Omnichannel Retail: A Guide with Strategies, Examples and Trends
The pandemic redefined retail shopping throughout the world. According to McKinsey, customers made more online purchases and embraced modes such as curbside pickup, online pickup in the store, and self-checkout. Furthermore, those changes have persisted even as the world has opened back up. Around 70% of people who were new to self-checkout in 2020 say they’ll use it again. Not only are customers embracing new modes of purchasing, but they are also shifting loyalties based on who does it better. Around 40% of customers have switched brands to those that offer a seamless customer experience (CX). With so omnichannel retail.
What is omnichannel retail?
Omnichannel retail is a sales strategy that enables customers to interact with and make purchases seamlessly across channels, from anywhere and in any way. For example, a customer might browse items on your website and place an item in their cart. Then the next day, they might open your app and expect to see that item in that cart as well. If they have a question, they might ask on social media. Or they might ask your chatbot and receive an immediate answer. And if the chatbot can’t answer, their query might go to a live agent. If all goes well, the customer orders the item on the app. And if a return is necessary, they can quickly return or exchange at your brick-and-mortar. But this strategy is about so much more than “being on Instagram,” installing a chatbot, or adding a buy button to your app. A successful omnichannel retail strategy encompasses key touchpoints along the user journey across all possible communication channels to facilitate seamless, personalized customer interaction. An omnichannel experience promises an enhanced user experience and helps sustain customer loyalty in the long run.
The Strategic Omnichannel Retail Experience
Successful CX doesn’t just happen. You must engineer these experiences for your clients. It starts with identifying channels where your customers are and creating what they need in that space. This might mean:
- Developing social media presence on one or more platforms for exposure and interaction,
- Keeping a well-staffed help center for email and phone queries,
- Maintaining brick-and-mortar locations, or allowing easy returns in the store.
But it’s not enough to be where your customers are. You must deliver an integrated experience, so the connection between channels is absolutely vital. If a customer checks inventory on your app and then the item is out of stock when it arrives at the store, you’ll disappoint your customer. If you create an expectation, you must meet it.
Designing the Omnichannel Experience
Successful Omnichannel CX takes research and intention. And it isn’t a one-and-done proposition. As technology improves and as customers become more proficient with that tech, your business must also grow and improve. Here are some key steps to take to get started and practice going forward:
- Get in-depth with your customer journey
- Engineer each touchpoint on that journey
- Use technology to facilitate interactions
- Find a tech partner to ensure effective integration
- Test and tweak regularly
Benefits of Omnichannel Retailing
An omnichannel retail experience is a win-win for customers and retailers alike. This strategy promises a seamless experience and strengthens sales channels to increase revenue via customer engagement. It works towards a unified platform for retail success but adapts and adopts technology advancements to simplify the customer experience. Here are some additional factors that make this approach beneficial.
1. Leverage Data to Improve CX
This approach means you are constantly collecting information about your customers across a variety of channels. With the right tech, you can compile and analyze this data and leverage it to drive future sales. As you grow, customer reviews and feedback provide additional vital insights. All of this facilitates the following:
- Monitoring channel-wise traffic
- Identifying channels you want to invest in
- Allocating resources (labor, technology, and ad spent)
- Creating self-service portals and knowledge base repositories
- Making data available across channels
- Training your customer support team
2. Meet Customers Where They Are
You don’t have to bring your customers to you. You meet them where they are. For example, if you offer the option to buy online and pick up in stores, you connect customers to the goods they want near their physical location as quickly as possible. Or you might allow them to buy directly from an Instagram post. Your strategy reduces friction and increases sales. According to McKinsey, omnichannel customers shop 1.7 times more and when they shop, they spend more.
3. Increased Efficiency
Successful omnichannel retail depends on data collection. You can use that data to further improve CX and maximize internal efficiency. This in turn leads to even greater customer satisfaction. In addition, omnichannel retail leans into the self-service preferences of omnichannel shoppers. Consider self-checkout stores and online tools to help customers find, buy, and track without the help of a sales associate or customer service agent. It goes without saying that if they do need help from a person, that help should be available without friction.
5 Steps to Build an Omnichannel Retail Strategy
If you’re ready to launch into this powerful strategy, here’s how to get started.
