Over the course of less than a decade, omnichannel has evolved from a vague concept to a “must have” marketing strategy for brands and retailers. Unfortunately, today not all the retailers are fully ready to adopt an omnichannel strategy for their business. So most people today still prefer buying in-store, but their digital interactions influence their behavior in store. Therefore, this means that in present days a retailer needs to implement an omnichannel strategy in its business. In turn, this increases sales and empowers brand identity.

Actually, there are several brands that have decided to implement progressive and creative strategies, such as:

• Different purchase experiences on different devices, channel and browsers
• Click and collect – order goods from a store’s website and collect them from a local branch
• Personalization – it matches shopper preferences by analyzing data on shopping history. One example is the use of artificial intelligence. Today, it’s possible to identify what are customers interested in thanks to profiling systems. In this way, a company is able to show them advertisement on what they are looking for, by analyzing their actions online.
• Store assistants help customers to get access to real time information – For example, if an item is not available in store at that particular time, they can advise the customer if it is available online, if it is available physically in another store or if it will be available soon. 

Nevertheless, these types of strategies could seem difficult to achieve if you want to implement them in your SME, but it’s very possible and far more realistic to implement basic strategies that facilitate the multi-channel experience for consumers.

Omnichannel Strategies 

• Purchase Options – Try to offer as many options as possible to your clients: many of them do research online and prefer to buy in stores. That is called Webrooming and make it easy for people to find stores that carry your products.
• Consistency – The modern customer journey is not linear today. In fact, while the traditional customer journey is simple (just go to the shop and do the purchase), nowadays it’s just more complex than this. Customer might discover a product offline, do research online and social media from different devices, visit a physical store to evaluate the product, and buy from Amazon via its smartphone. Make your brand, contents and products consistent across all channels and devices.
• Content – High quality images and videos that demonstrate uses for your product, and online reviews all contribute to drive sales. Distribute this content on social media and share with channel partners to increase engagement with your brand.
• Mobile – Your website should be mobile responsive across devices and download quickly. Modern customers use their smartphone more than other devices, thanks to the fast improvements of technologies. This means that modern customer doesn’t browse just on its PC, but it is more likely to access websites on its smartphone. That’s the reasons why your company needs a responsive website.

Therefore, your brand can gain significant advantages, such as extend market reach and build direct relationships with consumers. Furthermore, Omnichannel allows retailers to achieve more availability, drive sales and traffic, and integrate digital touch-points.

Anyway, even if you’re not ready for an ecommerce store, you still need to consider ways to facilitate the omnichannel experience for your customers because of the influence of digital interactions on the sales.

So, It’s time for you to embrace the value of in-store retail offering and implement a truly omnichannel approach.

How can Arema Connect can help you business?

We support many retailers in achieving an omnichannel approach. We provide our clients with the necessary customer touch points which include:

• Live Chat
• Inbound Call Management
• Email Handling
• Social Media Monitoring
• SMS Text Message

Contact us if you’re interested in adopting an omnichannel strategy in your retail!

About Annalisa

I am a Communications graduate working as an intern at Arema Connect in a European placement. I have a background in Communications Sciences and foreign languages from University of Calabria and I have worked in a vast range of different activities within Communications departments, press and media. At Arema Connect I am supporting the Marketing department. After the completion of my internship, I would like to travel and gain additional experience in the communications field.