Omnichannel retailing-The changing face of digital commerce
Setting Context
Today’s digital commerce arena is channel rich. It’s an amalgamation of both physical channels like brick and mortal stores and digital channels like websites, app, social media. Hence its very critical for modern-day retailers and brands to be able to synchronize these channels in order to provide a seamless experience to their customers and enable them to buy anywhere anytime. This is where omnichannel comes into picture. The purpose of omnichannel is to deliver a complete experience instead of individual experiences across various platforms.
A report by Harvard business school shows that 73% customers utilize several channels before making a purchase .Today’s customers ?are spoilt with choices and wish to gather information from multiple sources before they make a decision to select a retailer and buy a product. Offering a compelling omnichannel experience?used to be the bleeding edge of retail. Now it’s a requirement for survival.
In this article let’s talk about the following aspects of omnichannel commerce
How Omnichannel works- (A precise tech outlook)
In principle the following are the three critical elements of omnichannel commerce, and their inter-operability brings out the seamless experience across channels.
A central hub of product information at the backend
This is where a headless architecture comes into picture. Which helps to handle all the backend functionalities by providing access to tools like product information management system (PIMS) and order management system.
Digital experience platform (DXP)
A DXP helps to provide customized front end experience across channel without updating each front end separately. Many DXPs also feature a headless CMS for developing and distributing content across these channels. These DXPs are also expandable and can be connected to any new platform.
Commerce APIs
Commerce APIs are employed in the headless architecture and can then send data to any platform namely webshops, apps, websites, social network etc. For example, when a purchase is made, the commerce API updates the data syncing the payment processing and other backend services. Since the same API is utilized for all front ends, buyers are provided with a unified shopping experience across all platforms
What difference it makes (advantages)
While the advantages of adopting omnichannel are multifold lets touch upon some of the most significant ones in this section
领英推荐
Improved unified experience
The most significant advantage of adopting omnichannel is that it provides users with a unified experience. Because the number of touch points (channels) are ever increasing, there is a greater need for a smooth integration of these touch points. Be it social ads,live chat, emails newsletters and in-store conversations when the gap between these channels is bridged it increases the interaction of customers with a certain brand ?exponentially and organically
Impact on sales and Traffic
Adopting omnichannel might be a big decision for any retailer but the rewards of this are multifold as it significantly increases site traffic and sales. The more number of channels a customer uses, the more valuable he is because they make more purchases than single channel customers’ .A Harvard study shows that customers that use more than 4 channels make 9%more purchases than single channel customers
Enhance customer loyalty
Omnichannel not only increases sales but also enhances customer loyalty. A study shows that such loyal customers make 23% more repeat purchases than single channel customers. These loyal customers also tend to tell others about their experience which certainly is indirect marketing via word of mouth (WOM)
Improved data collection for personalization
?A best personalized experience calls for tracking user behavior and activity across multiple channels. An omnichannel strategy provides information on how to create personalized content and promos that will drive customers to shop more and is effective both online and offline .
Examples
Now that we have understood the advantages of adopting Omnichannel it’s a good juncture to have a look at some brands that are utilizing the benefits of omnichannel .?
Argos
Argos Limited, trading as Argos.?It is a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland
As a customer you can browse hundreds of products on their website, app or mobile site and then place an order. You may also visit a nearby click and collect store, see the already saved items in your cart or browse new products in an in-store kiosk, place an order and collect it then and there. It is surprising to see how efficiently they have integrated all the touchpoints and hence your buying journey as a customer is seamless irrespective of whichever channel you are on.
Starbuck
Starbuck is another example where omni channel has been adopted successfully. As a customer you are not restricted to in-person orders, but you can order it through online, via app and pick it from the store. Information on all the products is readily available on all touchpoints thanks to the efficient and accurate data synchronization. Additionally, the brand loyalty program keeps track of all the purchases irrespective of channel and users can redeem them in any channel they desire, and updates are done instantly
Conclusion
Because of the ever-rising number of digital channels it is important for retailers to integrate these touch points to provide a seamless shopping experience by adopting Omnichannel commerce. Omnichannel is no longer a Nice-to-have but a “must-have” capability for any retailer. The major advantages of omnichannel includes unified experience, increased sales, improved customer loyalty, efficient data collection for creating personalized content. Different Brands across the globe are utilizing omnichannel commerce and getting benefitted.