10 Omnichannel Ecommerce FAQs And Why You Should Know Their Answers

Buyers are no longer asking for omnichannel presence from brands. They are moving away from brands that fail to offer it! 

From online stores to mobile apps to their favourite social platforms and wearable devices or traditional brick and mortar stores; the modern buyers want a “BUY” option on all the channels they hop back and forth during their purchase journey. 

What’s more, they are looking for uniform, seamless, personalized buying journeys on all these touchpoints.

And yes, they want it from every brand, big or small.

Omnichannel ecommerce is no longer a fad or an exception!

 It is the new normal and it's here to stay. 

How Omnichannel Experience Is Reshaping Digital Commerce

From improving customer experience and thus retention to boosting digital sales, building an omnichannel platform can do wonders for your brand.

Omnichannel Retail: The Way To Success For Brands

Retail ecommerce has always been the harbinger of change and it is no wonder that the omnichannel ecommerce strategy started with retail brands. With the mobile revolution in 2013, the omnichannel model started gaining popularity. 

And less than a decade later, driven by customer experiences and the pandemic push, omnichannel retail has become the go-to business model for brands looking forward to disrupting the market. 

Here are a few stats and trends to give you a data-driven insight into how the commerce world is gravitating towards omnichannel ecommerce.

• 4-6 - Touchpoints used by average customers before finalizing a purchase

• 87%- Customers expect seamless omnichannel experience from brands 

• 250% -  Higher purchase frequency on omnichannel vs. single channel

• 30% - Higher average lifetime value of omnichannel buyers compared to single-channel buyers

• 9.5% - Y-o-Y growth in annual revenue of companies with strong omnichannel customer engagement 

Source: V12Data, Zendesk

The writing on the wall is clear, building an omnichannel platform is the first step towards entering and leading the next wave of digital commerce.

B2B Omnichannel Commerce: The Inevitable 

The change is no longer limited to retail ecommerce sales. Conditioned by their retail omnichannel experiences, B2B ecommerce buyers are also asking for similar experiences from suppliers and enterprise wholesale brands. 

Check out how the B2B buyers are lapping up unified multi-channel buying experiences:

• 10+ - Channels used by B2B customers regularly to interact with sellers

• 77% - B2B customers are ready to spend $50,000 or more through digital sales channels

• 35% - B2B buyers are willing to spend $5,00,000 or more through digital sales channels

• 94 % - B2B decision-makers find the new omnichannel sales model to be as or more effective than their pre-pandemic sales model 

• 83% - B2B leaders are of the opinion that omnichannel selling is a more successful way to secure new business than the conventional F2F sales approach 

Source: McKinsey

Though picking up the omnichannel trend later than its B2C counterpart, the B2B ecommerce segment is now aggressively adopting a unified multichannel selling approach. Led by changed customer buying behaviour and a preference for self serve B2B ecommerce buying journey, the wholesale brands are all set to transition to omnichannel selling.

How To Build Your Omnichannel Brand?

Successful Omnichannel is the art of making your customers forget the channels they are shopping on. The buyer experience should be so smooth, uniform and seamless that your customers do not care about the channels, all that should matter for them is your BRAND.

Here is a 5-step process to build an omnichannel brand loved by your customers:

Step 1: Define your omnichannel strategy and choose the combination of sales channels you     want to start with. For example, your ecommerce website, mobile apps, offline store etc.

Step 2: Choose an omnichannel platform that helps you build unified customer experiences on all channels and also enables you to quickly add new customer touchpoints

Step 3: Integrate with the best-in-breed software (ERP, CRM, accounting, marketing, analytics etc.) to manage all your channels from a centralized admin

Step 4: Add trusted payment methods and fulfilment partners for all channels

Step 5: Test your different touchpoints by placing mock orders and you are good to go!

Send personalized marketing messages on all channels and start getting orders on your omnichannel platform.

Omnichannel Ecommerce FAQs

Before you get started with planning your omnichannel transition, here are some FAQs and their detailed answers to help you understand the concept and dispel any myths and doubts.

Lets us get going:

1. What is the difference between omnichannel commerce and multi-channel commerce?

Multichannel commerce is a business set-up where a brand sells through two or more sales channels with disjointed customer experiences. Whereas, in omnichannel commerce set-up a brand sells across different customer touchpoints and offers a uniform and seamless buyer journey on all these channels.  

For example, A multichannel fashion brand can sell to customers through its brick and mortar retail store and ecommerce website. Both the offline store and the online store will maintain separate inventory and sell their product stock through the designated channel only. 

