5 Cliches About Omnichannel Retail You Should Avoid

Ever asked yourself how you could take shopping beyond bricks and mortar locations to online shopping, social media and at places where customers are sure to find you?

The correct answer is to go for Omnichannel Retailing!

Confused?

Let us give you an example of a great brand.

Nike omnichannel retail program is a fully integrated approach to commerce, giving their shoppers a unified experience across all channels or touchpoints.

Let's say a customer discovers a great pair of shoes online. They have the option to buy it online, pick it up at a store or buy it at a store or simply receive the product at home. Whatever the case may be, the Nike omnichannel retail system delivers the products anywhere the consumer could possibly want them. 

This is really what consumers are expecting from brands now.

Now, want to know-how companies with omnichannel retail strategies are faring?

Well, companies with strong omnichannel retailing retain over 89% of their customers! That's compared to a 33% customer retention rate for companies with poor omnichannel strategies.

When you build an online store, the AI-enabled automated and semi-automated solutions follow the user journey and leverages information about one sales channel to invite the customer to participate in another.

The primary reason for the growth of omnichannel retailing is:

• It allows consumers to purchase from wherever they are

• Consumers can communicate with the brand that is in sync with their buying medium

• Brands have become more aware of the stages in the customer lifecycle

• Retail businesses can gain from the increased efficiency and cost-saving

Now, you must be wondering if Omnichannel retail is so wonderful, why only 22% of retailers are implementing it? It's because of the cliches and myths around implementing it. Dispersing these myths along the way will help you realise why you need to go with this latest digital trend.

Read on to know more about why you should avoid these top 5 cliches

1. Omnichannel retail is too complex to implement

There is some misconception that omnichannel is too challenging to implement and thus is not worth the hassle. Some myths surrounding it are that: you have to continuously assess the exact stock across stores and warehouses; there is no stock left at the store for the retailer, or antiquated or complex store systems will require a major overhaul.

Let’s not forget, these are all cliches.

The right omnichannel solution provider can help you overcome these challenges by equipping you with capabilities to integrate and strategize seamlessly across all channels.

How StoreHippo helps you: 

When you build an online store with StoreHippo, you get an API-based headless architecture to help you with unique solutions for your requirements. Developing omnichannel retail is painless with StoreHippo. We have battle-tested solutions, which reduces the time to go to market. Once you build a store powered by StoreHippo, you can easily add any new sales channel using the headless commerce StoreHippo solutions.

StoreHippo helps you scale your frontend as well as the backend as per the demands of your growing business. 

2. Omnichannel retail is too expensive

Many companies are concerned with the cost of implementing omnichannel retail. Intelligent order management, dropshipping, store fulfilment might deem expensive to any enterprise trying to build from scratch. But with the right business solutions, there is no need to make financial outlays as they have all the supporting technology in-house.

How StoreHippo helps you:

StoreHippo offers plug-and-play solutions; no apps or plugins are needed that may also raise costs. We also offer an inbuilt mobile apps builder that creates Android n iOS apps at no additional cost. In addition, StoreHippo offers 250+ API endpoints to create the most personalized, immersive and unforgettable omnichannel experience at a fraction of the cost of building a legacy/monolith software.

3. Multichannel approach is sufficient

Many brands think that a multichannel approach is adequate for them. But they spread themselves so thin that they are not able to provide a truly integrated experience to their customers.

For example, while scrolling a Facebook page, you saw an ad for a product. You visit their online store, but the store doesn't deliver the product to your area. Then, you visit the physical store only to discover that they haven't stocked the items yet. You wonder what's the point of displaying products when they can't provide the goods.

Omnichannel retail helps connect these touchpoints so that whatever journey the client chooses to take, the experience is unified and consistent.

How StoreHippo helps you:

StoreHippo offers you seamless integrations to customize your processes. StoreHippo offers access to a common admin/database to various departments like distributions, sales, online stores, customer support, etc., for smooth working. StoreHippo bridges the gap between sales CRM and ERP systems so that your sales and inventory of each channel are in sync. All departments will have clear information about how things are at each customer touchpoint. As a result,you can streamline and automate the flows of multiple departments of enterprise businesses quickly and efficiently. Furthermore, StoreHippo allows you to build robust systems by integrating various tools to create new sales opportunities for your business.

4. CRM can handle the omnichannel approach

CRM focuses on enhancing consumer experience on individual channels rather than tracking them across all channels. This results in siloed systems and duplication of efforts. CRM focuses on the customer and avoids the human resources responsible for delivering customer service. Whereas omnichannel retail also takes into account the performance of employees, resulting in a better customer experience.

How StoreHippo helps you:

StoreHippo integrates seamlessly with a variety of custom ERP, CRM, shipping, payment, marketing and other best-in-class products to help you create new opportunities for your business. Our features and tools automate the processes to introduce efficiency and reduce human errors. By using microservices and API based architecture, you can easily adapt to new requirements.

5. Customers loves store buying experience

Many businesses still believe that customers like to visit the 'brick or mortar' stores. While that is true for a certain section of people, the percentage of people who prefer to stay at home and conduct their online shopping has been steadily rising.

According to recent data, there are nearly 2 Billion digital buyers worldwide. Out of which:

• 20 % of users shop online once a week

• 24 % of users shop online once every two weeks

• 31 % of users shop online once a month

Consumer trends indicate that e-commerce will only continue to grow. When you build an online store, and add other customer touchpoints, you can tap a large number of potential customers. Each channel exists as a separate purchase opportunity to acquire more customers, gain more brand recognition and attain users' insights.

As online shopping is here to stay, brands need to re-evaluate their digital offerings to create the best experience possible.

How StoreHippo Helps You:

StoreHippo provides you with a personalized digital experience. Our scalable ecommerce platform takes you from bricks to clicks and gives a memorable omnichannel experience to your customers. Our rapid front-end experiences can take you to market in record time by developing multiple touchpoints in new channels, devices, or markets.

Conclusion

The rules of the game have changed, and businesses have to evolve to stay ahead of the competition. Customers want to buy in the way that is most convenient for them, and hence, omnichannel retail provides an avenue that works for them.

Offering customers holistic and centralized information, accessible through any platform, means creating awareness about your products and promotions. Omnichannel retail connects the offline and online experience, removing the distinction between different channels to create a unified, integrated whole.

 So, are you ready to provide your customers with a fully integrated shopping experience? Explore our platform by starting your 14-day free trial now.