It’s quite obvious that a decade or two ago, we couldn’t have imagined that we would shop on phones, through social media on our conveniences.

Deloitte State of Consumer Tracker, states,  ”73% of Indian respondents are willing to spend more on convenience”.

Nowadays, we can expect quite a less brands being adopting the single-channeled approach. Brands especially have been gearing their growth through the multi-faceted approaches, multi-channel and omnichannel strategy.

Let’s talk about the MULTI-CHANNEL APPROACH.

When it comes to multi-channel marketing, we actually speak about two channels viz. online as well as offline channels

Multichannel strategy implies being having presence on various touchpoints, as the name goes ‘multi(many)-channels’, being present at multiple channels. It powers interacting with prospective customers at nuanced platforms. Platforms such as social media, physical location i.e. a specific brick-and-mortar store, word-of-mouth, online web presence, e-commerce store such as Flipkart, Amazon, Myntra, etc.

There happened to be several challenges faced by retailers because of the Multi-channel retailing approach:

• There was an unstructured & inconsistent experience for customers.
• The prices across the channels seemed to vary
• Order Management System lacked integration.
• Returns & refunds were complex & inefficient.
• Real-time information was also not available for customers.

It is OMNI-CHANNEL MARKETING that has proved to be highly capitalizing nowadays. Let’s check out what is Omnichannel marketing and why has it been the most sought priority for several brands, especially in the retailing industry.

The prefix ‘omni’ backing the word channel means (not the Maruti Omni, lol :P) omniscient, being present everywhere. Omni-channel strategy means serving the customers across various touchpoints, like brick-and-mortar stores, other direct marketing channels like mail order, door-to-door sales, through the website, and yes through e-commerce store such as Flipkart, Amazon, Myntra, etc. Revolutionary, isn’t it?

Well, well, well!! That’s exactly what Multi-channel has been resembling to?

Well, there happens to be a considerable difference between the two.

Omni-channel strives a bit more ahead to help create a personalized experience.

The most significant difference between the two is ‘integrated shopping experience’. This implies, Omnichannel marketing strives to make a connected, an integrated shopping experience for a long-lasting user experience, from a brick-and-mortar to internet browsing and everything that prevails between them. There’s an alignment between various touchpoints.

The other most significance which could be seen from the customer’s perspective is ‘Seamless shopping experience’, at a complete ease for the customers.

Fact-check

Harvard Business Review studied the shopping behaviour of 46,000 customers back during 2015-2016, this helped them gauging the impact omni-channel has had on the retail experience. Through the study, they sought to the above consensus:

7% were absolute online-shoppers.

20% were store-only shoppers.

73% preferred using multiple channels.

Let me take you through few Indian brands who’ve adopted this approach, this will make it easier for you to sort a fine difference between the both

Pepperfry

Pepperfry pepperfly high above the sky, letting its omnichannel simply exemplify ;P

Pepperfry believes that retail and online services need not compete with each other, they need to be corresponding instead, to provide a seamless customer experience

Shopping furnitures online at times can be very tedious and skeptic. Interaction, and trustworthiness is what is been lacked buying online. Pepperfry leaves no stones unturned in sorting out this loophole.

They launched their own concept store. Here, the customer can select online the product he prefers to buy. Later he can visit the “Studio Pepperfry” to see how exactly the products he selected looks in person, have an interaction, get consulted with the architecture as well as with the interior designer at his complete ease.

The interior designer’s expertise helps take customers through various designs exhibited at the studio and moreover online as well. This helps the customer to choose the furniture suiting their taste and preferences. Moreover, through their assistance he also gets the opportunity to customize the design of the furniture.

As he’s all good to go, he/she can buy the product in-store or return home to place the order online. This surely creates a hassle-free and totally undoubtable experience.

“To my mind, the same customer could be online, offline, and on mobile. Therefore, all businesses need to think omnichannel”

– Ambareesh Murty, Cofounder and COO, Pepperfry.

Around 10-15% of the sales came through these studios, this definitely paid-off in the end for Pepperfry.

It now has 65+ studious across the country.

Van Heusen

Van Heusen’s omni-channel fusion!!

Premium fashion and lifestyle brand Van Huesen launched it’s first digital flagship store in Bangalore, called VAN HUESEN STYLE STUDIO. It has redefined retail to an another level through its immersive shopping experience, enabled by cutting edge technology.

The brand is morphing more into as a tech-savvy brand at such times when the internet has created a huge uprising.

It has revolutionized apparel shopping in a brick & mortar store into a whole new personalized shopping experience by bridging the barriers customer face while buying online such as the right product size, fit, appropriate size suited to their personality.

They have designed a ‘Style Bar’ digital display that recommends appropriate fits & size depending on someone’s body type. The customers gets the choice to virtually preview the particular apparel he has selected through the Virtual Trial Mirror without even having a go into the trial room. On top of that, the team has trained consultants and style recommendation apps to help provide personalized suggestions.

To develop this store, the brand partnered with FITCH – Singapore and Experiencial Design Lab – Delhi.

Anurag Sehgal, Managing Director and Principal Interaction Designer, Experiential Design Lab Pvt. Ltd. said,

“Our effort for Van Heusen includes bridging the online and offline retail paradigms in the fashion segment. Creating a seamless omni-channel retail solution gets the best of both the universes – convenience and variety of virtual and online retail with the touch & feel; try & decide experience of physical and offline retail.”

Raymond

Raymond’s got the omni-channel, for also the layman’s in the house ;P

Raymond has been vouching to connect with its young audience as much as possible. The Indian fashion retail giant, known for its formal outfits, have been powering it’s success through its enormous retail prowess

Just as in the case of Van Heusen, Raymond too is trying to create a pleasant experience amongst its shoppers by targeting the young audience who prefers shopping online, and connecting with them through its “Custom Tailoring”.

Here, the customer can book an appointment online according to his convenience, once confirmed, the stylist will visit for the consultation which will be a free of cost.

He will assist the customer according to his size, style, preferences he has. He will take the measurements to ensure the customer gets an absolute tailored fit.

Cherry on the cake, they provide lifetime warranty on alteration of your apparel

That is it, the stylist will then get back to their work to help get the customer the exact product they had demanded, and it will then be delivered to their doorstep as per the schedule.

Surreal enough, isn’t it?

In times of the pandemic, there has been a bizzare shift towards digital. The pandemic for sure has created a huge ruckus, but the offline element can’t be simply neglected and excluded.

What’s more considering is that the brands shall go on to create an integrated user experience, i.e. being multi-channel during pre-covid to omni-channel, post-covid.

According to Kantar’s Covid-19 barometer, during the pandemic:

“70% think Local is more important – for practical and emotional reasons”.

For sure, the online environment will keep booming. In order to gain traction through it’s offline ecosystem, a brand will surely need to create an interconnected, seamless and hassle-free shopping experience. Being present at various touchpoints integratedly will ease it for the customers in the end. As we know, under such times, the customer’s will want to remain at ease as much as possible.

Hence, a brand shall focus on adding value towards its customer by providing a long-lasting “OMNEASED” (Omni-eased) experience, not just through the digital zone, but through its offline wave as well. This would seem possible for a brand considering they bank their significances towards providng safety as well as maintaining hygiene. As small things do matter the most in the end.

Thank you, hope you enjoyed reading the blog! 🙂