A few years ago I got so sick of the word ‘Omnichannel’ that I developed a bit of a nervous tick in reaction to it. A little like the words ‘unprecedented’ and ‘pivot’ in recent times (overuse is exhausting) ???? Omnichannel, it turns out, is an easy shorthand for the connecting bits that bring digital and physical stores closer together.
If your retail business didn’t already have a way of servicing customers across different channels then I’m sure the last couple of months have been a huge learning curve. Working with clients through the COVID period, it became clear that there are many retailers who don’t have all omnichannel pieces working seamlessly.
Excitingly, there have been lots of great technology innovations that have appeared over the last couple of months that have made even more of a difference. We call these ‘transition’ services because they’re all about connecting the digital and physical transition more easily, whether it’s getting an electronic receipt (because then you can find it later), booking an appointment to visit the hairdresser or queuing in the comfort of your own car there have been some fabulous accelerations of tech applied over our confinement.
To execute omnichannel elements like ship from store, click and collect or endless aisle you need good solid inventory management practices in place. Inventory accuracy and reporting alignment is foundation, level essential. Opening up inventory that’s not accurate to customers and staff at stores will only increase the pain rather than reduce it.
Wherever you are on the connecting of digital and physical we think that there’s always room to improve, refine and finesse. We have put some of the lessons we’ve learned, templates we use and tips that we look out for in this 5 part (5 mins over 5 days) video series.
FREE 5-PART OMNICHANNEL VIDEO SERIES
We’re opening up our templates for sharing and our brains for picking in this 5 part series (over 5 days). Downloads and Templates included.