Learn how to build an Omnichannel Retail Strategy in 6 steps

Learn How to Build an
Omnichannel Retail
Strategy in 6 steps!
Learn how to use modern retail platforms to
create an omni-channel selling experience
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Summary
The retail industry is changing with respect to customer behaviors. It’s expanding
and moving outside stores as consumers look for the ideal products
and brands. The majority of buyers now search for products online instead of
visiting brick-and-mortar stores. And those who buy in-store often made up
their mind after viewing products on social media channels.
To stay relevant in this shifting market, retailers must engage customers
through digital channels. They need to opt for omnichannel solutions to serve
customers in-store and online. This guide highlights the steps that a modern
retailer needs to follow for a complete omnichannel transition.
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What is Omnichannel?
In retail terms, omnichannel is a type of commerce that connects different
sales channels. These include online approaches, offline methods, and everything
in between. It provides retailers with the opportunity to merge the offline
and online worlds while ensuring customers get to interact with businesses
in the easiest ways.
There is a marginal difference between omnichannel and multichannel as the
former is often considered an extension of the latter. But the key transformation
is that omnichannel integrates all sales channels as it binds offline touchpoints
with an online presence.
How Omnichannel Connects:
Brick-and-mortar stores
Online platforms
App-based options
Point of sales (POS)
Benefits of the Omnichannel Approach:
Reach new customer segments
Increase operational efficiency
Improve customer lifetime value
Integrate digital touchpoints
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The Future of Retail is Omnichannel
Omnichannel commerce is becoming popular as retailers across the globe are
jumping onto this bandwagon. That’s because omnichannel retail is proving
more beneficial for both sellers and buyers.
73% of consumers choose multiple channels for shopping
68% of Millennials prefer an omnichannel shopping journey
85% of digital consumers search for products on one device
but purchase them on another
Companies with omnichannel approach retain 89% of their customers
Omnichannel shoppers have a 30% higher lifetime value
53% of retailers are adopting tools to sell on multiple channels.
Using 3+ sales channels improves order rate by 494%
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A New Era of Retail Opportunities is Created
by Omnichannel
Retailers can charge more for better customer experience
Businesses can evaluate inventory and sales in real-time
Brands can engage customers across different channels
Stores can use same inventory for each channel
Retailers can upsell and cross-sell products
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Modern Customer Journeys
Omnichannel retailing is all about keeping up with modern customer experiences.
Today’s consumers spend more time online and about 71% of consumer
buying decisions are influenced by social media. They want faster shipping and
want retailers to deliver quickly. Then there’s the choice of shopping medium
and delivery options.
Modern retailers must try to engage the customers in how they want to engage.
Modern Consumer Retail Scenarios
Retailers need to understand the way today’s customers tend to shop. Only
then you’ll be able to cater to their needs and offer them a true omnichannel
experience.
Buy In-Store:
The most common customer shopping scenario in which the customer researches
intensively. The buyer visits local stores and gets an idea about top products. The customer
then does more research on the benefits, reads online reviews, and compares
the prices of different brands. The consumer then returns to the local store to purchase
the product that fits the needs and bill.
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Buy Online, Deliver to Customer
This type of retail scenario is based on the urge. The customer suddenly needs a product
but doesn’t have the time to visit stores. The buyer visits the website or opens the
shopping app to explore relevant products. The customer evaluates different products
to pick the one that is most suitable. The consumer then places the order online and is
willing to pay extra for home delivery to save time.
1. Customer 2. Places Order 3. Pickup Order 4. Ship 5. Deliver to Customer
(From Warehouse)
Buy Online, Pick up In-Store
It’s a new trend among modern customers that’s becoming popular. The customer visits
stores but couldn’t make up his/her mind and leaves empty-handed. The customer then
sees an ad or visits social media pages that display relevant items. The buyer then visits
the online shop or opens an app to explore products. The consumer likes a product and
orders it online while selecting to pick it up in-store the next day.
1. Customer 2. Places Order 3. Pickup Order 4. Ship 5. Acme store 6. Customer picks
(From Warehouse) (To Acme Store)
up order
(From Store)
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Ship from Store
The customer visits the store in search of the right product. After exploring the relevant
items, he gets to know about the top brands, features, and benefits. The customer
wants to buy a product but either doesn’t want to carry it or needs it after some days.
