By nature, omnichannel retailers are user-centric businesses that put the customer experience first. Armed with information on shopping history, social media habits, and even geo-location, retailers can personalize experiences better than ever before. Here are four ways top brands will continue to utilize omnichannel to meaningfully connect with shoppers online and in-real-life.
Most omnichannel retailers rely on rewards or members programs to incentivize brand loyalty. At Nordstrom, members earn points for every transaction — online, in store, or even through Nordstrom subsidiaries like Nordstrom Rack and HauteLook. Members can shop on “bonus points days” to double or triple their points mileage. Once they reach 2000 points, members earn a $20 Nordstrom “note” gift card. Why shop around when your loyalty is rewarded?
By encouraging customers to sign up for programs and apps, retailers form a stronger bond with shoppers, which can lead to a more personalized customer experience.
If you're steadily accruing rewards points at Starbucks on your daily dose of green tea, the company can learn from your habit. Instead of serving you a promotion for a new iced Frappuccino variation, they can cater to your preferences by promoting something you're more likely to indulge in, like a green tea latte.
According to the seventh annual Personalization Consumer Survey conducted by e-tailing.com, 53 percent of consumers say it’s important that retailers recognize them as the same person across all channels. And 50 percent of consumers want retailers to use their personal information to coordinate a better overall shopping experience.
For example, say you order printer ink online from a nondescript office supplies store twice a year. One day, you're out eating tacos and remember that your ink is dangerously low. You swing by the store but don’t know the specific ink cartridge number you need. Ideally, an associate immediately accesses your online shopping history to help you find the right product.
In a well-managed omnichannel approach, personalization means learning and catering to a customer’s shopping habits, even down to when, where, and how they’re most likely to shop. All of this information can be used to generate content that actually matters to the consumer.
Sorry, nondescript office supply store, people don’t need to know about discounts on ink cartridges two weeks after they purchased that ink. However, a well-timed ink-cartridge discount a few months later — that might do the trick.
The fact is, consumers regard most retail emails as near-spam. According to Magnetic.com, 37 percent of consumers won’t open any emails they receive from retailers/brands.
Consumers want to be contacted in ways that are relevant, timely, and compelling. An omnichannel approach allows retailers to track their customers to do so. Retailers can even use geo-targeting to send coupons at times when they’re most useful: when you’re in the vicinity of a physical store.
Omnichannel businesses utilize their physical operations as traditional stores, but also in less obvious ways — as showrooms for digital sales, or simply as shipping centers. Since 2013, Best Buy has competed with and sometimes outperformed Amazon in shipping time with its ship-from-store operation. In today’s omnichannel world, if you’re shopping online last-minute for a new TV to buy a few hours before the big game, consider where it’s coming from — the shipping distribution center a few states away, or the big box store down the street.
Though digital sales are still on the rise, omnichannel retailers prove that physical stores are far from irrelevant.
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