Omnichannel

Omnichannel is a neologism portmanteau describing an advertising strategy.

History

"Omnis" is Latin for "every/all" and here suggests the integration of all physical channels (offline) and digital channels (online) to offer a unified customer experience.[1][2] According to Frost & Sullivan, omnichannel is defined as "seamless and effortless, high-quality customer experiences that occur within and between contact channels".[3]

The effort to unify channels has a long history across all market sectors. Efforts like single-source publishing and responsive web design, however, were usually focused on internal efficiencies, formatting consistency, and simple de-duplication across channels. As the number of channels proliferated, the potential for disjointed experience when switching or working with multiple channels increased. Channels like mobile devices, the mobile web, mobile apps, contextual help, augmented reality, virtual reality, and chatbots are used in addition to traditional physical and human interaction channels. This creates a complex matrix of possible ways an individual can engage an organization and its offerings or complete a task.

Retail, until the early 1990s, was either a physical brick and mortar store or catalog sales where an order was placed by mail or via telephone. Sale by mail order dates back to when British entrepreneur Pryce Pryce-Jones set up the first modern mail order in 1861, selling Welsh flannel.[4][5] Catalog sales for an assortment of general goods started in the late 1800s when Sears & Roebuck issued its first catalog in 1896.[6] In the early 1900s, L.L. Bean started its catalog business in United States.[7]

AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy experimented with selling through their proprietary online services in the early 1990s. These companies started sales channel expansion, while general merchants had evolved to department stores and Big-box store electronic ordering. In August 1994, NetMarket processed the first Internet sale where the credit card was encrypted. Shortly thereafter, Amazon.com was founded and the eCommerce sales channel was established. Mobile commerce arrived in 1997, and multichannel retailing really took off.

Omnichannel's origins date back to Best Buy's use of customer centricity to compete with Walmart's electronic department in 2003. The company created an approach that centered around the customer both in-store and online, while providing post-sales support. Omnichannel was coined as a form of "assembled commerce" and spread into the healthcare and financial services industries.[8]

Finance

Omnichannel banking developed in response to the popularity of digital banking transactions through ATMs, the web, and mobile applications. The most popular parts of omnichannel banking include 'zero drop rate' channel integration, individualizing channels for customers and marketing other channel options.[9] Banks receive in-depth research about customers to build relationships and increase profitability.[10][11]

Government

In 2009, the omnichannel platform started to be used in governments through Twitter interaction. Governments are developing web and mobile-enabled interfaces to improve and personalize the citizen experience. The United States government digital strategy includes information and customer-centric shared platforms that provide security and privacy.[12] Omnichannel is used to communicate with citizens through the platform of their choice at their convenience and use feedback to analyze the citizen experience to better serve.[13]

Healthcare

Due to fragmentation between health providers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and patients, omnichannel is developing to improve the customer experience in the healthcare industry.[14] Omnichannel healthcare centers around integrating data, technology, content and communication, while coordinating patient's results through digital channels.[15][16] In September 2015, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center received media attention for its customer service technology, which was integrated in 2009. The UPMC Health Plan uses an omnichannel system to improve customer engagement and contact resolution.[17]

Retail

Omnichannel retailing is an expansion of multichannel retailing. The emergence of digital technologies, social media and mobile devices has led to the significant changes in the retail environment and provide opportunities for the retailers to redesign their marketing and product strategies.[18] Customers tend to be looking for information in the physical store and at the same time they are getting additional information from their mobile devices about offers and possibly better prices. Omnichannel allows organizations to allocate inventory availability and visibility across locations vs. each channel holding specific units.[19] A number of features, like size charts, easy return policy and same-day delivery, have boosted ecommerce and promoted omnichannel shopping.[20]

An omnichannel retailer has traditional methods of mass advertising integrated with emerging interactive channels. Websites, email offers, social media messaging and physical stores all show the same messages, offers, and products. The omnichannel concept not only extends the range of channels, but also incorporates the needs, communications and interactions between customer, brand and retailers.[19]

Contact centers

Omnichannel has overtaken multichannel specifically in the contact center. Businesses that maintain contact centers have been encouraged to add an increasing number of channels through which customers can interact with the business, including email, chat, SMS, and social media. Omnichannel contact centers offer customers the same experience across all channels, while providing customer service agents a simpler interface and richer set of data.[21]

Outlook

Although omnichannel is said to be dictated by systems and processes, it is the customer who dictates how a transaction occurs. Systems and processes facilitate the customer journey to transact and be served.[22] Omnichannel is moving toward increased personalization based on analytics to make the customer experience more seamless.[23] According to an MIT report, omnichannel "is the central force shaping the future of e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores alike."[24][25]

Outlook Challenges

Future development and delivery of Omni-Channel marketing efforts are focused on consumers in the USA--where cybersecurity & privacy rights are still developing. Other countries and blocks of countries such as the European Union (EU) have recently implemented far more strict privacy restrictions (example: GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation) which limits access to a consumer's data, transaction information, and self-identifiable information).[26]

Vs. multichannel
Omnichannel marketing vs. Multi

The major difference between omnichannel and multichannel is the level of integration. Multichannel is usually identified as a non-integrated way to approach customers and inventory holdings,[19] while omnichannel requires coherent and absolute inventory integration.[27] More and more organizations have realized the opportunities and advantages of integrating multiple channels by adopting an omnichannel approach.[28] The boundaries between channels tend to vanish in an omnichannel environment, giving the customer a consistent brand experience.[29]

Vs. omni-digital

The major difference between omnichannel and omni-digital is the focus given to the strategy. With omnichannel, the company focuses on delivering the right content, on the right set of channels, at the right moment, to provide the most value to the user. With omni-digital, the company focuses on providing a consistent customer experience throughout everything digital, regardless of the channel used. The channel becomes secondary and the customer experience is the main focus.

