The real deal about omnichannel marketing: Why it matters

What is omnichannel marketing?

Simply put, omnichannel marketing is shorthand for being where your customers are whenever, wherever. It focuses on catering to their preferences with a seamless stream of information, channel integration, and multiple touchpoints.

Think, Nike. The brand has gone beyond selling sports shoes to extending their “Just Do It” mantra into a full-blown experience. From their Run Club facilitating running groups, to a Nike app offering a wide variety of individual workouts and fitness programs, their omnichannel marketing strategy has allowed them to become a part of their customers’ daily lives.

What omnichannel marketing strategies can I apply?

The key lies in value creation. Research has shown that omnichannel customers make for good business, as they have been found to shop 1.7 times more than the average shopper. In parallel, they also spend more.

McKinsey identifies three main strategies your organization can adopt.

• Commerce: This approach focuses on providing exceptional cross-channel shopping experiences. This means elevating your product offers, multiple options for your consumers to receive their orders, and incentivizing repeated purchases. Think pandemic trends like curbside pickup (order online, pick-up in-store) and self-checkout. Studies show that these behaviors are here to stay.
• Personalization: This approach focuses on providing tailored cross-channel engagement at scale. This means marketing messages customized to specific consumer segments, the ability for customers to switch seamlessly between channels when shopping, and keeping customers engaged post-purchase.
• Ecosystem: This approach focuses on integrating your brand to your consumers’ lifestyle. This means relevant dynamic content, putting brand experience at the center of multiple touchpoints, and access to a community of like-minded individuals.

As the trends in the selling environment become even more complex—from multiple offerings, a longer buying process, and demand volatility—you may find that applying a singular or mixed strategy would work best.

Where do I start?

Before you jump into omnichannel marketing, think about your organization’s north star. This is where your vision and mission come to life. What kind of experience do you want your consumers to have? How do these strategies align with your company’s values? While these may be hard-hitting questions that take you a few steps back, these are essential ones to ask to create scalable value.

Think, Best Buy. The multi-billion-dollar retail brand introduced its 24/7 tech support to customers with its “Geek Squad” initiative. This eventually went on to launch 200,000 memberships in 2018, climbing to two million in 2019—and that’s on the brand aligning its omnichannel marketing strategy on its positioning of accessibility and convenience.

This goes to show that a clear understanding of your organization’s north star can help drive better business value.

What’s next?

Your organization must be ready for the capabilities omnichannel marketing requires. For one, data and analytics should be at the forefront to help create a feedback loop from consumer data. This can help your organization be agile with improvements.

Furthermore, your supply chain management must not be left behind. This means optimizing the integration of inventory across channels. Cross-functional processes and teams also need to be strengthened, ensuring seamless customer service is provided within multiple touchpoints.

The right tools can help build on these foundational capabilities. For instance, investing in pre-built integrations like API enables your organization to show up for consumers wherever they are in their buying journey.

At Pluxee, omnichannel marketing takes the spotlight with the API-enabled digital GCs. Our API can connect to your website, mobile app, and chatbots to distribute digital GCs to your most loyal consumer base in an instant. This integration also allows you to facilitate orders and receive delivery and inventory status in real time. The best part? Your recipients can enjoy their rewards at our partner merchants nationwide.