How does Omnichannel transform each customer's experience?

The omnichannel aims to provide customers with consistent and contextual experiences across multiple touch points, online and offline. It's about being present across all channels, of course, but with a fully integrated approach that allows customers to interact with the brand at all times in a consistent manner.

So how do you prepare for this?

One strategy, different services

Nowadays, defining an omnichannel strategy is a priority. It is essential to offer a more immersive experience, but also to stimulate customer engagement and thus obtain the best results.

This strategy revolves around various services offered to customers. Examples include Click and Collect or E-booking, two web-to-store services with many advantages such as lower delivery costs, faster turnaround times and the possibility of generating additional sales when picking up in-store. Not to mention the convenience for consumers who can know the stock status in real time before going to the store, retrieve their order later and possibly check the product at the time of checkout to confirm their purchase.

Taking an order in the store to come back to pick up the product later, receive it at home or in another store is another omnichannel service, this time of the store-to-web type. Here too, this functionality offers many advantages, such as the use of already existing E-Commerce logistics, or the possibility of benefiting from the stock depth of the warehouse(s) in the store.

The deployment of this service is, for example, the priority of a manufacturer of luxury luggage who has entrusted VISEO with its implementation. Its depth of range being very important, with many variations of colours and sizes, it is difficult for it to offer all the references in its shops.

In addition, as the stocks available in the shops are low due to the large dimensions of the products, store-to-web orders based on the central warehouse stock are an effective solution to remedy stock shortages or to extend the shops' assortment, thus boosting their turnover.

Which services are best suited for your brand, and which ones should be deployed first? Don't guess, you risk wasting your budget and degrading the customer experience. Analyze instead.

Excellence in execution

The success of an omnichannel strategy depends first of all on a thorough knowledge of your customers. You need to understand where they come from and who they are. What type of content do they consume and when? What channels do they use to access it? Invite their feedback and use all the tools at your disposal to find out more.

Stores represent another pillar of a successful omnichannel strategy, notably through their digitalisation, such as the use of shelves by sales advisors. Equipping your staff with shelves connected to your back-end systems greatly improves the customer experience. It allows you to answer customer questions while remaining mobile, to know the state of the stock in real time, to guide the purchase and finally to strengthen the customer relationship and obtain a better transformation in store.

This equipment is now deployed in the boutiques of a ready-to-wear brand accompanied by VISEO. The shelves allow the sales staff to access the customer account, his preferences or his purchase history for example, to better assist him and present the products of the new collection, including items unavailable in store, through a catalog optimized for this format. The shelves also provide access to the product customization module available on the brand's website. It is thus possible to support customers to create a fully personalised garment - colours, initials, etc. - that is tailored to their needs. - and thus enhance their in-store experience.

Finally, the omnichannel also imposes various organizational changes within companies, as the fluidity of the customer experience relies on several departments. Payment, for example, is recorded on different sources and platforms. So how do you collect online and pay in-store? How do you allocate the revenue from a store-to-web sale made in store? The omnichannel does not imply that everything will have to be changed, but requires a thorough review of existing processes, as well as the elimination of silo structures and silo teams.

A managerial challenge

The omnichannel places the consumer at the heart of the shopping experience and creates a formidable growth driver, but its implementation will require many changes, often technical, but also human.

For example, it will be necessary to overcome the lack of internal organization and the compartmentalization of teams in order to create new organizational structures and new methods of collaboration.

These barriers are often underestimated, while culture shock can be significant. The omnicanal requires multiple departments to work closely together in a usually siloed organization with cumbersome processes. To move the lines, clear governance and a multidisciplinary team are essential. Well-managed change management will enable the objectives set to be achieved more effectively.

VISEO's Digital Commerce team has acquired a solid experience in the support and implementation of omnichannel solutions. VISEO supports French and international players in the definition of their digital strategy and helps them to think and set up agile and efficient multi-channel platforms.

If you wish to deepen the subject of omnichannel, do not hesitate to contact us. : contact@viseo.com