Omnichannel retail software: What is it and why retailers need it?

Omnichannel retail software: What is it and why retailers need it?

Omnichannel retail is an integrated approach to retail operations that helps businesses streamline and unify customer experiences across touchpoints. It helps create a coalesced shopping experience across physical stores, mobile apps, e-commerce websites, and social platforms.

Omnichannel retail software helps implement the omnichannel retail strategy. It is a comprehensive software that combines the management of interaction and experience at physical stores and online touchpoints to provide a seamless shopping experience. Omnichannel retail software syncs with other retail functions, such as logistics, inventory management, sales and marketing, and customer service.

However, it is essential to remember that omnichannel retail software not only synthesizes experiences across online and traditional in-store touchpoints but also helps retailers blur the lines – semi-physical channels incorporate online conveniences with in-store experiences. For example, a customer may browse for products online, visit the store to evaluate them physically, then place an order right at the store but on his mobile device and have it delivered home later.

Why do modern businesses need omnichannel retail software?

Research shows that retailers increasingly feel the need for comprehensive software solutions that help them scale their operations while remaining profitable. Omnichannel retail software helps do just that while enhancing customer shopping experience as well.

However, there’s more. An advanced omnichannel retail software can swiftly turn around a retail business and help it get back on its feet and thrive. Specifically, here are some of the prominent benefits:

  • Helps keep up with customer expectations which change and evolve with time.
  • Enhances customer satisfaction. Retailers have a competitive need to provide enhanced customer experience.
  • Omnichannel retail software ensures seamless integration between online, mobile, and in-store touchpoints so that customers can continue their buying journey no matter how non-linear.
  • Centralized retail software with omnichannel capabilities is a single source of truth that streamlines all retail operations, both backend and front end.
  • Helps personalize different interactions with the customer thanks to a centralized customer data repository.
  • You can deliver tailored promotions, better customer service, and enhanced assistance at physical stores.
  • Fosters brand loyalty thanks to predictably good shopping experiences.
  • It helps improve your bottom line figures by supporting multiple touchpoints simultaneously.
  • Expand and scale at will. This helps you make more sales and find opportunities to cross-sell and upsell.
  • Access real-time inventory visibility and ensure that stock is maintained at adequate levels. There will be no overstocking or understocking situations.
  • Access deeper customer insights, with which you can make accurate forecasts, engage in product improvements, and understand how to improve your existing services and products.
  • Rich insights and reports help you make better decisions and save time. Instead of focusing on day-to-day operations and tasks, you can invest your time and resources into making hard decisions that lead to better outcomes.

6 Key features of omnichannel retail software

Centralized inventory management
Omnichannel point of sale (POS) system
Customer relationship management
Order management
Reporting and analytics
Loyalty & personalization

Centralized inventory management

Inventory management is a crucial feature of omnichannel retail software, and without it, backend processes are not seamless and efficient. It’s essential to ensure orders are fulfilled on time and that you avoid problems related to overstocking and understocking.

Most importantly, managing multiple warehouses, distributors, and vendors becomes easier. Your staff’s productivity and motivation to work increases when a centralized tool removes all confusing aspects of inventory management.

Most importantly, products begin to move on time between locations, and your logistics will significantly improve. This ensures that customers receive the product exactly when they expect it.

Centralized inventory management

Omnichannel point of sale (POS) system

Omnichannel retail software makes it easier for customers to pay using multiple methods. They will not be left with a cart full of products they desire but without a valid payment option.

For example, most omnichannel retail software programs support the acceptance of different debit and credit cards, cash, online banking services, gift cards, and loyalty cards. Many also support newer digital payment tools like Google Pay and Apple Pay.

This versatility of options helps customers shop seamlessly online and offline and avoid failed attempts to shop for goods. For retailers, this is a blessing in disguise, as it avoids abandoned carts online and awkward situations at retail billing counters.

Omnichannel point of sale (POS) system

Customer relationship management

Thanks to a centralized and single source of truth, you gain access to unified customer profiles. This ensures that all customer data and information are the most accurate at any given moment.

Omnichannel retail software collects and updates customer information in real-time. This updated information is synced in real-time to a centralized server to display accurate information on all screens.

This allows your customer service staff and sales teams to build better customer relationships and ensure superior customer relationship management. Enhanced CRM is also essential to retaining existing customers and improving brand loyalty metrics.

Customer relationship management

Order management

One of the most essential features of an omnichannel retail software program is its ability to fulfill orders quickly no matter from where the order originated. It helps your staff to locate the nearest warehouse or distributor from where they can fetch products if necessary.

Centralized order management also ensures that customer orders are fulfilled on time and that there are no delays in shipping and delivery. Customers can access available products in real-time, place orders where they want, and have them delivered to a location of their choice.

Both customers and employees can track the purchased product in real-time, leading to better customer relationship management.

Order management

Reporting and analytics

An omnichannel retail tool is a powerhouse of information and data. It collects real-time data and retrieves historical data as needed, generating valuable reports and insights.

The results are even better if you choose an omnichannel tool with a centralized database. As all data is stored on a single centralized server, you have access to the most accurate and recent information on all devices and touchpoints.

This helps you make better decisions and allows frontline workers to serve customers better.

Reporting and analytics

Loyalty & personalization

An omnichannel retail software system collects customer data in real-time from all touchpoints and aligns it with historical data. It also uses predictive analytics to make educated guesses about future actions that customers might take.

As a result, it helps make relevant product recommendations, personalize conversations and strategies, and implement loyalty programs that resonate with customers. Customers feel increasingly attended to, and their brand loyalty also increases.