The buyer asks the store to ship it to the given address on the right day.
1. Customer 2. Places Order 3. Pickup Order 4. Ship
(In Store)
(From Warehouse/Store)
Buy Online, Return In-Store
5. Deliver to Customer
This is another way retailers can offer a seamless user experience to their customers.
The buyer purchases a product online but doesn’t feel satisfied. Either the product is
not suitable or he isn’t comfortable with its performance. The customer visits the
nearby brand store to return the products and is compensated. The shopper gets a
refund or purchases a similar item from the store.
1. Customer 2. Places Order 3. Pickup Order 4. Ship 5. Deliver to Customer
(From Warehouse)
Returned to
Store
(If Required)
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Becoming an Omnichannel Retailer: Challanges
To become a modern omnichannel retailer, you have to overcome certain barriers.
This includes making noteworthy changes across organization, processes,
data, and technology.
Legacy Systems
You cannot become a modern omnichannel retailer while using outmoded IT systems.
You must replace or update the technology to meet contemporary demands. You need
to incorporate an all-in-one retail system that can connect online and offline sales
channels. A system that can enable you to receive orders online and ship or deliver
products in-store.
Outdated Processes
Omnichannel retailing also requires new processes to ensure your customers catch a
seamless experience. You cannot manage sales across multiple channels with processes
that were built for a single platform. So, you must redesign the retail processes like
shipping or return handling. Building or redesigning processes will enable you to
streamline the workflow.
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Poor Data Management
Accurate data management is the key to a true omnichannel retail experience.
You cannot offer a personalized experience to customers without organizing
and validating the data. For this, you may have to update your software or
acquire a new system that can manage data in real-time. This will enable you
to keep an eye on customer demands across all sales channels.
Absence of Unified Information
Omnichannel commerce depends heavily on unified information and
real-time reporting. You have to ensure that pricing and product information
managed centrally and is accurate and up-to-date on all channels. This will
standardize processes, help you manage inventory, and streamline order
shipments. Above all, you’ll be able to ensure consistency across sales channels.
Fear of Change
Doubt is the biggest obstacle that hinders businesses and retailers from
going omnichannel. Fear of change causes uncertainty as they don’t know
what the future holds for them. Brick-and-mortar stores worry that going
online might divert their attention. Online retailers fear that moving to new
channels or offline stores might not be profitable.
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Steps To Become an Omnichannel Retailer
1. Create a Unified Shopping Experience
Nothing is more important for a business than building meaningful relationships
with the customers. You need to know the interests and values of your customers
and understand their shopping behavior. The research has shown that 64% of
buyers feel that stores and retailers aren’t aware of their needs. This is a gap that
can only be bridged with unified data.
Invest in Data Analytics
Data can provide you with the figures and display the overall picture of your businesses.
But you need digital metrics to understand the data and marketing trends. How you
collect, manage, and evaluate data can make or break your retail businesses. You not
only need to evaluate customers’ data but apply the findings to beat your competitors.
A retail system with omnichannel BI can provide you with actionable insights in
real-time. With the help of business intelligence (BI), you can understand the metrics of
commerce, marketing and payments. You can know how shoppers behave at different
stages of their buyer’s journey. This will help you forge a comprehensive strategy to
influence their behavior.
Take Advantage of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
There is no benefit of collecting customer data if you aren’t using it to improve
sales. The whole purpose of data is to know your buyers only to sell
them what they desire and need at that moment. This is something that
modern retailers are achieving by using AI-powered product recommendation
tools.
Showing personalized or recommended products when buyers are at the
checkout page can significantly boost sales. You can dynamically suggest
products that match your customers’ needs by displaying personalized recommendations.
About 88% of retailers believe their marketing and sales have
increased significantly thanks to personalization.
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2. Align Your In-Store and Digital Channels
To ensure better data collection and real-time analysis, you need to prepare the
ground for better integration. You cannot become a modern omnichannel retailer
without proper integration of your hardware and software. More importantly, you
have to make sure that all your offline and online channels are well connected.
For this, retailers need to align and link all commerce systems. Better integration
of tools leads to better sales and seamless shopping experience across all channels.
You have to properly integrate the following commerce systems with each
other for a complete omnichannel experience.
With the integration of offline and online store merchants can put their entire
inventory online without having to keep buffer stocks, this helps them to reduce
carrying costs.
