The road to creating and implementing a successful and achievable omni-channel strategy begins with the technology, but that is only the entry point - the journey involves a great deal more.
Converged solutions that seamlessly create, deliver and provide an omni-channel experience with the customers' journey front and centre of the strategy are crucial to success.
Omni-channel requires flexibility and scalability in response to customer demands, and recent innovations in technology provisioning, such as software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing, lend themselves to this approach, while offering the benefit of shifting costs to a per-use basis.
Predictive analytics and targeted marketing:
Once a company has a single view of its customer, it is critical to perform predictive analytics on this data, with the sole purpose of creating targeted marketing (also referred to as 'direct marketing') opportunities.
The following is an example of such a scenario being played out: 'Hi John, I see that you purchased an Armani suit from our Sandton branch and an Armani shirt from our e-commerce site. We would like to give you a 50% discount on our latest range of Armani shoes when you next shop with us.'
Build a single view of the customer and stock:
Omni-channel's promise of a consistent, seamless customer experience across channels relies absolutely on the company's ability to store all customer and stock information in a central location, where it is available to each channel. In addition, the ability to up- and cross-sell, plus run loyalty programmes, also depends on this crucial building block.
Customer is king
Customers have always been at the centre of all transactional business experiences - or have they? That's actually the theory, but now technology has empowered them as never before by enabling transparency at all levels. Companies must include customer feedback in their omni-channel planning, build a clear picture of what customers want, and develop omni-channel capabilities in order to enhance the customer experience.
One step at a time:
Developing and implementing an omni-channel strategy is a journey and should be seen as a carefully structured progression that allows concepts to be proved before they are rolled out, with unsuccessful ones quickly abandoned before major resources are committed. Businesses must follow a carefully structured and interactive methodology that tracks a sequence of: "Develop, deploy, review/measure and expand."
Mining the data:
It is essential to choose a partner that can bring extensive IP to bear in assisting clients to understand what to measure and why they should measure it; how to interpret it; and plan to personalise it, while ensuring regulatory compliance and security for their customers.
Integrate digital and mobile commerce:
Digital commerce channels, which include mobile channels, are important in the development of alternatives to in-store shopping and can be done as separate projects. In the retail sector, for example, most South African companies have made a start in developing e-commerce Web sites, but few have managed an effective integration of the digital channels with the rest of the operation.
Change is disruptive, and must be carefully orchestrated.
This is a significant flaw, because integration facilitates the optimisation of purchasing and even warehousing - as the information gleaned can be used to highlight customer interest and manage stock.
Understanding what the customer wants and ensuring they get targeted marketing information will grow engagement, interest, retention and ultimately sales.
Enable a global view of inventory and ability to replenish accurately:
Staff and, increasingly, customers need to be able to identify holdings of specific stock items no matter where they are located, as well as delivery times to the customer location. The allied capability is the ability to monitor usage trends and ensure inventory levels are maintained at optimal levels.
Change is the only constant:
The multi-channel retail world is changing rapidly as new technologies develop, and, more importantly, as the business environment becomes increasingly competitive. This in turn affects customer expectations and choices. Change is disruptive, and must be carefully orchestrated, planned for and managed throughout the process. But, without change, stagnation in a changing digital business world is inevitable.
Partnering with a leader in digital commerce is the smart and only move in guaranteeing a ticket to the game! And the name of the game is business growth.
So, what is the bottom line?
Digital commerce capability will result in growth. The ability to integrate digital channels into conventional, in-person experiences is critical in a world where tech-savvy customers are demanding high service levels and using technology to channel hop for the best product, service, price and experience. The key factor for businesses is, therefore, to focus on the experience and not on the transaction.
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