Omni-channel (or omnichannel) retail is the ability to offer your customers a consistent and quality experience wherever and whenever they interact with your store. It is a strategy that incorporates in-store, online, market places, social media, and all other retail channels to allow your customers to interact with you when and where they want.
In today’s mobile and connected world, you need to make your business visible and your products available where your customers are looking. In the past, that meant putting your business in a high traffic location like a mall (and paying the high rents that went with it) or being willing to spend on traditional advertising like newspaper, magazine, and yellow page ads to drive new traffic to your business or some combination of both.
eCommerce has changed all that. According to the latest Census Bureau report from May 2019, eCommerce made up 10.2% of total retail sales in the first quarter. While that percentage continues to grow strongly, it isn’t nearly as eyeopening as doing a Google search on “percentage of shoppers who look online before going into a store”. The results you will see there show consumers doing research online before buying in the 70%-80% range or even higher, depending on the vertical. The retailers that can afford to ignore those kinds of numbers are truly rare indeed.
As consumers have interacted more with retailers online, they have begun to expect the same experience from the retailer at whatever touch point they are using. Buy something online? I want to be able to return it in-store. Any inconsistency in the customer experience across your selling channels can lead to customer frustration and that is what drives Omni-channel retail.
Over the next few weeks, we will touch on the major avenues of Omni-channel commerce and how best to use them to grow your business.
Good Luck Selling!
Jim