It wasn’t too long ago when shopping was an event that entailed heading out to your local shopping centre and browsing the products in each store until you found what you were looking for. Today, retailers have entered an entirely new era – one that is truly synchronised across the digital and physical, with the customer in the driving seat. Shopping is now shopping regardless of where it is conducted - be that online, on a smartphone, or in-store. To stay relevant, retailers need to adopt an omnichannel eCommerce strategy that will meet their customers’ expectations and streamline their shopping journey.
But before we look at the steps for getting omnichannel right, let’s start at the beginning.
What is omnichannel eCommerce?
Omnichannel eCommerce describes a brand’s efforts to create a cohesive, integrated shopping experience across all channels and at every touchpoint. This includes the brand’s website, brick-and-mortar stores, social media and, increasingly, marketplaces such as Amazon or Tmall.
Not to be confused with traditional multichannel ecommerce, where each channel is unconnected, omnichannel requires all channels to interact simultaneously and share real-time data. This ensures customers always have access to the right information, however they choose to shop.
What are the benefits of an omnichannel approach?
When done well, omnichannel retailing vastly improves the customer experience, while providing more channels from which to shop. This has a knock-on effect that boosts traffic and sales. In fact, the more channels customers use, the more valuable they are, with one report finding that omni-shoppers spend 15–30% more than single-channel shoppers. Another study indicated that omni-shoppers were also more loyal, as they were 23% more likely to repeat shopping trips and recommend brands to family and friends than single-channel shoppers.
The omnichannel roadblocks
While omnichannel eCommerce has become a crucial cog in the inner workings of the online retail world, few retailers have succeeded in achieving the level of seamlessness and sophistication required to reap the full rewards. Most often, the biggest roadblock for retailers is their existing technology stack.
At its most basic, an omnichannel ecommerce strategy is about unifying and centralising all business data. However, if a retailer is operating with a labyrinth of disparate legacy systems, it is much harder to integrate all data into one centralised ecosystem that benefits the customer. While the retailer may be able to add solutions to solve challenges on a channel-by-channel basis, this inevitably creates more siloes from which to piece data together. Over time, this approach tends to have a domino effect behind the scenes, with each new solution requiring additional year-on-year maintenance and management costs. As the solution stack grows in complexity, so too do the codes and data that stitch these contrasting solutions together. And it becomes almost impossible for these patchworked systems to keep pace with evolving technology, which is the beating heart of the fast-paced retail sector.
So how do you create an effective omnichannel ecommerce strategy? It takes four simple steps.
STEP ONE | Start with one platform and one view of your customer
To take advantage of the omnichannel retailing opportunity and future-proof your business, you must replace your web of siloed, channel-specific solutions with a true unified commerce solution that tightly integrates all customer touchpoints in a centralised way, to not just deliver a single version of the truth, but finally give you that all-important consolidated view of your customers.
A single commerce platform such as NetSuite will allow you to unify your front-end and back-end systems, providing a central hub to manage orders, customers, items and inventory. The platform then funnels out data to all sales channels, ensuring all customer touchpoints have access to real-time, accurate information that can be used to create efficiencies and improve the customer experience.
STEP TWO | Get to know your customers
Omnichannel is a customer-first strategy so it’s vital you understand what resonates with your audience. With a crystal-clear understanding of each key moment in the customer journey - from pre-visit awareness to converting, right through to post-visit engagement - you will be better prepared to influence every interaction and deliver a positive customer experience throughout.
Cloud businesses solutions such as NetSuite can be leveraged to capture and assess this type of consumer activity, helping you track online behaviour, search patterns and product information, such as top – or bottom - performing products.
STEP THREE | Make all touchpoints shoppable
Every customer touchpoint is an opportunity to sell your brand and goods or services. Of course your website, physical retail shops and even marketplace listings all act as conversion points, but there are dozens more to explore.
Social media channels allow users to buy directly from brands. Instagram, for example, offers shoppable posts in which brands can tag up to five products, allowing consumers to tap on the product to learn more or make a purchase. Pinterest also allows brands to upload their full catalogues and turn Pinterest into a mini storefront that allows users to purchase directly from buyable pins. In fact, almost every social channel provides some type of shopping feature to take consumers from product discovery to conversion.
STEP FOUR | Making a powerful duo of on and offline channels
Omnichannel should never neglect the traditional offline retail world. By arming your on-the-ground sales team with devices able to access real-time, accurate inventory data, they will be better able to understand your customers’ needs and upsell helpful products or services.
The wrap
As shoppers continue to demand a unified, linear path to purchase wherever they happen to be shopping, retailers are adopting flexible cloud-based systems that can support more agile, integrated back-office operations, as well as a unified omnichannel shopping experience.
If your organisation is struggling to implement an omnichannel ecommerce strategy, the Annexa team can help straighten out your core systems. Talk to us today.
Or to learn more about creating an engaging and relevant customer experience in the retail industry, download our free ebook, Building The Foundations Of Great Customer Experience.
Annexa is a leading NetSuite partner with extensive experience designing and implementing comprehensive and customised business systems, including payroll solutions, financial management, warehouse management and ecommerce solutions.