Step 1. Identify your customers
First, you must understand your customer. You may already have an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) or have developed buyer personas. If so, put that data front and center. If not, now is the time to figure this out. In order to tailor a personalized experience, you need to know who you’re dealing with. Once you know your ideal client, segmenting your customers further allows you to meaningfully personalize your offerings. Some of the factors by which some merchants segment their customers include:
- Demographics
- Behavioral patterns
- Generations (Baby Boomer/ Millennial/ Gen Z)
- Income brackets
- Interests
A comprehensive Customer Relationship Management system like Freshsales from Freshworks can help you track and manage all manner of customer data. Customer needs and expectations will also evolve with time. Check out these 15 customer needs you should know.
Step 2. Select Your Channels
The moment you have a segmented cohort of customers, you can move on to determine the channels where you can best interact with them. Not every channel is right for every company. Your job is to find out where your customers are and go there. More channels are popping up every day, and you can’t do all of them. Here are some broad categories to consider:
- Your website
- Social media platforms
- Messaging and chat platforms
- Email support
- Phone support
- Brick and Mortar Stores
Once you have chosen and executed, continue to learn more about customer behavior, motivation, influences, and triggers to impulse purchases to determine the right sales channels. Sales channels have to be updated based on the customer base and business model. A successful distribution channel has a lower churn rate, keeps loyal customers coming back, and acquires new customers.
Step 3. Craft the Customer Experience Journey
The power of omnichannel retail lies in its ability to personalize each journey. No matter which channel a customer picks, they will get what they need quickly and easily. First, identify the various touchpoints for your customer. Specific touchpoints may vary for each company. Then match and develop the appropriate experience on your chosen channels.
- Awareness: This is when your customer seeks solutions to their problem. For a retailer, this could mean the customer needs anything from the perfect shoes for a wedding to the right gluten-free baking ingredients. In this stage, your goal is to get in front of your customers and educate them. Interactions might be ads on social media platforms, discussions with your retail team in the store, or live chats to answer questions.
- Consideration: In this phase, customers weigh the pros and cons of available options. In retail, this means comparing prices, shipping speeds, and rates or ensuring an easy return policy. During consideration, your goal is to differentiate yourself from your competition. Blog posts and information on your website or on social media channels can be helpful.
- Purchase: The customer is ready to buy from you. Now you must deliver a seamless purchasing experience. This might mean a superfast online store, a buy online pick up in-store option, or a fully integrated in-store POS system.
- Retention: Once you’ve gained the customer, you’ve got to keep them. Show them how easy it is to do business with you. Save their purchase history for future questions. Enable easy returns in-store, at a locker, or by mail.
- Loyalty: This is where you really dazzle your customers. Reward them with loyalty programs, birthday freebies, and even birthday cards in the mail. The opportunities here are endless.
Here’s how one business crafts its CX with Freshdesk’s Omnichannel platform. PharmEasy seamlessly integrates all communication channels from the phone, live chat, email, social media, and even Google Play Store and Apple Store to get its customers their medication without friction.
When a customer realizes they need a refill, their information is readily available from ParmEasy. They can place an order by any channel in seconds. If they need changes, knowledge-based agents can assist. Click here for more about PharmEasy’s success.
Step 4. Automate Processes
Managing so much data is a big job. As soon as you gain visibility across different channels, you’ll need a unified dashboard view to process data in real time. Seamless interaction among channels is beneficial for your customer and your customer support team. Without a unified dashboard, you may end up duplicating work, frustrating customers, and ultimately losing the sale. Consider the challenges RibbedTee faced. In order to deal with product and shipment queries, the company created a separate inbox for each product and assigned agents to sort through everything. Multiple agents ended up replying to the same message and messages were not sorted properly and were lost altogether. Freshdesk was able to automate and manage workloads for the business to get customers to love the brand and indulge in repeat purchases. Read more about how Ribbed Tee leveraged Freshworks tools for sales success.
