What is Omnichannel Commerce? Definition, Benefits and Trends

Omnichannel! A word you would have probably heard and read in your sales meetings or favourite marketing blog. But just when the word is everywhere, you can get confused about what people mean by it.

Omnichannel eCommerce: An easy-breezy approach!

It is a multichannel approach to sales that focuses on providing a seamless customer experience to people whether they are shopping online from a laptop or a mobile device. Omnichannel operations focus on the entire customer experience. Through an omnichannel platform, customers interact with brands through a wide variety of sales and marketing channels. For example, if a customer places an order through a brand’s e-commerce channel, she would get the details about her order. Now, when the product arrives, she decides to go to the physical store to return it. Post this, her account is created, and a confirmation email is sent. The brand then begins to remarket a similar product on her social media. It is all about providing a seamless user experience.

Terminologies to understand:

• Single-channel commerce:  It means that you are selling your product with the help of a sales channel only. It could be your web shop or an online marketplace. But, if you want to give your customers a rich experience, then go for other channels.
• Multichannel commerce: It sells your products on different platforms, both online and offline. You can then interact with your customer with the help of social media. Here your online presence is up to the mark, and your customers will know where to find you. Multichannel commerce is a great way to get people engaged in your brand.
• Omnichannel eCommerce: It takes place on multiple platforms. Without multichannel, there is no omnichannel. Also, omnichannel helps in connecting with all channels. Hence, it provides a seamless user experience across all platforms.

The benefits of an omnichannel retail approach:

• Increase in sales and conversion rates: With a frictionless path to purchase, customers will ditch their carts and check out a larger basket more. It can be accomplished- with the help of shared data across the channels.
• Meeting the online customer needs: Customers expect a seamless user experience with an omnichannel eCommerce platform. In this case, the customers don’t get stuck with slow interfaces. The integration of customer-facing and back-end systems ensures that customers can easily, get what they are looking for. You can also promote your products based on shared data.
• Adapting to the changing trends in technology usage: Customer preferences change along with technology. So, the omnichannel approach helps in providing a consistent customer experience regardless of the channel or devices they prefer to use

How do we create a good omnichannel strategy?

Follow these 5 high-level steps to start an omnichannel strategy:

• Getting to know your customer: Always make sure that you research your target audience’s interests. Ask them about their choices, behaviour, and interests.
• Selecting the right channels: It is all about finding out where your customers are located and what they are doing. It is also about creating a good omnichannel strategy.
• Choosing a clear purpose: Always make sure that the channel is available for interaction.
• Connecting all channels: You just have to understand the technology and follow all the customer touchpoints.
• Maintaining your channels: There is no time to keep on testing and improving your strategy.