Getting started with an omnichannel sales strategy
Customer expectations are changing rapidly, and businesses must constantly adjust to stay competitive.
That’s where omnichannel sales come in.
In simple terms, omnichannel (meaning “all” channels) involves integrating sales and marketing channels to create a unified commerce experience for your brand.
In practice, this means providing customers with a seamless and connected buying experience across all platforms, ensuring a smooth transition from online to offline selling and vice versa.
From a marketing perspective, an omnichannel strategy involves sharing messages wherever customers might be looking or listening. In customer service, it means offering help and support when and where your customers are seeking it.
In this article, we’ll guide you through the evolution of omnichannel selling and explain why it’s crucial for businesses. We’ll then demonstrate how to develop, implement, and track an omnichannel strategy.
Let’s get started!
Understanding omnichannel vs multichannel
While they may seem similar, omnichannel and multichannel have distinct differences.
Omnichannel commerce aims to deliver a fully integrated customer experience at every interaction point. It recognizes that customers often use multiple channels before deciding to purchase and responds by offering a cohesive customer journey. Essentially, omnichannel breaks down barriers between various sales and marketing channels to create a unified whole.
On the flip side, multichannel allows customers to buy from various channels, but the experience remains separate. From the business perspective, the customer journey starts and ends in one channel, even if the customer uses multiple channels to browse or make purchases.
For instance, a customer being able to shop at a business’ online store or physical store is a multichannel experience. It becomes omnichannel only when those channels (and any others) strategically work together to provide the customer with a seamless experience.
⚖️ Omnichannel vs Multichannel Comparison
Hover over each column to highlight the key differences between these two approaches
Omnichannel customers spend 4% more in-store and 10% more online compared to single-channel customers, with businesses seeing up to 23% increase in customer lifetime value.
Example of omnichannel commerce
To make it simpler, let’s see how omnichannel commerce works with an example.
Browsing online with cart abandonment
A customer goes to ABC Appliance’s online store, puts a new television in their cart, but leaves without finishing the purchase.
Retargeting
After leaving ABC Appliance’s website, the customer sees ads for the television and a 10% off coupon on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube throughout the week. They also get a personalized email with the same coupon.
Close, but not quite there
The 10% discount grabs the customer’s attention. They open the email, and enter their shipping details on ABC Appliance’s website, but this time, they opt not to purchase the television on the last confirmation page.
Keep trying
ABC Appliance notices that the customer lives near their Boston showroom. They send a personal invitation by mail, suggesting the customer visit the showroom to see the television in person.
Success
The customer chooses to go to the showroom and decides to purchase the television. When they give their delivery address at the store counter, the 10% discount is applied automatically.
🛍️ Interactive Customer Journey
Click on each step to see how omnichannel strategy works in practice
👆 Click on any step above to see detailed omnichannel integration
The benefits of omnichannel selling
In a time when customers expect a lot, using omnichannel selling is not just an option but a must for businesses. The good news is that adopting an omnichannel approach brings many advantages.
Be where your customers are
The clear advantage of omnichannel commerce is the ability to showcase your brand to your customers. A strategic omnichannel approach isn’t about overwhelming customers with marketing, but rather letting them discover and remember your brand at various points.
Integrated analytics
Omnichannel selling allows you to access, measure, and analyze data from various channels. This means you can engage with and compare customer data, regardless of where it originates, all in one central location.
Improved business efficiency
Genuine omnichannel commerce enables seamless integration of customer service, sales, marketing, inventory management, resource planning, and more. Each aspect of the business collaborates smoothly, creating efficient workflows.
Build stronger, more profitable customer relationships
According to a study by Harvard Business Review, omnichannel customers offer multiple benefits. They spend an average of 4% more on each shopping occasion and 10% more online compared to single-channel customers. As customers use more channels, they also tend to spend more money.
Implementing an omnichannel approach
Ready to use omnichannel for your business? Here’s a checklist to help you get started.
Know your customer
Understand what your customers want, need, and like. Ask for feedback, use data and social listening tools, and observe how your customers behave both online and offline.
Upgrade your tech
Having smart technology is crucial for a successful omnichannel setup. For a smooth, user-friendly, and personalized experience, your sales and customer management systems should be adaptable to the customer’s preferences and other relevant aspects of their journey, such as their location.
