How to use omnichannel to adapt your business to the modern shopper

Omnichannel marketing in retail

Businesses want to win the approval of customers. As a business owner, you know that appealing to the people who are going to spend money to buy your products and services is incredibly important. And the one value-add you know that today’s shopper wants, often far more than all other customer service offerings, is an omnichannel shopping experience.

Omnichannel ensures that every touchpoint with your business provides the same experience for both your existing and potential customers.

This means that whether they’re stepping into your brick and mortar store or clicking onto your website, opening your newsletter or interacting with your business on social media, the experience will be seamless and the same.

Customers no longer interact with businesses on one level, making use of one channel.

The marketing analysis, market research, and market trends have made it clear. There’s no doubting that customers interact with businesses via multiple channels. Irrespective of your target market, market segment or even market size, customers tend to complete research on your business ahead of purchase by interacting with it by visiting a number of channels.

And your customers are usually well aware of all that research they’ve completed. At other times, they’re unaware. They’ve seen your brand’s marketing materials or even had a real-life conversation with a friend about your offerings.

Throughout that journey from research to buying, they want everything they see to be consistent.

The same products, visuals, and marketing messages. Everything. We’re living in a omnichannel world, is your business omnichannel?

You’ve looked at your competitors and conducted a competitive analysis. You’ve studied their strengths and weaknesses. You know that your offerings are superior. After all, why else would you be doing what you’re doing?

The only task left on your to-do list is to ensure your omnichannel offering is up to scratch. So, here are some tips to up your omnichannel game.

Ensure all of your channels have the same information: There are few things as frustrating for a shopper who’s keen to spend their money than to find several channels offering different information for a brand. What are the available specials? What are the product sizes and prices? That is simple information which your customers expect to find and should be able to access easily. They want to start engaging with your brand on one channel and pick up seamlessly on another without having to start their purchasing process again. For instance, a customer might start adding items to their cart while browsing using their smartphone. Later that night, while using their desktop computer, they might be reminded of their browsing earlier in the day and choose to complete their purchase.

Make sure your merchandising information is accurate in real time: What could be more maddening for a customer than to order an item online, only to receive a phone call a few days later saying the item is out of stock? This should never be allowed to happen. Product inventories must always be kept up to date, to the second.

Offer product suggestions: You have all of your customers’ data. You can access their buying behavior and browsing habits. You are able to see that one item they keep returning to, day after day. Why not send them an SMS with a discount code? That code could be all the encouragement they need to finally press that “buy” button.

As much as this is all about creating the ideal omnichannel shopping experience for your customers, it really is just about providing customers with the products they want to purchase, in the way they’d prefer to purchase them. And what customer doesn’t want that? If you're interested in reading more about how omnichannel can be used in ecommerce, read our recent article on the topic. It discusses why omnichannel is effective, what the perfect omnichannel experience involves, and how to implement an effective strategy. Basically, it’s the ideal guide for every business owner who’s keen to dip a toe into the waters of omnichannel. Now’s not the time to hesitate. Now is the time to dive right in.