Omnichannel - the overriding and obvious strategy to seamless retail

Brick and Mortar retailers are slowly feeling the pressure to respond to the seismic changes in the way people are shopping.

Despite the ease and convenience offered by ecommerce many customers are still interested in the touch and feel of products before making purchases.  You don't have to look very far to see a whole array of traditionally ecommerce based business moving into the realm of brick-and-mortar and opening physical stores.  The new Amazon bookshops and Fabletics being new adopters of this Click 2 Brick movement.

Omnichannel retailing is the future - filling the gap between limitations posed by impersonal yet efficient ecommerce and brick-and-mortar.

Omnichannel ensures that the retailers are able to address consumers requirements across numerous touch points.  Essentially providing a single holistic shopping experience through every channel, be it mobile, online or in the physical store.

Retailers adapting to omnichannel will see huge advantages.  Not merely seamless integrated experiences online and offline but also advantages in increased data capture.  Retailers will be able to track individual shoppers likes, dislikes and preferences and their buying patterns. With this type of data retailers will inevitably be able to understand their customers better as well as being able to understand the value held in each different touch point.

With in-store applications and endless-aisle solutions consumers will be delighted to have the simplicity of the online world with the personal experience of the traditional brick-and-mortar.

It is key for every retailer to move to omnichannel in order to provide a consistent message of their brand, regardless of the way the consumer chooses to interact.