Where an omnichannel fashion brand with an offline and digital presence will have a central inventory. The customers can buy online but choose to pick the order from the offline store or vice versa. 

2. How can I be sure if my business is the right fit to go omnichannel?

If your brand is already connected with your customers on two or more channels and there is a scope for connecting these channels and making them commerce-able you are the right fit to start your omnichannel journey.

You can plan your omnichannel strategy and choose the touchpoints that you would like to sell on. Then you can go with an advanced omnichannel platform that helps you interconnect your customer touchpoints and manage them from one place. 

3. How to get started with implementing an omnichannel commerce strategy?

To build a successful omnichannel brand you need to decide on your sales channels, build a data-driven omnichannel strategy and find an advanced omnichannel platform that can offer you the right solutions and tools to run your business. 

StoreHippo offers comprehensive omnichannel ecommerce solutions that help brands create unified customer experiences across all channels. You can easily integrate with your preferred POS, ERP, CRM, accounting and marketing software to streamline and consolidate all your customer touchpoints into a common central dashboard.

4. Do I need a lot of money for implementing omnichannel ecommerce?

Omnichannel ecommerce can be expensive if you choose to go with monolithic software for digitising your various channels. If you choose a headless commerce platform like StoreHippo you can easily build your omnichannel brand in a cost-effective way without investing too much money for your omnichannel solutions.

5. What are the challenges of getting started with omnichannel ecommerce?

While omnichannel ecommerce is a lucrative business model it comes with its own challenges. Here are a few of them:

Building unified buyer journeys across channels to engage and convert buyers

Finding the right tech solution that offers central control of inventory, orders shipping status etc across channels

Sourcing the right solution provider to build an advanced omnichannel platform 

Deciding on new sales channels and adding them quickly by building new frontends for buyers 

Sending personalised deals and promotions across channels

Finding the right logistics providers to fulfil orders from all channels in a seamless and timely manner

Measuring performance of each sales channel for the omnichannel brand

Identifying and strategizing how to leverage the right product and customer touchpoint

Scaling the omnichannel brand by adding new sales channels for reaching untapped markets or customer segments

6. Can StoreHippo help me add multiple customer touchpoints to begin my brand’s omnichannel transition? 

Yes, with StoreHippo you can add any number of customer touchpoints and build an omnichannel presence for your brand. StoreHippo’s decoupled headless architecture and 300+ API endpoints enable you to create new frontends/customer touchpoints using the same backend logic and APIs. 

7. How much time will it take to add a new customer touchpoint for my brand?

Depending on the channel and customizations needed, you can add a new customer touchpoint in a fraction of time as compared to building it from scratch. With StoreHippo omnichannel brands can turn their online store into PWAs ( which look, feel and work as mobile apps) in a few clicks. 

StoreHippo also offers an inbuilt mobile apps builder and you can easily build and launch your mobile apps without any coding within a few days. You can also create social selling pages and process your orders using StoreHippo. For adding any new age customer touchpoints you will need to discuss the scope and customizations with StoreHippo experts and the timing will be decided pro rata with development efforts. 

8. Can I manage my orders and fulfilment centrally for all my channels/touchpoints?

Yes, StoreHippo seamlessly integrates with third-party software that helps you pull all your orders from different offline and digital channels into one unified admin dashboard. You can then easily manage your fulfilment for all these channels using StoreHippo's automated shipping and delivery management solutions.

9. Can I send personalised marketing messages on different channels?

Yes, StoreHippo offers unified notifications ( email, SMS, mobile and web push) and helps you integrate with a variety of marketing tools to run your omnichannel marketing and messaging campaigns.

10. Can B2B businesses take the omnichannel route?

Definitely. Selling across multiple channels with seamless buyer journeys is no longer limited to omnichannel retail but is equally important for B2B brands. With B2B buyers looking for more personalization and self-service, connecting with them across multiple touchpoints through omnichannel commerce can give brands a winning edge.

Conclusion

Omnichannel is the way to go for brands keen on winning the customer experience battleground. However, to stay ahead of the competition and leverage the full potential of the omnichannel business model they need the power of a future-ready ecommerce platform. 

StoreHippo ecommerce platform offers end-to-end omnichannel solutions for brands planning to offer a unified multichannel experience to their buyers. With its immense flexibility and scalability combined with battle tested solutions for B2B, D2C, online marketplaces, multi store ecommerce and more, StoreHippo enables brands to build tailor-made omnichannel solutions in no time.  

Ready to build your own market-defining omnichannel brand? Get started right away with your 14-day free trial.