Digital payments, Inventory management, Customer satisfaction, On-time delivery, Safety concerns.
We’re sure that these are at the top of your retail business’s priority list as the popularity of online shopping platforms continuing to rise.
In fact, according to EY, about 20 percent of Kirana store owners started using online platforms to get a steady supply and assistance in deliveries. The report states that they use chat apps to take orders, provide contactless delivery, and receive payments through digital platforms.
The survey also states that the disruption in the FMCG sector can prompt technology adoption by small stores even for the long-term by partnering with more businesses.
So what if there is an easy, simple way to integrate all these modern retail needs across platforms into one central system?
This is where integrated omnichannel retail solutions can be a real game-changer.
What Should I Know About Omnichannel Retail Solutions?
As a retailer, the need for your business to be present across many platforms such as physical stores, online platforms, websites, and mobile applications is more important now than ever. From mom-and-pop stores to high-street retail, the shift in shopping preferences is clearly visible. Convenience, safety, customer relationships, and customer experience are all crucial factors influencing a customer’s shopping preferences.
The use of digital mediums has also become the new normal for businesses globally and missing out on adopting these changes will be costly for any retail business.
However, a major issue that these trends present is integrating operations across all these platforms. That’s where omnichannel retail solutions can be a big advantage.
An omnichannel retail solution is a system that integrates your retail business’s digital and physical activities into a single centralized system to give much-needed control of the processes which ultimately increases productivity and profitability.
Omnichannel retail solutions act as your retail enterprise’s central data bank and provide intelligent insights from all your sales platforms and channels.
Now you may be wondering, “ how does that help my retail business?”
“Do I really need an integrated solution to carry out operations?”
The answer is yes!
As a retail business owner, imagine a situation where you have to update your inventory after every sale across every platform. It’s a waste of time and effort. Now scale this problem to a retail business present on a number of platforms. It would be almost impossible to keep a track of all the transactions manually. As a centralized system, omnichannel retail solutions get rid of this hassle. Along with this, you also get the added benefits of:
1. Ensuring Your Brand’s Presence, Anytime, Anywhere
The biggest advantage that an omnichannel retail solution is that it caters to every platform your customer will use to interact with your business including physical stores, online stores, mobile ordering apps, and delivery apps. By providing an integrated experience with consistent design, communication, delivery experience, and varied payment options, an omnichannel retail solution coordinates all your sales requirements across different channels.
2. Streamlining Inventory Management Across Multiple Platforms
As your retail business scales up, there are more sales channels involved in the distribution of your products. However, this presents a big problem as synchronizing inventory and purchases in real-time is next to impossible without a central system. This can cause a supply-demand gap which leads to a drop in sales and profits.
This is where an integrated system like omnichannel retail solutions can come in handy.
| As a wholly centralized data management system, your inventory is updated in real-time for every online or in-store purchase made. |
Integrating data from your different sales platforms streamline your internal processes and remove discrepancies in your supply chain. It builds a seamless shopping experience that always ensures order fulfillment.
3. Drawing On Marketing Insights & Data For Sales Strategies
Omnichannel retail solutions are also customer-centric and help your retail business “think like your customer”. A study shows that over 50% of customers expect to be able to buy products online and pick up in-store while 48% of customers tend to share their information for a more personalized retail experience. As the system provides intelligent insights on customer behavior, you can target customer retention and repeat purchases based on preferences and buying patterns.
An example of this is using the data from the omnichannel retail solution to promote discounts and exclusive sales to customers who are most likely to buy from your brand. These analytics not only improve sales growth but also enhance the buyer journey and builds brand loyalty in the long run.
Statistics like timely insights on fast-moving items, buying patterns, daily sales analysis, and employee sales give ample scope for planning inventory and operations.
4. Seamless Delivery Experience
There’s no doubt that a streamlined delivery system helps build brand trust and loyalty. Therefore, having an integrated platform in place to ensure fast and efficient delivery is critical for your modern retail success with a multiple order acceptance system.
With an omnichannel retail solution, all your locations and channels are integrated into one system with the help of a delivery app. Thus no matter where your customers are, you can still ship products to them using the shortest distance with integrated delivery channels. The availability of a delivery app helps track the delivery executive and the delivery timeline. It also instantly updates delivery completion in the central system.
For example, if a customer orders a product, the system determines the nearest shop or warehouse to your customer’s address. The item is then shipped from that location resulting in saved shipping costs and increased customer satisfaction.
5. Achieving Seamless Checkouts
Omnichannel retail solutions are all about efficiency in process, customer experience, and manpower utilization. The best retail software integrates a range of payment methods like card payment, contactless payment, UPI payment, QR payment, and pay by the link that customers may use to pay for products ordered through various ordering platforms.
This will allow your retail business to allow your customers to use their preferred payment processing options across all channels for a smooth checkout.
If you are a retailer or entrepreneur, investing in a good omnichannel retail solution can help cut down half your worries and efforts. When it comes to scaling up, learning about new trends, and growing your business, omnichannel retail solutions are the way to go.
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