In this scenario the retail stores act as a warehouse for the online customers,
hence allowing merchants to fulfil the orders quickly as the order is shipped
from the nearest store with the available inventory. This creates a better user
experience overall.
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3. Empower Your Sales Staff
No retailer would want employees to stay in the back office and leave their customers
unattended. Employee engagement is crucial when it comes to making
sales at retail stores. These front-runners control the pulse of your retail store
and keep your businesses alive. If they are busy managing machines or repairing
tools, it can ruin the customer experience.
Therefore, you need to empower your employees to facilitate your customers.
They can serve your customer better if they are equipped with better technology
and tools.
Provide Information in Real-Time
The first thing your employees need is the availability of data on available products. So
make sure they can access the relevant information on a desktop, smartphone, or any
other device. This will help your staff serve better if a customer comes searching for a
specific product.
Your goal should be to make information available in real-time across different channels.
Your staff should be able to view the availability of products, inventory updates,
and compliance protocols.
Make Your Workforce Mobile
Today, customer perception and satisfaction are directly associated with employee
mobility. Shoppers demand fast service with a more personalized experience from
stores and retailers. That’s why in-store buyers seek frontline staff exclusively for a
quality service experience. You can ensure they get quick service by equipping your
staff with tablets and phones for better communication.
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Make The Checkout Process Smooth
Nothing is more frustrating at retail stores than slow-moving counters. There’s no denying
that businesses lose sales when there’s a lag in the transaction process. According to
market research, today’s customers aren’t willing to wait over 5 minutes. Increasing the
number of counters seems like a viable solution but that can cost in terms of labor and
space.
The ideal way to forge a better customer experience that goes beyond speed and efficiency
is through a good POS system. POS software with BI intelligence reporting and AI product
recommendation features can make the checkout process smooth.
4. Engage Customers Across Channels
The world has gone social, and customers are now buying products online. You
can engage in-store customers by empowering your staff but for online sales,
you need another strategy. The ideal way to engage online customers is to connect
with them on their desired channels.
Establish Your Online Presence
Modern retailers must establish their digital presence to ensure customers can reach
them in-store and online. For that, you can do Google listing to make your stock available.
But having an online store built on a headless commerce platform is the ideal way
to go forward.
Target the Right Audience
It’s easy to lose track of your marketing campaigns in the digital world. You may end up
spending thousands of dollars on advertisements without getting even one sale. But with
proper use of data, you can target the right audience. You can promote your businesses and
generate sales by displaying personalized ads.
However, you’ll have to develop a different strategy for each platform. You’ll have to collect,
organize, and use customer data. This is where an omnichannel retail management system
will come in handy. It’ll allow you to run personalized ads on Google and Facebook, do
email marketing, and keep track of both online and offline customers in one place while
rewarding loyalty points.
Social Proof Your Retail Brand
Customers trust brands that have social proofs and online reviews. So you need to create
accounts on social channels where your target audience is present. To create social proofs,
you need to share visual proof of your retail store and products. Try to get written reviews,
celebrity endorsements, and customer testimonials.
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5. Integrate a Modern Payment Solution
Across Channels
To offer a complete omnichannel experience, you must integrate a modern payment
solution. This will help you stay relevant, win modern customers, and
streamline workflows. And for that, you should ensure your businesses can
accept popular (if not all) payment methods. This will ensure that your customers
can buy products using their preferred payment method.
A true omnichannel payment system will help you accept cash, card, and digital
payments. You can connect it across all channels as well as POS payments to
streamline your cash management.
6. Use Actionable Insights to Take the Right
Business Decisions
The success of any retail business is dependent on inventory and marketing
strategies. For that, you need actionable insights that can help
you make the right business decisions at the right time. In addition to
customer insights, these include operational, eCommerce, marketing,
payment analytics, and North Star metrics.
You can take advantage of AI and BI technology to sort the data. These
technologies can help you find the needle in a haystack only to ensure
you make well-informed decisions.
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XStak: The Headless Omnichannel
Retail Operating System
XStak is a self-service omnichannel retail operating system that can
provide detailed operational insights on one dashboard. The all-in-one
system enables modern-day retailers to meet their versatile demands.
XStak helps retailers manage all their operations through integrated BI
and let you perform omnichannel commerce, marketing, and payments
operations
Ready To Become An Omnichannel
Retailer?
See how XStak can boost your business
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