Step 5. Test, Analyze, Observe, Recalibrate
Once you launch your new retail strategy, you’ll continue your research and data collection to ensure you’re on the right track. This is an ongoing process where you need to observe your customer behavior and repeat what’s working in your favor while revisiting strategies that might not be working well. Consider the ways companies had to pivot during the pandemic. Supara Group’s previously profitable retail stores needed to establish a much wider digital footprint. With customers swiftly moving towards e-commerce, their only support channel was flooded with multiple queries with no management in place to regulate the backlog. With Freshworks, the Supara Group not only scaled their support through tumultuous times but also future-proofed their digital presence with a unified CX.
Challenges of Omnichannel Retail
Omnichannel retail adopts a holistic approach to commerce, and the benefits of this approach are clear. However, success isn’t guaranteed. Here are some of the challenges you may face.
Marketing
Your brand needs an omnichannel marketing strategy. The real challenge for marketers is crafting a personalized brand experience. Customers may choose to interact with your brand via online channels like online retail stores, social media platforms, mobile device apps, or offline channels like pop-up shops and physical stores. You must create marketing campaigns and collect data across channels. It’s best to consolidate data in a single platform to facilitate hyper-personalization and promote client satisfaction. 
Source: https://www.shopify.in/enterprise/10-examples-of-outstanding-omnichannel-brands
L’Oreal Paris identified that customers were having a difficult time choosing their hair color while online shopping. They made that choice easy for their customers by getting L’Oreal hair experts to answer questions about hair care and product selection on Instagram stories. To facilitate the next step on this customer journey, they also shared a link to their handy virtual try-on page. We have also seen the emerging trend of virtual try-ons by jewelry brands and make-up retailers over time.
Sales
Sales are key to increasing profitability. Once you’ve reached your customer, your sales associates and online stores swing into action. Of course, it’s not easy to create a cross-channel experience for all markets. An innovative approach was required to move eyeglass purchases to e-commerce. Buying a pair of glasses has traditionally been an offline shopping experience. After all, glasses are something customers really want to try on before they purchase. Here’s where omnichannel retailing can really shine. Shopping for eyewear includes a unique buying journey that includes customer information, obtaining a current prescription, choosing the right frame size, style, and brand, and receiving the glasses. 
Lenskart, India’s largest and fastest-growing online eyewear company combined in-person and online interactions to grow sales. They introduced a unique Home Eye Check-up service. It brought expert optometrists to homes and offices for convenient eye exams – a great way to get closer to customers. Once customers had their prescriptions, they could use online tools such as recommendations and virtual try-ons to choose their frames. Once they select their frames, customers place their order online and a customized pair of glasses arrives at their doorstep within days.
Customer Service: Reduce Friction
Customer service becomes even more important when businesses work across channels. The challenge for businesses to provide personalized service and make sure that data for each customer moves seamlessly across channels. For example, if a customer makes an online purchase, they should easily be able to return it in the store. Retailers need to transition from the consolidation of data in silos to a unified data management system that can accommodate product information, new product updates, and consumer behavior data. This can help retail chains facilitate inventory management and assist brands to deliver a superior customer experience. Customers may also need tailored support as they make decisions about your product. Although a powerful knowledge base and chatbots can go a long way, they can’t do everything.. That’s where customer service steps in. 
Source: https://www.walgreens.com/
Walgreens facilitates a holistic customer experience through myWalgreens, their rewards balance program. Customers can avail benefits by points earned across various touchpoints along their customer journey. They are encouraged to interact with the brand via in-store purchases, online orders, interaction with the Walgreens app, or via their participation in vital health information surveys and in-store activities. What’s more convenient is the reward program allows customers to redeem the accumulated points in the form of cash or as discounts during in-store or online purchases.
Omnichannel Retail Support Trends for 2023
If you’re looking to up your retail game, check out these key trends.
Increased Personalization
Buyers today are no longer impressed when you get their name right in an email. Look for personalization to hit an all-time high. In retail, timely and appropriate product recommendations, sales information, and other marketing messages will need to become even more targeted and precise.
Local Presence
Once upon a time, brick-and-mortar stores started online storefronts. Now online businesses are making a splash in the real world. Traditionally online retailers have upped their omnichannel shopping opportunities. For example, Amazon Fresh now has physical stores in key locations, and in-store pickup is available at Amazon’s Whole Foods Markets.
