Retail Omnichannel has seen tremendous growth in recent years with the rise of e-commerce and the widespread use of digital devices. In today's world, customers expect to shop anywhere, anytime, and on any device. As a result, more retailers have adopted Omnichannel strategies to stay competitive leading it to become a must-have for every retailer.

What is Omnichannel?

Omnichannel, also known as Omni Channel, refers to a multi-channel approach to sales.  Its goal is to provide customers with a seamless and integrated shopping experience. In other words, sell to your customers however they search for your products wherever they are. But where multi-channel retailing was about having different methods of selling, such as online and instore, Omnichannel takes this a step further and is also about presenting the entire inventory, physically and digitally, no matter where the customers are, or how they wish to interact with the product.  

Retail Omnichannel operations combine various channels to engage your customer, including in-store, online, mobile, social media, email, and more. Customers can transact in store for home delivery, at home for store collection, fulfil the last item in their size from a store 200km away and so on. This is now commonly known as the Endless Aisle, and the purpose of implementing Omnichannel is to provide customers with a satisfying, seamless, and consistent brand experience.  

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Why Omnichannel is so important?

Why should your customer be exposed and interact with your brand only at your brick-and-mortar store?  What about the rest of the time? They are likely to forget about you, and the next time they plan on making a purchase, your brand might be far away from their mind. Let alone the fact that today many customers prefer to make their purchases online. Hence, you must embrace Omnichannel to optimize your business.

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How Omnichannel can make your business stand out?

1. Improve Customer Satisfaction

Omnichannel allows customers to interact with your brand and make purchases in their preferred method. Some customers prefer to check availability online before taking the time to come to your store, and others prefer to shop without leaving their home. Adapting your business to fit your customers' preferences directly increases their satisfaction and increases their loyalty to your brand.

2. Better Customer Behavior Insights

The use of Omnichannel can help you gain a more comprehensive understanding of your customers' behavior, preferences, and experiences across different channels, which can provide you amazing insights for better business decisions.

3. Enhanced Personalization

Omnichannel systems can gather data on customer preferences, purchase history and behavior, which can help improve your marketing efforts for enhanced targeting and personalization for each potential client.

4. Increased Sales

By providing a seamless experience across channels, businesses can drive sales and revenue growth. Omnichannel allows you to close deals faster since customers don’t have to come to your store in order to make the purchase.  Retailers can narrow product dept and increase width, sell at first time price points, and have much more control over the flow and fulfilment of product.

5. Greater Agility

Omnichannel systems can be quickly and easily adapted to customer needs and market conditions, allowing businesses to remain competitive and responsive to customer demands. For example, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many retail stores had to shut their doors, while those who had an Omnichannel experience in place continued to sell to customers online even though their brick-and-mortar stores were closed.

6. Top of mind

Omnichannel allows you to stay in your customers' minds by constantly appearing whenever they are. You can send them emails, promote your brand on social media, etc.

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Great examples of customer behaviors associated with Omnichannel are ROPIS (reserve online, pick in-store), BOPIS (Buy online, pick in-store), and BORIS (Buy online, return in-store). These are all new phygital customer behaviors enabled by successful Omnichannel operations.

To make sure your business does not fall behind its competitors, you must implement an efficient Omnichannel strategy.

How to implement an efficient Omnichannel strategy?

The key to successful Omnichannel is true supply chain visibility. A common issue caused by poor stock visibility is trying to sell an out-of-stock product. A client who purchases a product from your online store and learns later that it's out-of-stock will not trust what he sees next time and the likelihood he will purchase again is decreased immensely. Therefore, item-level asset tracking in real-time is necessary to maximize your Omnichannel operations.  

The different asset-tracking technologies paired with powerful supply chain software can help you gain true visibility and full control over your inventory so your Omnichannel will function in the most efficient way.

Utilizing accurate stock availability can take your optimization to the next level. For instance, if a customer purchases an item online and wishes to pick it up in person at the nearest store, and the store has the item in stock, they can pick it up immediately and the item will be replenished later. That way the customer can receive the quickest and most efficient service for full satisfaction.  

On the other hand, if the customer purchases online and wants the item to be delivered to his address, the item can be delivered from the distribution center or the nearest store depending on which will be faster.  

Today's businesses must have Omnichannel capabilities in order to remain competitive in the market in 2023.  

Ready to make your business stand out? Contact our experienced team to learn more about how Chainlane can improve your omnichannel strategy.  

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