An omnichannel solution gives users the liberty to choose a variation of touchpoints. Also, a successful omnichannel strategy eliminates silos to maintain a seamless experience that, in turn, helps optimize the customer journey. Check out this blog to find out the 5 Omnichannel strategies to deliver an effective retail experience.

1. 5 Omnichannel Strategies to Deliver
an Effective Retail Experience
A business that lags in offering an interwoven customer experience across touchpoints is likely
to sever ties with their audience. It is not just about maneuvering a customer through the stages
of the sales funnel anymore. It is much more than that! The time demands businesses to be
available to the customers in their desired manner, anywhere, and at any time. That is exactly
what an omnichannel strategy strives to achieve.
Here are some key parameters that work in collaboration to create a successful omnichannel
strategy.

2. An omnichannel solution gives users the freedom to choose a variety of touchpoints. No matter
what point of purchase they choose, a successful omnichannel strategy eliminates silos to
maintain a continuous and seamless experience that, in turn, helps optimize the customer
journey.
73 percent of customers shop across multiple channels – Harvard Business Review
Omnichannel vs Multichannel — How are they Different?
Then there is another term that people often confuse with omni strategy, i.e., a multichannel
strategy. There’s a thin line difference between the two.

3. Let’s say your brand has certain channels in place for communicating with the respective
customers, which could be an app, a desktop website, and a brick and mortar store. Now if a
customer buys a commodity from the app, the other channels are unaware of it, i.e., the
shopping experience of the app is independent of other available touchpoints. This is a
multichannel strategy.
In the omnichannel approach, however, all the channels are interlinked. For instance, content
and commerce headless CMS integration paves the way for improved customer experience
across all these channels.

4. 5 Effective Omnichannel Strategies for your Business
In today’s world, the omnichannel retail strategy is a norm among organizations. But, sadly not
everyone is getting it right. This eMarketer report is proof.
So, what stops them from getting the right omnichannel strategy off the ground? Clearly, it is the
lack of a fool-proof strategy that will help create the difference.
1. Figure out Your Effective Communication Channels
There is a long list of communication channels that companies use, but not all resonate with
your target audience. Your omnichannel analytics will play a definitive role here. Do not waste
your time and resources on some random channel that has never interested your customers.

5. Instead, shortlist channels that your potential customers spend the most time on, and move with
the purchase.
Online was preferred for customer reviews (70%) and saving time (69%) whereas
getting the product quickly (79%) and getting questions answered (51%) were
considered in-store strengths – BookingBug
This finding makes it clear that to know your effective channels is something that will help to
drive omnichannel marketing strategy in the right direction. Tools like Google Analytics can help
improve digital customer experience by giving you insights on your audiences, and the channels
they use.
Thus, it becomes easy to figure out which channels deserve most of your attention to driving
sales.
2. Embed Voice Channels Across Touchpoints
Being able to communicate with your customers 24/7 is the biggest sales strategy that will bring
revenues in the times to come. Where designing chatbots or virtual assistants play an essential
role, indulging your customers with a real person should be given priority too. If your business
fails to connect a customer to the live person in less than two minutes, you will be losing big
time.
75% of customers believe it takes too long to reach a live agent – Harris Interactive

6. Having an interaction with a real person across all the sales channels creates a sense of trust
and confidence in the brand. That is not enough though! You need to train your customer
executives to aim for “First Contact Resolution” which, in turn, makes for an effective
omnichannel retail solution.
3. Embrace BOPIS for an Improved Experience
Buy Online, Pick-up in Store (BOPIS) is the new omnichannel strategy that should be
implemented for an overall better experience. The following Forrester stats reveal the difference
between customer expectations and the corresponding retail strategy.
Therefore, managing an accurate in-store inventory should take a front seat so that your retail &
eCommerce customer experience falls right into place. Also, the salesperson should be aware
of online and offline product availability. This is possible if they have dedicated tablets or mobile

7. devices to cross-check inventories. All in all, try to keep processes, technologies, and
salespersons synchronized or you’ll lose out on revenue.
4. Take Advantage of Social Commerce
In 2018, an estimated 2.65 billion people were using social media worldwide, a
number projected to increase to almost 3.1 billion in 2021 – Statista
The above statistic shows that there is abundant data present on social media platforms. Thus
importance should be given to collect this data to draw inferences about your customers with
the help of the best data visualization tools. Also, make communication on social media
platforms a priority as people consider reviews from friends while making buying decisions.
Another omnichannel retail strategy that can be adapted narrows down to promotions in the
form of carousel advertisements that help offer personalized user experience.
Such recommendations can follow from tracking the customer behavior by linking their social
media logins used for both website and social media accounts. What next, persuade your
customers to buy there and then through Facebook Messenger instead of redirecting them to
your website.
5. Cashierless Checkouts Should Gain Momentum
Amazon is winning the game when it comes to implementing the omnichannel strategy. An
example of one such disruption is their introduction of Amazon Go, which is one of a kind
cashierless checkout system at their brick-and-mortar grocery stores.

8. They have simply moved one step ahead by eliminating the obligation to stand in queues for
billing. This is the best omnichannel marketing solution while adding on to the digital customer
experience. Have a look.
In the truest manner, this is an outstanding omnichannel retail strategy and as a business, one
must identify such propositions to enhance their customer experience. And, the probability of
making profits will see an upsurge too. Just like it did for Jeff Bezos.
Amazon Go just made Jeff Bezos $2.8 B richer– Investopedia
Conclusion
By embracing and implementing the omnichannel strategy, you will definitely be able to bridge
the gap between online and offline channels. Not only will you gain brand recognition, but your
revenues, customers, and customer experience will witness a positive impact too.
There might be challenges whether financial or technical, but your omnichannel efforts will
surely pay off in the long run. An eCommerce expert consultant can easily guide and maneuver
you through the best practices for implementing omnichannel while your regular business
processes stay unharmed.

9. Source: https://www.netsolutions.com/insights/omnichannel-strategy-and-solution/