Adaptability has long been the cornerstone of a successful UK business. Even the longest-standing retail brands that are known for a very specific corner of the market have innovated in different ways over the years. In the last 20 years, several new paths to innovation and adaptability have emerged, and uniquely, businesses can cost-effectively tap into almost all of them.
The omnichannel approach embraces multiple lines of customer connection, to offer an all-in-one experience that is consistent across all points of contact. Right now, this includes making use of social media platforms, dedicated apps, websites, mobile sites, physical stores, and perhaps more. It’s a stark evolution on the multichannel separation of business fronts that was once popular, proving to be much more efficient for all involved.
How Omnichannel Retail Works
The key to a successful omnichannel approach is to enable a wall-less transition from each point of contact across the retail offering. If you start with a brick-and-mortar store, you’d first seek to make the items on sale in-store available on the website. From there, you can offer live stock updates for the in-store items on the website.
Add in-store pickup options, digital loyalty cards, a mobile app that works in the same way, and a mobile checkout, and you’ve got a mighty omnichannel experience. For the customer, it makes interactions with the retail store much more convenient and on-demand, opening the door for personalisation features to take this to the next level.
Personalisation features can be fuelled by all the deep, data-driven insights harvested from customer preferences across digital platforms. Emerging technologies like AI could help to collect and analyse this, to further help a retail business refine its approach and offer something even better. With around 50 per cent of UK shoppers using retail apps already, there’s a grand opportunity to expand and reap the data.
Omnichannel Examples and What to Avoid
The omnichannel approach has been deployed by several businesses. The most prominent deployments have combined online and store experiences into a cohesive offering. A prime example of this comes by way of the bingo app world, including one created by Buzz Bingo. The app comes with online slots, online bingo, live bingo – which blurs the lines between in-person and online bingo – and promotions that can be used online and in-store.
Elsewhere, we can see John Lewis tapping into a host of omnichannel options. Their website and stores are integrated seamlessly, but they’ve also stepped up their mobile app. Here you can arrange click-and-collects, use it to scan barcodes in-store for speedier checkouts, while also connecting to the in-store Wi-Fi.
A retailer looking to have an omnichannel offering would be wise not to simply see it as a need to be available across all possible points of contact. Lacking clarity in the approach will result in failure. The key is to focus on a new option that will provide customers with value, rather than just catching the latest tech trend, as well as working out which parts of an omnichannel approach deserve prioritising for your particular business.
It can take a lot of planning and even some rearranging, but the omnichannel approach has proven to be extremely valuable to UK retail businesses who have got it right.
