What Omnichannel Is and How to Take It to the Next Level

Omnichannel is in our lives even if we do not realize it. From buying fruits or vegetables to clothing, accessories, technology, medicines, and even houses or cars, our expectation as users is that brands offer us satisfactory experiences regardless of the method we choose to contact them. Here is where the challenge of omnichannel emerges.

Although the basics of commerce have always been the same, businesses currently interact with their users through many channels with specific functions and objectives.

There are sales channels, such as e-commerce or online stores, but also those that focus on communication, such as social media. Moreover, there are service channels, such as call centers, loyalty channels (e.g., point-based programs), or networking channels (e.g., WhatsApp or emails).

The list can go on, but the message is the same: Regardless of the channel, you must deliver memorable experiences, and the way to achieve it has three mainstays:

• Integration: A business’s physical and virtual platforms must cooperate constantly. They can never be completely separate worlds.
• Orchestration: All channels must be in sync and work without friction, meaning they share information to coordinate with each other in real-time.
• A single customer vision: All channels of a company must collect information from customers to strengthen its offering. As a result, data from all channels must be consolidated and viewed to make decisions based on them.

Next, we will discuss strategies to strengthen an omnichannel initiative. Still, suppose you want to learn more about the transformations this sector is experiencing thanks to technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI). In that case, you can also read a recent case study where we AI that technology to improve user experience in a retail company.

The secret of an excellent omnichannel strategy

Any retail company aims to sell more, sell better, and exceed customer expectations.

An omnichannel strategy can cover topics as diverse as operations, logistics, technology, business, and even corporate culture issues.

There needs to be more than just a communication campaign that looks the same on social media and e-commerce. It is also not enough to design digital assets so they look consistent with each other.

In an excellent omnichannel strategy, each customer interaction channel must improve constantly and be aligned with the rest. For this, each channel must be capable of collecting information about users.

This information goes far beyond data on how customers spend; it must allow knowing them as people to adjust the offer of products and services so that the interaction through each channel can provide them exactly what they need.

This task, which encompasses channels with entirely different functions and characteristics, could be challenging to cover if the technological tools existed. Here is where what some experts call omniplatform strategies come into play.

Omniplatforms: The next step for any omnichannel strategy

An omniplatform strategy starts from creating a technology infrastructure to integrate all channels in one place. There, both physical and digital media form a unified vision to orchestrate the actions of an organization.

Having a platform that centralizes all of a company’s channels allows, for example, visualizing and making decisions that consider the inventory, business rules, logistics, operation, pricing, content, transactions, and data. (To learn more about how technology is transforming the world of logistics, read: “The Revolution in Last-mile Logistics”) 

Tools of this type require enormous computational power, as they require large amounts of data and technology-based functionalities such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Therefore, they are only possible thanks to cloud services, integrations, microservices, or headless technologies, complemented by the best talent and an organizational culture committed to agile methodologies.

Six actions to start the path toward omnichannel

Here are some recommendations that you can consider to ensure that all your channels work harmoniously.

Try to be in good company:

Find allies, partners, suppliers, and an internal team with experience in technology and good implementation practices.

Vender más, vender mejor y exceder las expectativas del cliente son los ideales a los que le apunta cualquier empresa de retail.

Una estrategia de omnicanalidad puede abarcar temas tan diversos como la operación, la logística, la tecnología, el negocio e incluso temas de cultura empresarial.

Create a culture around your strategy:

 Each component of the organization must understand and be committed to the goal of omnichannel. All teams must be on the same page so that these strategies are structural, impact the entire organization, and, consequently, thrive.

Strengthen your sales and digital presence

It is as simple as understanding that the digital experience of a business does not compete with its physical experience. On the contrary, they must complement each other. If sales in digital channels still need to be higher than physical sales, digital media must be strengthened so that, shortly, users see the integration of these two worlds through omnichannel as a natural evolution of what the company was already proposing.

Harness the power of technology

Omnichannel requires computing power that can be very expensive if on-premise servers support it. So, businesses interested in a strategy of this type should leverage cloud technology and services.

Do not lose sight of the user experience

Customers are the most important in any business, and creating experiences that exceed their expectations quickly, easily, and without friction is crucial. Today, a company’s customers are not simply e-commerce or store users. They are people who interact through all channels, and companies must empathize with their needs and keep them at the center of everything they do.

Leverage the power of data

The true power of omnichannel lies in the data. If a company manages to obtain data from users through all its channels, it can know them better and improve its customer vision, enabling organizations to become “data-driven” and make decisions tailored to what the public needs.

At pragma, our experience developing technology solutions for leading retail brands earned us the AWS Retail Competency.

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