What is Omnichannel? Advantages and disadvantages of Omni channel
What is Omnichannel? A perfect solution to increase the opportunity to reach customers for businesses is the application of the Omni channel model. Today’s modern consumers often have the need to purchase products and services on many different sales channels. When shopping for products and services, they have a whole process from researching, considering, and then making the most suitable choice. Therefore, businesses need to study customer needs and develop an appropriate omnichannel sales model.
So what is the concept of an Omni channel? What are its advantages and disadvantages? Let’s find out with CleverAds through the article below!
1. What is Omnichannel?
Omni channel translates into English as omnichannel sales and is understood as an omnichannel sales model or an omnichannel sales solution. In addition to the store, businesses can manage sales on websites, social networks, sales apps, or e-commerce platforms.
Omnichannel is an approach to lead nurturing and user interaction. In which, businesses connect all independent solutions into a complete, closed cycle. Specifically, businesses provide access to products, offers, and support services to customers or potential customers across all channels, platforms, and any device.
Literally defined, an Omni channel is “all channels”. In marketing strategy, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean all channels are available, but all channels are actually used. Instead of isolating channels as independent routes, multichannel involves the spillover and movement between those channels. It also integrates the physical or real-world aspects of your business with virtual or online experiences.
2. Omni channel example:
The customer wants to buy a shirt and they see a shirt ad on Facebook. According to behavioral psychology, they will click on the ad and the interface is opened in the online store.
The customer can then make a choice and tell the store whether they want to pick up the shirt at the store or have it delivered to their door. Through the chat function in the app, they can ask questions about the product and find the same information again. Therefore, this is an Omni channel model, in addition to selling at the store directly, also sells on the social network Facebook.
Read more: What is an advertising agency? Everything you need to know.
3. The role of Omni channel in business
As the business expands, coverage on many different sales channels will increase the ability to reach more customers without having to increase investment in physical stores. Customers can see your products or stores anytime, anywhere from “virtual” to “real”. Thus, the Omni channel has a great impact on the shopping behavior and purchasing decision process of customers.
Omni channel helps businesses understand customer portraits and behaviors.
Enterprises based on that research needs will recognize:
- Are customers satisfied with their products and services?
- Is there a need for improvement in quality or price?
- Is it difficult for customers to place an order?
- From there, businesses not only satisfy customers in the short term but also build a loyal customer list for long-term goals.
Omnichannel experience has become one of the very important factors for building customer loyalty. Because Omni channel meets their multi-channel shopping needs. Currently, customers are everywhere in the online environment, if businesses do not approach multi-channel, they will go “slowly” with the times. Therefore, businesses with small or large businesses need to increase the application of the Omni channel model to reach and connect well with their customers.”
4. Advantages of Omni channel
Do businesses always wonder whether switching to an Omni channel strategy is effective or not? What are the practical advantages of the strategy? The Harvard Business Review said that in a survey of 46,000 shoppers, 73% of them used multiple channels instead of just one or two. Certainly, using omnichannel business has brought great benefits. Here are the advantages of the Omni channel:
4.1. Keeping customers
Customer retention is essential to the success of any business. By offering an omnichannel approach, you will help ensure that customers return to your services for a positive and consistent experience. Because customers can choose a shopping channel to suit their needs and circumstances.
4.2. Promote and market the brand widely
With the specificity of the multi-channel sales model, it is obvious that businesses can use those channels to promote and market their brands and products. Currently, customers live in an era of booming technology, they have more options to shop instead of just through a direct sales channel as before. This is the era of online shopping crowned and developed. Therefore, with the Omni Channel model, the brand, product of the business, or retailer will be promoted more widely.
4.3. Increase the revenue
By implementing omnichannel sales, businesses will bring their products and brands closer to customers, promote them to buy and increase revenue. As a result of the survey, Harvard Business Review concluded that your omnichannel customers can be 30% more valuable to your organization than other single-channel consumers.
4.4. Effective business organization
When applying the Omni channel model, integrating all sales channels enhances the customer experience and also improve the efficiency of the business itself. In addition, streamlining your channels is a database that makes your business and product or service information more visible to existing and new customers.
4.5. Better data collection and analysis
By setting up an integrated Omni channel strategy, businesses will have a better overview of how consumers use their channels. Businesses will collect more specific customer data such as:
- When to access different channels?
- How do access channels?
- Where to access channels?
- Why do they access different channels?
As such, this allows businesses to use better analytics to further improve the services they provide.
4.6. Linking “real world” and “virtual world” together
E-commerce is of great importance and has tremendous growth in today’s modern world. But not so that offline sales channels are ignored. The Omni channel model allows businesses to bundle them together, do cross-promotion, and give customers a better choice of how they approach your products.
Read more: Marketing Channels: Everything You Need To Know
5. Disadvantages of Omni channel
Besides the advantages that bring businesses opportunities and positive values, omnichannel selling still has some limitations. Let’s take a look at what are the disadvantages of Omni channel with CleverAds below!
5.1. Organizational structure must be reformed
Implementing an Omni channel strategy means that businesses will have to make some changes in their organizational structure to match and ensure omnichannel sales results. Most businesses have separate traditional marketing and online marketing departments. Similarly, online support may come from the development department rather than the customer support team. Following this process will make it easier and more effective for businesses to implement their omnichannel retail strategy.
Usually, the parts work separately from each other because of the different channels. However, the best solution is to have a branding team take care of all the work related to offline and online sales promotion.
And it’s important to have a sales team responsible for the customer “journey” and the coordination of the different channels.
Thus, the disadvantage of this is that businesses have to change their personnel structure and invest time and money in the Omni channel model.
5.2. Vulnerable to financial risk
Omni channel is the implementation of approaching multiple sales channels, so if the sales capacity is stagnant, it will cause loss and risk of previously mobilized resources and finance. Therefore, once you want to sell multi-channel, it requires businesses to be really serious and invest in it.
5.3. New model
The concept of an Omni channel is currently quite new to some small businesses or stores. They are wondering if they need to use this multi-channel sales system with such a scale.
However, today, this technology is increasingly upgraded and perfected to ensure the best quality to serve all objects and situations of many types of businesses.
6. Conclusion What is Omnichannel?
Above is the basic definition of what Omnichannel is and some advantages and disadvantages that Omni channel brings to users. With the preeminent features of multi-channel selling, it will certainly effectively support the business of businesses. So make good use of Omnichannel!
