The Omnichannel Strategy Checklist for Retailers
Creating a successful omnichannel strategy has become a lot harder.
The number of channels and touchpoints is rapidly increasing, generating a lot more data than ever before. Consumers’ expectations are getting more diversified as they are not just wanting convenience but also shopping with a purpose and requesting much more granular information than previously.
The customer experience is one of the areas where omnichannel often fails to meet expectations. According to Emplifi,
- 86% of consumers would leave a brand after as few as two poor experiences.
- 49% of consumers have left a brand in the past year due to poor customer experience.
- 52% expect a brand to respond to a customer service inquiry within one hour.
A few years ago, retailers only had to worry about collecting, cleaning and publishing consistent product content to consumers. Now, the complexity is intensifying. In order to optimize the omnichannel customer experience, you need to understand what consumers are buying, how and where it is bought and delivered. Furthermore, physical and digital experiences are merging: digital devices are moving into the stores (ranging from digital shelf to VR), and consumers expect the same convenience in-store as they experience online.
Challenges are building up, but so are the opportunities. Getting the foundation right, i.e., trusted and available data, will pave the road to omnichannel success and truly unified commerce. Your organization’s data maturity is determining the outcome of your omnichannel strategy.
This checklist is not exhaustive, but it will help you start your omnichannel journey on the right foot and provide valuable input for your strategy. It takes you through the stages of commerce, personalization and ecosystems, outlining a digital transformation that allows you to see results of your efforts from the first step.
Opportunities for the new omnichannel abound
Delivering convenience and strong omnichannel execution expected to be lucrative.
"Global buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS) market is expected to reach US$ 703.18 billion by 2027. Worldwide, an annual sales increase of over 19% from 2021 to 2027”
(Research and Markets: Global Buy Online Pick Up in Store (BOPIS) Market, Forecast 2022-2027, Industry Trends, Growth, Insight, Impact of COVID-19, Company Analysis, 2022)
Getting a deeper understanding of the customer journey can help create a more personalized experience. The new omnichannel approach reaches beyond simple consistency across channels.
Retailers who have previously had successful experiences with omnichannel are now increasingly evaluating their approach, listening to the customer and rethinking their back-end data model and tech to become customer centric.
The new model envisions a unified commerce approach which also takes operational efficiency and employee satisfaction into consideration.
