Omnichannel Retailing

Abstract

Tremendous growth of information technology led to the rise of a new form of retailing, the digital retailing, (includes e-commerce and m-commerce), which offers value, convenience and tons of information. Mostly, customers experience digital and conventional retailing distinctly. For a customer to appreciate ‘The brand', it is necessary for him to experience it, no matter through which channel he interacts with ‘The brand'. Here, Omnichannel strategy, which uses digital media as its backbone, is an integrated sales experience that melds the advantages of physical stores with the information rich-experience of online shopping. An Omnichannel strategy enables the customer to get what he wants anyhow, anytime and anywhere through options like Click and Collect Store, order from a public space, browse in store-order online, browse online-get at store and in-store GPS, information centre etc. From a retailer's perspective, it offers him a single customer view (SCV) that helps in understanding what the customers want. An effective integration of field intelligence and digital media data facilitates excellent control over the stocking of products. Integration of channels enables a retail store to fulfil an online order, thus the volume of products going into decline stage is reduced. Also it becomes easy to either risk pool the inventory and deliver from one point or reduce warehousing and deliver from the store. As a result, capital investment is optimised. To adopt omnichannel, it is necessary to understand the psychology of digital shoppers, customer touch points and actionable channels preferred by the customers. The SCV offered by omnichannel ensures that the brand makes its customers appreciate, enjoy and remain connected to the brand.