The ecommerce world is forever changing, but if we are honest the past few years have caused these changes to happen at a much quicker rate and we think these changes might be here to stay. It doesn’t surprise us that over 29% of retail spending in the UK during 2021 was online, this figure is up 10% from the previous year. Those poor delivery drivers had a busy year!
So when planning your strategies it can often be hard to keep up with these changes in trends, but, we are here to help. We have created a little mini series to try our best to help you keep up and thrive throughout 2022.
A huge trend that we have noticed is having an Omnichannel strategy. Making sure you are performing via all your channels is a great way to stay ahead of your competitors and stay present and in the forefront of your customers minds.
The first article in this series is going to talk about the best way to create a compelling in store experience.
So let’s start at the very beginning and look at exactly what an omnichannel strategy is.
Omnichannel is a neologism portmanteau describing a business strategy. According to Frost & Sullivan, omnichannel is defined as “seamless and effortless, high-quality customer experiences that occur within and between contact channels”.
There are quite a few brands who are known for being able to fuse both the digital and physical side of shopping. It has become apparent that customers want to use all features to create a quicker and simple way to shop.
Nike offers a seamless journey from browsing and placing an order via their app to then being able to pick it up in one of their stores. It is a great example of omnichannels working perfectly together to deliver a great customer experience.
Have you heard of the term “Showrooming”? Well now you have… this is a trend that has been growing steadily over the years but will see a big spike during 2022. Showrooming is a trend where consumers visit stores to touch and feel the products but opt to purchase them online.
According to a commissioned Forrester Consulting study conducted on behalf of Shopify, over 40% of businesses said they would be investing in improving their in-store experience by “Showrooming”.
So our top tips to improve your in-store experience is to make it as personal to the customer as you can.
- Continue to provide great customer service
- Offer appointment shopping/browsing
- Showcase your products
- Allow customers to touch and feel
- Encourage checking out online (We have the Rockar Tech platform ready and waiting)
To follow this series take a look at the second article here. The Rockar Tech platform and team can help you to get your omnichannel strategy working to its best. To take control of your lower funnel, improve your add to cart conversion rate and take orders online, get in touch to find out how.
