The day you stop marketing will directly hamper the bottom line of your business. Therefore, marketing has always been and will always be the backbone of any selling business. Gone are the days when marketing was limited to print ads, today, with the advancement of the technology Internet sellers have multiple options to promote their products and services. Multi-channel marketing can be defined as offering consumers ability to reach your product and brand information via include traditional methods like flyers, brochures, or even, digital methods like website banners, PR, blogs, and social media marketing. “With the increasing competition in the selling world, the more you make your products information available to consumers the better sales opportunities you can expect with time.” Tweet this Multi-channel selling is already there; however, allowing consumers to connect with your brand via their favorite touch points, and platforms is helping sellers with new opportunities by offering Omnichannel shopping experience to consumers. Omnichannel marketing- What sellers need to know? Considering the brand Apple, consumers who shop online can expect the same customer experience when shopping from an offline Apple store. Therefore, offering consumers with information and innovative experiences across multiple touch points that can include your selling website, social media channels, offline store, and mobile devices will automatically help you attract potential consumers who are active on such platforms on a regular basis. Benefits of Omnichannel marketing According to a 2016 report by eMarketer, the average US adults will consume approximately 6 hours of their usage over digital platforms like desktops, laptops and mobile devices that include smartphones, tablets, etc. Being present on constantly-changing consumer’s choice of touchpoints sellers can: - Meet consumers where they are With multiple options available in the market, consumers are no longer stuck to one platform for making their purchase decisions, and being able to access your brand information across their multiple touch points can ensure you offer them a flexibility to connect with your brand in the way they want. The more places your brand is visible, the better chances of it becoming visible to consumers from their preferred purchase preference. - Identify potential consumer’s preferences Sellers who have not adopted Omnichannel strategy may overlook the benefits of making their brand reachable to consumers via their preferred touchpoints. However, understanding on the usage of consumer touchpoints can help you be in line with consumer’s choice of connecting and dealing with a brand. - Target consumers confidently Being in touch with consumer’s preferences with a brand will need constant tracking, however, analyzing omnichannel tactics offered by popular brands will make it easy for you to come up with innovative ideas and reach out consumers in a way they would like. Omnichannel strategy examples from popular retail brands I- Considering online retail business Nordstrom is one such fashion brand that allows consumers with an omnichannel returns experience, which means the brand allows consumers ability to return their online purchases at the nearest store in The United States. This brand has 334 stores operating in 39 states and Canada. How does it benefit consumers? Allowing consumers an ability to deal with your brand in multiple ways, whether related purchase or even returns, can automatically earn trust and encourage more and more consumers to stick with your brand for long. Tip: Of course, you may not have a chain of stores like Nordstrom does, or may only be selling online. Therefore, affiliating with an offline store or entertaining consumers returns request via your online selling website in case of an offline purchase, can offer consumers a unique advantage of selecting your brand over competitors. II- Considering brick-and-mortar retail business Oasis is another innovative retail brand that allows in-store iPad service. This means consumers instead of standing in those long queues can immediately pay for their purchase from the trial rooms using the iPad, while receipt and the garment will be delivered to consumers within 90 minutes of ordering. How does it benefit consumers? Offering a next-level high street store shopping experience, Oasis is making it easy for consumers to get an idea about the size, color, and style of available products from anywhere on the shopping floor and changing rooms too. Tip: Instead of making consumers dependent on store executive, taking advantage of the latest technology and allowing them with self-assisted product information and purchase abilities can enhance their offline store shopping experience. Also, allowing consumers to process returns directly from your selling website can eliminate them take the pain of especially having to visit the store to make a claim. III- Considering mobile retail experience Starbucks another popular retail brand is allowing one of the most engaging omnichannel shopping experiences via its Reward app. This app allows Starbucks consumers to pay via the app, collect stars, earn rewards, as well as, find the nearest store in town. How does it help consumers?
Considering a recent report of Statista the number of smartphone users in the United States is estimated to reach 207.2 million by end of this year, while forecast to exceed 2 billion users worldwide. This means allowing consumers to engage with your products and services via their mobile devices can make it easy for them to connect with your brand anytime, anywhere. Tip: Helping consumers to use your promotional and loyalty discount codes via your mobile selling website/app, and even alerting them for the same can encourage them to take actions on-the-go. Also, allowing paperless purchase transactions can encourage them to make purchases without the need of having to remove their wallet. Closing advice With the upcoming holiday season 2016 offering Omnichannel shopping experience will surely allow a competitive advantage over sellers who have yet not adopted this strategy; however, being innovative with your tactics and measuring performance for each will determine the success of your Omnichannel tactics with time.
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Over the years, eCommerce has come so far that many retailers are getting an advantage to increase sales and revenue for their businesses, year on year. This year, you may have heard a lot about terms like multichannel retailing, multichannel selling, omnichannel selling, cross selling. Most of the retailers are already taking benefits of this profit making strategy, however for those who have not, then this article is for you. Multichannel retailing - The buzzword for retailers 2015 Multichannel retailing is a practice when retailers don’t tie themselves selling over a single channel, instead, list their products across different sales channels. These include brick-and-mortar stores, direct sales order over the phone, as well as online selling such as websites and marketplaces, both in local as well as international markets. This strategy has already proved to be a bliss for many start-ups and medium business owners for their growth strategy. And, with increasing number of marketplaces, retailers must adopt the idea of selling their products online, differently. Because, multichannel sales growth is estimated to boom over the coming years. Adopt multichannel retailing to increase profits by:
- Increasing the number of sales channels By listing your products across various channels, will allow you increased marketing opportunities. Some may do good while other may not bring in results as per your expectations, however having an ability to sell over multiple platforms, you can easily test your products line and focus more on those channels that are doing well, to divert more and more revenue for your retail business. - Reaching out to wider audience Today, selling products via leading marketplaces Amazon, eBay will help you with a readymade customers base. This means you don’t have worry about diverting traffic for your brand, as millions of online shoppers regularly visit these sites for making purchases. This way without much investment, pushing and promoting products to as wide an audience, as possible, will automatically increase sales and revenue for your retail business. Ways that can help you make the most out of multichannel retailing - Adopt a multichannel order management system By implementing a multichannel order management system, you can boost efficiency when it come to sales. Such systems will automatically sync orders coming from multiple sources under one roof, allowing you and your staff to quickly access information about products such as location, price and availability. Knowing this you can speed up order fulfillment process, leaving customers more satisfied and staff at peace. - Integrate inventory across all your channels Multichannel retailing will help you grow only if managed well. And, speaking about managing various sales channels, tackling inventory has always been a biggest challenge. Adopting a centralized inventory management system, you’ll have an access to information such as product availability and warehouse across all your selling channels. There be no risk of overselling and you can always fulfill your customer’s orders on time. Orderhive makes multichannel retailing easy, allowing tools to centralize and automate your inventory management, order fulfillment, along with intelligent reporting, each of which will save you time, cost- whilst making it easy to explore new markets for your products and increase profits for your business. |
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