Social Selling & Influencers
For a category of marketer that didn’t even exist until the 2010s and didn’t hit the dictionaries until 2019, influencers are, well, influencing sales across the retail industry. Brands that don’t capitalize on social selling will miss this powerful social selling tool. Find the right influencers at the right time on the right channel and you’ll be on trend.
Supply Chain Maximization
Out-of-stock items are a fact of life, and shoppers are getting used to it, if grudgingly. Retailers are struggling in every sector. However, proper supply chain management combined with visibility in inventory can give you a leg up. The omnichannel retail puts you in front of your customers, but you also have to put the goods in front of them. Make sure they know what items are available and when out-of-stock items are coming back.
The Future of Omnichannel Retail
Retail isn’t going back to life before the pandemic. Retail purchases no longer begin and end at the Point of Sale. Yes, single-channel purchases will still happen. But going forward successful retailers will craft a strategy that provides a seamless shopping experience for their customers and increased profitability for them. Here are some factors to consider:
- Frictionless CX
- Convenience–Even over Price
- Speed–Of Delivery and Help
- Actionable Analytics to Drive Sales
- Integrated AI for Efficiency
Examples of Omnichannel Retail
Walgreens
Walgreens follows a customer-centric omnichannel strategy to deliver superior customer service. Walgreens facilitates a holistic customer experience through Walgreens, their rewards balance program. Customers earn and use points across various touchpoints along their customer journey. They are encouraged to interact with the brand via physical purchases, online orders, the Walgreens app, or via their participation in vital health information surveys and activities in the store. The reward program allows customers to redeem the accumulated points in the form of cash or as discounts when they make purchases.
Starbucks
In an increasingly online world, some of the niceties of in-person customer service could easily be lost. But Starbucks keeps personalized experiences front and center. Sure, the barista might not remember your usual drink, but the app does! With the Starbucks app, customers can buy their unique drink in just a few clicks. The app can also direct you to the nearest Starbucks, suggest other purchases, and even reward you for your loyalty with free food and drinks. And in-store, Starbucks delivers a predictable branded environment, friendly baristas, and even a treat for your pup at walk-up windows. With the app, Starbucks connects to its customers wherever they are. They offer the convenience of buying online and picking up in-store along with rewards for loyalty. Their up-to-date inventory alerts customers when their favorite oat milk is out of stock so they can redirect to the next closest brick-and-mortar.
Thrive Market
Thrive Market is an online retailer that specializes in natural, organic, and other specialty foods. It has a subscription model and people often compare it to a combination of Whole Foods and Costco. The centerpiece of their strategy is their online store. They gather data from customer behavior to provide personalized member specials and sale notifications. A sophisticated chatbot promotes sales with real-time answers to questions. They also put their activism front and center. Thrive Market gives free memberships to the military and food-insecure families for every paid membership. They also use gamification with their spin-to-win feature to entice new shoppers and establish an email connection.
Omnichannel vs. Multichannel Retailing
Some businesses with a physical store and an online presence think that’s all they need. But what they might have is multichannel retailing. Although both are based on businesses being available to consumers on multiple channels, the real difference is that omnichannel integrates the channels together to improve CX. For example, you may have a website where customers can make purchases and a physical store. But unless the two can talk to each other, you just have multi-channel retail. If a customer buys something online but tries to return it to the store, the store won’t have the information and won’t be able to process the return. That creates friction and diminishes customer satisfaction. With an omnichannel retail strategy, your customer makes the return with no hassle and shops with you again. Read more about the differences between omnichannel and multi-channel retail.
Why Choose Freshworks Customer Service Suite for Retail?
As you can see, omnichannel retail strategies require careful planning, implementation, and maintenance. A comprehensive, integrated approach helps you to manage your inventory, understand your customers, improve customer service, and garner customer loyalty. And the stakes for failure are very high. Why risk customers by going it alone? Instead, choose a professional partner like Freshworks that offers what you need.
- Personalized marketing at scale
- Easy conversations across channels
- Deep customer insights at a glance
- Unified sales, marketing and support, and more
Freshworks provides a full suite of solutions on an integrated platform with a catalog of integrations so you can get started fast. Set up a demo today.