Facilitate smart data collection
Effectively utilizing data is key for advanced omnichannel strategies. Bringing together data from various systems like inventory management, CRM, POS, eCommerce sites, etc., gives you a competitive edge. So, it’s essential to ensure these systems seamlessly work together.
Revamp how your organization works
In an omnichannel business, sales, marketing, warehousing, product development, and customer service teams must be ready and able to work together consistently. Making this happen involves using the right technology to support teamwork across different departments and teaching team members new processes.
Measuring performance
Every business is unique, but there are some common signs of success in omnichannel strategies.
You’ve embraced an omnichannel commerce strategy. Customers seem happy, revenue is increasing, and your business is expanding. But how do you determine if the time and investment in omnichannel have truly paid off? Consider these key performance metrics:
1. Product sales over time: An obvious sign of success is an increase in sales. Use intelligence tools to analyze sales over time, comparing performance before and after adopting omnichannel.
2. Customer satisfaction: Measure how satisfied your current customers are with aspects like customer service, order fulfillment, and shipping. Tools such as Net Promoter Score or online surveys can gauge customer satisfaction.
3. Brand awareness: Omnichannel aims to be where your customers are, contributing to building your brand profile. An increase in website traffic or social media followers indicates the effectiveness of your approach.
4. Customer retention: Compare the number of current customers to a previous period to assess how successful you are at retaining customers. Analyzing customer sales over time reports using Qoblex helps evaluate effectiveness in maintaining customer sales through omnichannel strategies.
5. Conversion Rates and Cart Abandonment: A successful omnichannel experience should result in higher conversion rates and lower cart abandonment rates. Tools like Google Analytics goal tracking and eCommerce analytics provide valuable insights in these areas.
Qoblex and omnichannel commerce
Investing in advanced software with user-friendly integration features is crucial for establishing an omnichannel environment. Here’s how Qoblex and omnichannel commerce collaborate.
Extensive integration capabilities
Opting for a system that streamlines workflows is vital for implementing omnichannel commerce. Qoblex allows you to connect and manage multiple sales channels from one platform. It offers multi-currency and multi-location functionality for easy global warehouse management. Qoblex also integrates with eCommerce systems like Shopify and WooCommerce, as well as accounting systems such as Xero and QuickBooks Online.
Streamlined order fulfillment
A successful omnichannel strategy goes beyond selling products; it focuses on the entire customer journey, including efficient and accurate order fulfillment. Qoblex lets you manage the entire order fulfillment process in one place, even for orders from different channels or locations.
Cost-effective expansion
While many believe that adopting omnichannel is expensive and complex, the reality is that investing in smart and robust technology is half the battle. For example, Qoblex’s B2B eCommerce platform offers a cost-effective solution for omnichannel expansion. It allows you to create unique price lists, storefronts, discounts, and minimum order quantities for each buyer, providing a personalized customer experience.
Omnichannel: The future of eCommerce
Establishing an omnichannel setup may pose challenges, but it’s essential for the success of future-leading businesses.
As customer expectations rise and omnichannel commerce proves to enhance experiences and profitability, adopting an omnichannel strategy is inevitable. Businesses not prepared for this shift risk losing out, as both B2C and B2B customers increasingly expect personalized, convenient service.
The move to omnichannel won’t happen instantly. However, forward-thinking businesses, with careful planning and investment in the right technologies, are ensuring their position as tomorrow’s retail and wholesale leaders.
About Qoblex
Since 2016, Qoblex has been the trusted online platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), offering tailored solutions to simplify the operational challenges of growing businesses. Specifically designed for B2B wholesalers, distributors, and eCommerce ventures, our software empowers users to streamline operations from production to fulfillment, allowing them to concentrate on business growth. Qoblex efficiently manages inventory and order data across multiple sales channels including Shopify and WooCommerce, integrates with popular accounting systems such as Xero and QuickBooks, warehouses, and fulfillment systems, and boasts a robust B2B eCommerce platform. With a diverse global team, Qoblex serves a customer base in over 40 countries, making it a reliable partner for businesses worldwide.
