Co-founder and CEO of TJUFOO, Indonesia’s most exciting brand aggregator.
E-commerce took off like a rocket during the pandemic, and the world hasn’t looked back since. Brick-and-mortar businesses that once relied solely on foot traffic are under real pressure to re-evaluate their strategies and adapt to a new omnichannel reality.
Gone are the days when consumers had limited options to satisfy their shopping needs. Today’s shoppers have a plethora of selling channels available to them, including mobile e-commerce, social media and the storefront (which still has an important role to play in the years to come, in my humble opinion).
The challenge—and it’s a significant one—is that it’s not enough to provide these options just to “tick the boxes,” so to speak. Today’s customers expect the same level of service and experience regardless of how or where they shop.
While going digital has become increasingly important for businesses, many traditional brick-and-mortar shops find it difficult to make this shift. After all, these businesses have always provided customers with an in-person shopping experience. Now, they have to venture into unknown territory.
My company helps brick-and-mortar businesses with the journey to digital and omnichannel. Through this experience, I’ve seen companies often encounter five obstacles as they try to transition to omnichannel retail.
1. Navigating Pricing In A New Digital Landscape
A major challenge traditional brick-and-mortar businesses often face in the journey to omnichannel is navigating pricing in a new digital landscape. This includes factors such as different margin pricing, consignment and terms of payment that might vary across the different selling channels.
Understandably, it can be difficult to be consistent and transparent in pricing while accounting for the various fees and costs that come with different selling platforms. For this reason, CEOs must balance profitability with customer expectations and market competition to succeed in today’s fast-paced market.
2. Integrating Online And Offline Channels
One of the more complicated aspects of omnichannel retail is coordinating across digital and physical outlets. In my experience, many customers begin their shopping trips online but wind up finishing them in a physical store, and the reverse is also true. Because of this, I’ve seen that it can be challenging to provide a consistent experience across different channels.
Businesses can overcome this by emphasizing the development of a single purchasing experience that incorporates both online and offline venues. Apps, beacons and RFID tags, for example, can be used to monitor your customers’ activity across channels and tailor recommendations and offers accordingly. I also suggest joining up your data to know in real time when a client who moved off one platform re-enters on another. Additionally, you can consider investing in the Internet of Things as a way to pick up offline visitors and proactively introduce them to online opportunities during their offline experience.
3. Managing Inventory Across Channels
Stores that sell through a number of different outlets face a formidable issue when trying to keep track of stock: It’s not always easy to make sure customers can always get their hands on the products they want because stock levels can vary depending on the channel they’re using.
To get around this problem, companies can concentrate on developing a single inventory management system that monitors stock levels in many locations. This can help ensure customers see exactly what’s in stock at any given time, both in-store and online.
4. Providing A Seamless Checkout Experience
It is essential for omnichannel retailers to offer a streamlined checkout process for their customers. I find that customers often have high standards for a streamlined purchasing process across all channels. Yet, this can be difficult to provide if, for example, the checkout process on one channel is different from the other channels.
I recommend businesses work toward developing a single checkout process that is compatible with both online and offline sales channels. Methods such as mobile payments, self-checkout kiosks and in-store mobile apps might be worth considering, as they allow customers to complete their purchases from any device.
5. Data Management And Analysis
When it comes to omnichannel retail, data management and analysis are crucial. In order to better understand customer behavior, interests and needs, businesses need to collect and analyze data from multiple sources. This can be challenging for some brands to do, however, because it’s not always easy to integrate data from different sources.
Companies can consider implementing a centralized data management system to help. Ensure the system you use can analyze customer behaviors across channels. You might also think about working with real data professionals. If you try to do things without experienced data engineers, you run the risk of being misinformed by your data.
Finding Success With Omnichannel
I believe that for businesses to remain competitive and satisfy the needs of their customers, an omnichannel approach is key. Keep in mind two important points:
1. When it comes to marketing your business, an omnichannel strategy takes into account all the different types of sales, marketing and fulfillment strategies you use to get your brand’s message out to your customers.
2. Be it social media, a mobile app, a website or a storefront, these channels are not siloed; they will all actively influence one another. Getting them to function seamlessly, especially from the customers’ perspective, will contribute greatly to your success.
The road to omnichannel is paved with numerous hurdles that CEOs must overcome. Nevertheless, as we get into 2023, businesses need an omnichannel strategy that gives equal weight to both online and offline channels, unifies inventory management, streamlines the purchasing process and makes use of data management and analysis.
Only by proactively addressing these challenges can retailers provide a seamless and pleasurable shopping experience that satisfies modern customers’ changing needs.
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