Marketing Glossary

Omnichannel Retailing

Omnichannel Retailing Definition

The definition of Omnichannel retailing is a business’s usage of various channels to influence a customer’s purchase decision.

As the use of mobile devices and internet alternatives to purchasing items in-store is increasing, omnichannel retailing strives to offer a very convenient shopping experience through other sources.

When customers continue to browse on their mobile devices while they’re adding items to their shopping cart, for example, they should be able to log in and resume this activity at a later time.

For example, when the same customer decides to select “pick up in-store” instead of a longer delivery window, a distinctive, yet connected in-store experience must be established to match the customer’s new expectations.

How is omnichannel retailing different from multi-channel ?

Retailers employ a variety of different channels in order to reach customers at every stage of the client’s purchasing process and decision making.

The purpose of a multi-channel approach is to maximize growth, revenue and customer loyalty by offering customers choices about how they wish to interact with the business.

Omnichannel retailing trends

A recent study by Harvard Business Review and McKinsey concluded that the use of omnichannel retail would nudge customers to spend an average of at least 3% more on every in-store shopping occasion and 9% more online than those who buy solely from one channel. Further, the researchers discovered that if a customer uses multiple channels they will spend even more.

Some popular trends in advertising, such as retargeting customers with campaigns entirely based on the user’s prior browsing history and personalized product recommendations are rapidly with the power of utilizing user preferences, can provide brands with a competitive edge.

In order to provide the best customer experience, a unified platform can use data from more than one source, allow for unrestricted movement of the data and produce a cohesive set of customer information based on available customer data–all with the purpose of contextualizing powerful experiences.

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