In today’s digital age, customers crave an all-encompassing and frictionless shopping experience.
For brands, big and small, this means more than just showing up on multiple channels. To truly stand out, you need to craft a consistent and engaging experience that transcends traditional channel boundaries.
So, how can businesses keep up with these demands? The answer may lie in an omnichannel strategy– the secret sauce to providing a seamless and consistent customer experience across all channels. Simply put, an omnichannel strategy is about meeting customers where they are and delivering a personalized experience that moves with each customer.
In this context, it’s crucial to avoid conflating omnichannel with multichannel. While it’s true that both strategies leverage multiple marketing channels, they are very different approaches, and selecting the right one for your brand starts with a solid understanding of those differences:
- Key focus: Multichannel focuses on promoting a product or service through more than one channel, whereas omnichannel centres around the consumer and their journey through those channels.
- Consistency: A multichannel strategy may result in different messaging across various touchpoints, but an omnichannel ensures a consistent customer experience, regardless of where they are.
- Integration: In a multichannel approach, each channel may operate independently, whereas an omnichannel strategy integrates all channels and allows customers to seamlessly transition between them.
- Personalization: A multichannel strategy limits personalization to each individual channel, but an omnichannel strategy gives you a comprehensive view of each customer, allowing for more personalization.
Starbucks is a great example of an omnichannel strategy in action. The coffee giant’s playbook is simple: capitalize on customer relationships by getting customers to enter their email addresses to access free Wi-Fi. By using those emails to promote recurring flagship offers, discounts on personalized product categories, and its rewards program, Starbucks added millions of digital users to drive purchase frequency.
As with any retail strategy, omnichannel has its share of benefits and drawbacks, and obtaining a clear understanding of the trade-offs is critical before implementation begins.
Image source: www.starbucks.com
Pros:
- Increased customer loyalty: Omnichannel customers have a 30% higher lifetime value than those who shop through one channel.
- Higher conversion rates: Companies with omnichannel engagement strategies achieve an average customer retention rate of 91% compared to those without one.
- Revenue growth: Companies with strong omnichannel strategies see a 9.5% year-over-year increase in annual revenue, more than triple that of companies without an omnichannel strategy.
Cons:
- Higher implementation costs: Omnichannel implementation requires an investment of both time and money, though when implemented well, an omnichannel strategy can ultimately reduce operational costs.
- Increased complexity: It’s recommended to have a solid foundation set up first, which requires a solid tech stack and the right expertise.
- Data integration challenges: Omnichannel retail doesn’t exist without intelligently integrated data, which marketers have cited as one of the top challenges in pursuing this strategy.
Omnichannel might seem like the logical choice for your brand, but it’s not so cut and dried. Before diving headfirst into one strategy or another, brands must first align on a clear direction based on their strategic and customer goals.
Regardless of which strategy you choose, the ability to flexibly iterate and integrate new channels seamlessly is paramount to your success tomorrow, and for that, you’ll need a seasoned technology partner. Get in touch with us today to learn about how we can help you develop a scalable retail strategy that drives customer engagement and meaningful growth.
