowing about an approach that can 10X your existing profits, keep reading. We’ve got everything you need to know about the omnichannel approach. Get started right away!
What is Omnichannel Retail?
Omnichannel might seem like a new buzz world in the world of online selling. But, a lot of the existing brands have been pursuing it for years now. Nonetheless, it is never too late to step foot in the world. The simple idea is that with little efforts it takes your retail business to the next level.
Omnichanel is a fully integrated approach to ecommerce. It aims to provide the customers a unified experience of shopping. At this point it is natural to wonder about what a unifying experience really means in ecommerce.
One of the simplest assumptions behind omnichannel is that you don’t just sell on your brick and mortar store. But beyond that. This means you have more than one touchpoint for your customer. Let’s say that you sell on the following mediums-
- Retail store
- Mobile app
- Website
- Online marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal etc.
With an omnichannel strategy or approach you will be unifying all of this. In other words, while you have multiple touch points for your customers, there needs to be one point of contact for everything. And this is what you quintessentially accomplish with omnichannel retail. In other words, the ideal omnichannel approach would go to all the places online and offline where your customers browse your retargeting ads.
If you’ve remotely studied mathematics, it would be easier to understand omnichannel as the law of large numbers. It means that the sum total of everything is much greater than its individual parts. So, if you have a separate monitoring system for your app, website, marketplace or social media selling profile, the new approach will amplify them when they are integrated.
Even though statistics back omnichannel big time, very few brands execute it. Research indicates that customers spend much more towards brands that have an omnichannel strategy in place. In spite of this, as many as 22 percent of the retailers make omnichannel as their priority.
Why is Omnichannel Strategy Important?
Now that you know what omnichannel is a unifying approach to all your selling efforts, let’s take a look at why it is important. Statistics suggest that as many as 80 percent of the retail sellers fail to provide their customers with a quality experience. They are not capable of providing a unifying experience to their customers. This in turn makes the overall experience broken. Most brands give the following reasons for their shortcomings-
- Analytics not being sufficient
- No internal structuring of multiple touchpoints
- Lack of quality data
- Poor tracking of customers across different platforms
With an omnichannel strategy, you overcome these effortlessly.
With the growing competition in the market, omnichannel is not just an option. Instead it has become a mandatory experience. Research indicates that more than 75 percent of the shoppers use multiple channels to compare the prices. Alternatively, they also hunt for discounts and lucrative offers. As a simple rule of fact, the more number of platforms your customer interacts with your business, the more they spend. They spend as much as 4 percent on every shopping experience. This is also 10 percent more than customers who just shop on a single channel.
The simplest idea is that not just your sale opportunity goes up with omni channel experience, but also your sale amount. As a result your business profits more and you gain an edge in the market.
More than your profits, it is also important for your customer experience. Here are some facts that will make up your mind. Sellers that used omnichannel in the long run experienced-
- Reduced cost in contacting each customer: A cost reduction of 7.5 percent was observed on every customer contact
- Increase in annual revenue: A direct observation was increase in overall revenue by 9.5 percent
- Rapid increase in customer retention rate: Companies with robust omnichannel strategies were able to increase their retention rate by 89 percent.
- Greater repeat purchases: Customers make more repeat purchases when they have a distinguished level of customer service
What is the Difference Between Omnichannel and Multi-channel?
Omnichannel capitalizes on your presence on multiple channels. However, it is fairly different from a multi channel experience. Let’s take an example to help you differentiate between the following-
- Single Channel
- Multi-Channel
- Omnichannel
Let’s say that a customer comes across a product you’re selling online. They like it but decide to make a purchase later. While browsing a social media website, they come across a retargeting ad that provides a better discount coupon. So, enticed by the voucher, the customer decides to make a purchase. If you’re actively selling through social commerce they might make the purchase then and there.
Alternatively, the customer may copy that discount code and paste it during the checkout on your website. While checking out, it is possible that the customer decides to not opt for the home delivery of the product. Instead, they opt for a store pickup option. And if you’re already selling through a brick and mortar store, they’ll collect the package from there.
Now, if you’re only selling on the online website, it would account for a single channel experience. And as the customer interacts with your business across multiple channels it accounts for a multichannel experience. So, now what is the difference between omni channel and multi channel?
Multi Channel
When you have multiple options available to shop from for your customer, it is a multi channel. For example, as a business you might provide your customers with the option to purchase from your retail store, marketplace, or website. These provide customers the touch points. So, this means that you have presence on multiple platforms over the internet. The customer gets to research and purchase from any of the channels they prefer. The point is that all these channels are working in their best capacity. But, they are all working at an individual level. They are not connected to each other in other words the overall customer experience is neglected.
There is no centralized approach to data management. So, if the customer has a profile on one channel that will not work on any other channel. Similarly, if your customer has the purchase history on one channel that remains exclusive for it.
In omnichannel on the other hand, the experience is quite the contrary. No doubt that omnichannel is the extension of multichannel. But, it unifies the entire experience. Moreover, the focus is totally on the customer, rather than individual channels.
Conclusion
Omnichannel can have a great impact on your business. It can accelerate your marketing efforts and take your business to the next level. All you have to do is adopt it as soon as possible for your business. With little investment you can decrease your overall business spend and increase profits. More than that, you can provide your customers with an unparalleled customer experience. If you’re just a retailer, it is time you start looking for online solutions. Establish your presence online with Dash101 and take off your business with your target customers.