In this guest post, Michael Tutek (lead image), co-founder and CEO of retail experience platform preezie, predicts the end of one of marketer’s favourite buzzwords – omnichannel! Here, he takes a look at what will come after…
Over the last decade, omnichannel has become ubiquitous in all forms of retail. Basically, the term is used to describe any customer-focused approach that provides a unified, consistent retail experience across a brand’s physical stores, apps, websites, phones – and any other way you sell goods.
It’s not hard to see why it’s become retailers’ ‘catch-all’ term. Consumers no longer see consistent multiplatform shopping experiences as preferential, they’re essential. That’s why it might be surprising to hear that omnichannel likely won’t exist in the next five years.
Don’t be alarmed, this is perfectly normal. Omnichannel has essentially paved the way for even greater breakthroughs – the trick is identifying and seizing those new innovations before your competition does.
Omnichannel will undoubtedly become a redundant concept not because the internet is going to disappear tomorrow, but because online and in-store is on track to becoming so merged, there won’t be a specialised term. Instead, a new term will describe the future normal customer experience. But what will those new experience essentials be?
Let’s dive into some trend forecasting and look at where the post-omnichannel retail industry is heading.
Think pre-purchase, not post-purchase
Omnichannel is great in theory but there’s one aspect that’s always bugged me: the modern ‘customer profile’. And why is that? Because the way we collect data in-person and the way we do it online are completely different approaches. That’s right: you’ve probably been thinking about your consumer data the wrong way for years. It’s time to flip your whole approach on its head.
Historically, almost every single piece of eCommerce tech gathers customer data in the post-purchase phase. This means that you may have a very clear idea of a customer’s routine purchases, or understand the things they like that they now have – but that’s a very narrow opportunity for vendors.
Think of it this way – when someone’s shopping in-store but has not yet made a purchase, you can speak to them to find out:
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What they want
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What they need it for
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Who they’re buying for
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When they’ll need it
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What they like or don’t like on offer
This allows you to instantly make a much better recommendation for their purchase during the discovery phase, rather than trying to profile your customers with post-purchase data to try and predict a future purchase. Someone buying a dress to attend a wedding on a specific day can tell you what they need and when but to an online retailer, this shopping journey is practically invisible – especially if they don’t wind up making a purchase. Only pre-purchase data can help you navigate that, meaning you’re losing out on thousands of potential online sales.
Integrating the in-person approach to data to all your channels is revolutionary because it inverts the industry consensus and opens the door to predictive modelling. This is the highest quality data you can possibly get, but it goes completely ignored in omnichannel. The ability to predict what consumers want and serve it to them before they even begin outreach is within your grasp – but you must first rethink data.
Watch the big players
This data-driven shift is happening before our eyes. Just last month, Coles appointed its first-ever Chief Customer Officer, replacing the more traditional position of CMO. Pundits have already observed that this represents not just a change in Coles’ strategy, but a shift in retail more broadly.
Qantas and FlyBuys have also recently made CCO appointments in order to enable new customer engagements through data-driven discoveries. This trend has been on the cards for a while – MYER replaced its CIO with a Chief Digital & Data Officer years ago. It’s vital that modern companies not just transform how they look at data, but how they collect it.
Customer experience is key and when omnichannel is a given, the real concern is consistency under the hood. There’s also something more ephemeral that’s just as critical: loyalty.
Untangling loyalty
So what really is loyalty? It’s a messy concept that desperately needs to be untangled. We all think we understand loyalty but if you had to define it, is it purchasing:
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Once a quarter
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Once a year
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More often? Less often?
If I buy from your store, am I still in your system and receiving sale emails 14 months later? If so, I wouldn’t call that loyalty – really, it’s just retargeting.
So how much of your budget goes towards true loyalty? Retargeting is a necessary part of any marketing strategy but it’s not stoking loyalty and it’s not optimising all your channels or your data. In a post-omnichannel environment, loyalty needs to be much more.
Let’s be real: 80 per cent of your emails in your loyalty program aren’t actually loyal customers. Loyalty relates to experience – brands must provide memorable experiences when customers aren’t in a purchasing phase. A frequent customer that only finds out about a ‘VIP sale’ via your company’s Instagram is going to wonder why they didn’t receive an advance email for their loyalty.
There are limitless solutions but here’s one example: multi-tiered loyalty. If you’re sending just one version of a sale email to your entire database, you’re not specifically appealing to any one type of shopper.
Imagine a multi-tiered loyalty structure instead, where frequent small-item shoppers received bundle offers via email that were tailored to them. Meanwhile, your occasional luxury item browsers might be served a pop-up when browsing your website, offering them a personal discount for coming back to browse. The key is to understand how your loyal customers make purchases from your brand, rather than solely focusing on the frequency of their purchases. A more sophisticated approach could pay dividends if it’s different and rewarding for consumers.
Not omnichannel, all channel
If you’re still working towards providing a truly omnichannel experience, you’re already behind the curve. In mere years, ‘unique brand experience’ will be the norm across all channels. Don’t just get your online offering in line with your in-store experience, create a powerful point of difference with how you interact with your customers. Gather richer data sooner, reevaluate how you categorise different buyers, and find new and suitable ways to engage them to stoke true loyalty. Every brand has the opportunity to do something their competitors aren’t – ensure you’re the one leading the pack when omnichannel becomes obsolete.
