What is Unified Commerce? And Why is it a Necessity in 2022
UpStart Commerce
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The success of an e-commerce platform relies solely on the impression it leaves in the minds of its customers. Despite offering a smooth experience across all platforms, organizations following the omnichannel platform are unable to meet the customer demands fully. Typically this occurs because every portion of an omnichannel platform is a stand-alone component. To solve this disconnect, online retailers need to shift towards the concept of unified commerce.?
According to a research report issued by Business Wire, 86% of all spending on retail software is focused on the concept of unified commerce. Despite the popularity of concepts such as multi-channel or omni-channel software, the retail technology landscape is quickly shifting towards unified commerce. Perhaps the 2019 report published by Ayden indicating that a market of $3 trillion is available to be captured in the world of unified commerce is why organizations are eager to switch towards it. In this blog, explore the concepts and importance of unified commerce and see if it fits your organization.?
What is Unified Commerce?
When implementing a unified commerce approach, organizations essentially connect all the business systems such as order fulfillment, inventory management, customer relationship management, and point of sales with one another through a single platform. Both the back-end and the customer facing end are connected via a single platform. Through it data is collected from different end-points of a business and presented in a single place and in real time. Unified commerce leaves behind no ambiguities or differences in the data received by the organization.
Why Implement Unified Commerce?
By having the data placed in a single platform, organizations can keep an eye on the performance of each channel. The time required to make certain decisions is also reduced because of the presence of a unified approach to the data. Utilizing the comprehensive and easy-to-understand insights received through such data, organizations?understand and identify the customer needs better.?
Ultimately, the goal of every commerce platform is to improve the interaction between their platform and the customers. By implementing the unified commerce strategy, interactions are improved and hurdles or issues are minimalized. In fact, a research conducted by PwC indicates that 52% of customers pay more for a product if they have a smooth and easy shopping experience. Implementing unified commerce is the most efficient way to approach capturing the above mentioned 52% of the market.??
Components of Unified Commerce
The process of adapting and implementing?unified commerce is not a straightforward task. In fact, there are four different components that make the whole process workable.?
Interactions
Speed, consistency, personalization, and ease of use serve as the holy grail when it comes to customers in the e-commerce and retail industry. It doesn’t matter whether your customer purchases your product from the desktop or mobile phone application, or even from your brick-and-mortar store, your services must be top-notch and consistent. The unified commerce approach allows you to deliver your customers just that when it comes to interactions.?
For example, storing the customer payment details on the desktop application and ensuring that they are available on the mobile application as well will reduce the hassle of entering the same information repeatedly. This guarantees a smoother and efficient customer experience.?
Channels
Unified commerce ensures that customers do not face hurdles while they are going through the product catalog or purchasing an item on different channels. They must go through a consistent number of steps and information about the product on mobile and desktop applications to make sure that there is a smooth sailing for customers while shopping.?
For example, if you are offering a 50% discount voucher on specific items on the mobile application, the customer should be able to avail that discount via the web application as well.?
Systems
Each component of the e-commerce platform such as POS, orders, finances, reports and statistics etc. need to be unified for a smooth customer journey. The customer-end of the platform must be connected to the back-end platform to a centralized platform.?
For example, the sizes available in stock, and prices of the products across different channels of your e-commerce platform should be consistent. Change in one system should reflect in all the others.??
Products
Presenting accurate product information in a unified and consistent manner across all channels is essential to create the best customer experience. The inventory management tool must be efficient enough to present the product information in the right manner and integrate any updates whenever necessary.?
For example, if a customer cross checks the availability of the product through customer support after seeing availability of the product on your website, your support must provide a consistent answer.?
Importance of Unified Commerce
Here are four reasons why it is important for e-commerce platforms to switch to unified commerce:?
By having all the data present in one place, you can manage your inventory in a better manner. Issues such as overselling of products are completely avoidable because updates between the front-end and back-end of your ecommerce platform happen in real time.
Managing the inventory can be such a hassle. Learn more about unlimited SKUS provided by UpStart Commerce to get a better grip on your inventory.?
Each end-point is connected and the data is updated in real-time, hence making the data transparent and approachable. This results in each team knowing what is happening at the other end. The chances of mix ups and miscommunications are reduced drastically.?
You may have opened warehouses in multiple places. One of the major benefits of unified commerce is that it allows you to keep your fingertips on the products in every warehouse. If a particular product is not available in one warehouse, using the unified system, you can figure out where it is actually available and ship the order to that place.??
Personalization for individual customers is only possible if the data is collected appropriately and then organized in such a way that is beneficial for the organization. With unified platforms, you can collect data in the most efficient manner, present it correctly to the teams, and provide customized experiences every step of the way.?
Omnichannel Vs. Unified Commerce
There is a general mix up between these two concepts. In some extreme scenarios, e-commerce techs are unable to distinguish between the two. Here are some differences between omnichannel and unified commerce:
Want to know more about API-driven architecture? Read our blog on the concept here.?
Conclusion
From the understanding of the concept and looking at where the online world is going, it is obvious that unified commerce is the future of e-commerce. The sooner organizations understand its importance, the more likely it is that they will increase their total number of customers. Even though it may seem like a challenging task, with the help of experts, you can easily migrate to the unified approach of business.?
If your organization is looking to shift from the traditional monolithic architecture towards the headless, API-driven approach for unified commerce, consider the services of our consultants at UpStart Commerce. We provide the best and most efficient solutions to make your transfer smooth and without any issues.?