Key solutions

In the omnichannel world, display advertising, search engines, social media, referral websites, e-mail and mobile marketing can be considered independent channels, as each can promote one-way or two-way communication. Retailers need to find ways to integrate their online and offline channels to avoid segregated campaigns.[30] Proceed with the expectation that shoppers will swap across channels and devices, and keep promotions, messaging and language consistent across all channels and customer touch points.[19]

To adapt on the omnichannel concept, customer behaviours needs to be understood by the retailers. Specifically, elements that might drive the customer to make purchase decision; and customer’s paths to purchase, which relate to their lifestyle, time committed to the purchase and the distance to the retail store. Using an omnichannel marketing approach, retailers can provide precisely targeted incentives through digital and mobile promotions.[30][31]

Omnichannel solutions also allow brands and companies to tighten supplier controls and optimise their product inventory across numerous sales channels, ensuring that the optimum stock levels are situated in each location and the channels are kept up to date with stock information.[32]

Retailing practices

Omnichannel means having a uniform customer experience. A simple example is that the design of the website should remain consistent with the mobile app and should also match branded physical environments. Consumers can shop the same way through in-store, website, and mobile. Regardless of the customers’ location and time. The order can either be delivered to the address directly, collected at the store, or collect from a retail partner. In the United States, retailers and brands are commonly selling online and offline. Online channels include branded webstores, marketplaces like: Amazon, eBay, Jet.com, Walmart.com and social channels like: Facebook, Google Shopping and Google Express. To ensure omnichannel and multichannel retail strategies are controlled and implemented efficiently, brands and retailers use software to centrally manage product information, listings, inventory and orders from vendors.

See also

References
  1. information-age.com Why omnichannel retail is more than just a buzzword
  2. A briefing on managing omnichannel retail
  3. Butte, Brian (December 4, 2015). "Cloud: The engine of the omni-channel customer experience". Network World. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  4. Pryce Pryce-Jones, Newtown businessman who introduced mail order shopping to the world BBC.co.uk
  5. "A Brief History of Newtown". Newtown Town Council.
  6. searsarchives.com History
  7. "L.L.Bean - Our Story" (PDF). L.L.Bean. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  8. Baird, Nikki (January 28, 2015). "Best Buy and the birth of customer centricity". Essential Retail. Retrieved May 31, 2016.
  9. "'Digital' & 'Omnichannel' Remains Elusive in Banking". The Financial Brand. February 2, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  10. Marous, Jim (March 24, 2014). "Omnichannel Banking: More Than a Buzzword". The Financial Brand. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  11. "Omnichannel: the new normal for retail banks". Banking Technology. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  12. Estopace, Eden (August 20, 2014). "Governments also going omnichannel". Enterprise Innovation. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  13. Sutton, Mark (April 2, 2015). "Transforming the citizen experience". ITP.net. Archived from the original on December 6, 2016. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  14. Gupta, Mayur (November 12, 2015). "Health Care Marketing Moves From Multichannel To Omnichannel". Ad Exchanger. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  15. Solomon, Micah (October 16, 2014). "Omnichannel Beyond Retail: The Customer Experience In Healthcare, B2B, Professional Services". Forbes. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  16. "Healthcare Marketing To Gen X: Take An Omnichannel Approach". eMarketer. October 30, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  17. Tierney, Jim (September 1, 2015). "Customer Engagement Rises with University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health Plan". Loyalty360. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  18. "This time it's personal: retail's customer data revolution". Drapers. 30 April 2019.
  19. Verhoef, Peter C.; Kannan, P. K.; Inman, J. Jeffrey (2015-06-01). "From Multi-Channel Retailing to Omni-Channel Retailing: Introduction to the Special Issue on Multi-Channel Retailing". Journal of Retailing. Multi-Channel Retailing. 91 (2): 174–181. doi:10.1016/j.jretai.2015.02.005. hdl:11370/a46db5f6-f417-4b12-b9a0-7ef9126f149c.
  20. Barnes, Mischelle. "Key Benefits of Enabling an Omnichannel Experience in the Fashion Industry". Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  21. Omnichannel contact center
  22. Infographic: The Chutes & Ladders Approach to an Effective Omnichannel Experience
  23. Everett, Cath (November 2015). "First steps taken on 'omni-channel' customer experience". Computer Weekly. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  24. Green, James (January 27, 2014). "Why And How Brands Must Go Omni-Channel in 2014". Marketing Land. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  25. Regalado, A. & Goldfarb, A. & Metz, R. & Kopytoff, V. & Fitzgerald, M. & Anders, G.. (2014). "Beyond the checkout cart". ResearchGate. pp. 61–67. Retrieved June 4, 2016.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. "GDPR". https://gdpr.eu/data-privacy/. Retrieved 12 November 2020. External link in |website= (help)
  27. Kersmark, Malin; Staflund, Linda (2015). OmniChannel Retailing Blurring the lines between online and offline.
  28. Rowell, James. "Omni-Channel Retailing". Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine. 4 (2): 12–15.
  29. Multichannel vs omnichannel - Move from transactional to 360-degree brand experience
  30. Fiona., Ellis-Chadwick; Education., Pearson (2016-01-01). Digital marketing. Pearson. ISBN 9781292077611. OCLC 968531125.
  31. Beata Gotwald-Feja: Consumer in omnichannel environment. SIZ, Lodz, Poland 2016 ISBN 978-83-946977-1-6
  32. "Omnichannel Supply Chain. Omnichannel Solutions at Retail Assist". Retail Assist. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
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