Specifically, they will be more inclined to respond positively toward the brand due to deeper personalization and customization of experiences. It’s important to note that positive emotions play a massive role in customer loyalty to a brand.

Loyalty & personalization

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5 Ways omnichannel Retail Software saves time and money

1- Omnichannel retail software reduces manual tasks
2- Minimize stockouts and overstocking
3- Faster checkout times and personalized interactions
4- Optimize pricing, promotions, and marketing based on insights
5- Reduced IT complexity

1- Omnichannel retail software reduces manual tasks

Even in the third decade of the 21st century, many retail businesses are plagued by manual processes and tasks that reduce efficiency and result in errors and redundancies wile hindering potential growth. Employees spend enormous amounts of time trying to synchronize data and information between different channels. This not only reduces efficiency, but also increases human error, creates incompatible data, and renders information meaningless.
In addition to eliminating manual synchronization between channels and reducing human error, it allows your employees to make quick decisions, attend to customers on a human level, and enhance in-store and online shopping experiences.

Backend teams can similarly benefit from omnichannel retail software solutions’ ability to reduce errors and manual tasks so that they can help keep things moving.

1- Omnichannel retail software reduces manual tasks

2- Minimize stockouts and overstocking

One of the biggest problems retail businesses encounter is being unaware of customer demand. They may either be ill-equipped to fulfill an increasing number of orders, or they may be left with an old, largely unsold inventory. An omnichannel retail tool accurately forecasts demand and ensures stock is replenished when necessary. This reduces wastage and missed opportunities and provides better management of resources.

It can also be challenging to handle stocks across multiple locations such as warehouses and distribution centers, especially when there is limited or no visibility regarding stock levels across the retail chain. This leads to inefficient replenishment as well. An omnichannel retail software that centralizes the inventory management addresses these issues while also eliminating problems related to understocking and overstocking. Consequently, retail businesses will enhance their order fulfillment metrics.

2- Minimize stockouts and overstocking

3- Faster checkout times and personalized interactions

A number of studies show that customers abandon carts because checkout takes too long. Asking them to fill in multiple forms or waiting in line for a long time (if at a physical store) can all harm the final purchase decision.

Omnichannel retail software solves this problem by personalizing order fulfillment and making things more flexible. It identifies how a customer wants to shop and provides a frontline framework with possible solutions that can be implemented.

For instance, if a customer makes a last-minute decision to change a product, omnichannel software will allow him to have it delivered later instead of asking the person to wait until the staff finds the product in the warehouse.

3- Faster checkout times and personalized interactions

4- Optimize pricing, promotions, and marketing based on insights

Omnichannel solutions stand out from other frameworks simply because they seamlessly integrate data and processes across touchpoints. This streamlined approach allows the tool to synthesize relevant information and generate solutions that help optimize pricing, promotions, and marketing strategies.

Omnichannel insights are very relevant and context-oriented. They consider both real-time and historical data while generating insights. This allows the tool to keep the solutions anchored to established maxims while considering customers’ evolving needs and desires.

As a result, customers will feel increasingly accepted and understood, which has more profound psychological relevance. Feeling validated and understood are basic human needs, and research shows these feelings make one loyal.

4- Optimize pricing, promotions, and marketing based on insights

5- Reduced IT complexity

Legacy retail software solutions have several issues. They do not integrate well with third-party applications and are often clunky with complex architectures.

Even multichannel retail software solutions do not typically streamline processes and sync data in real time. Consequently, synthesizing data and integrating multiple applications will involve a lot of IT complexity.

Omnichannel retail software seamlessly connects with third-party tools and streamlines all data in real time, reducing the need for complex IT processes. Moreover, choosing the right omnichannel vendor eliminates the need to maintain or update the software internally—the vendor takes care of it all.

5- Reduced IT complexity

8 Must-Have Omnichannel Capabilities

Real-time integration
Unified customer profiles
Omnichannel marketing
Unified inventory
Flexible fulfillment options
Mobile enablement
Advanced analytics
A single source of truth

Real-time integration

Although it goes without saying that omnichannel retail software solutions should support real-time integration, it needs to be highlighted that this also includes integrating an event-driven architecture that facilitates communication between different APIs.

You must also pay attention to the middleware and data transformation capabilities of the retail software you choose. This helps ensure that you can deliver a true omnichannel experience to your customers.

Real-time integration of these various processes and components ensures seamless communication and data updating between all relevant touchpoints, software programs, and devices.

Real-time integration

Unified customer profiles

One of the crucial features of omnichannel retail is that customers feel like all their shopping activities “are known and understood.” This feeling is essential and central to omnichannel shopping as it makes things easy for customers — they do not have to remember what they were trying to shop, how far into the form they had filled in, and if their social media details were accurately entered (especially if you offer coupons or loyalty programs for social media users).

A unified customer profile pulls in all data and information about an individual shopper and creates an accurate and updated copy that is synced across devices and touchpoints. This helps customers feel that their buying journey is closely supported (not monitored) and that the process is intuitive.

Unified customer profiles

Omnichannel marketing

Marketing strategies only work if you target the right audience at the right time and at the right place. This is simply not possible when you use legacy methods to run campaigns. Your data becomes siloed, and your approach may not align with customer realities.

Omnichannel marketing ensures that your marketing strategy aligns with ground realities and that your marketing communication reaches the right audience on the rough touchpoint in a format appropriate for that particular device or touchpoint. This allows for a greater reach and marketing success.

Omnichannel marketing

Unified inventory

Unified inventory stores all inventory-related information on a single centralized server, resulting in a single source of truth. This allows your frontline workers to get a bird’ s-eye view of your inventory levels and make decisions that result in better sales.

Omnichannel visibility also helps customers choose products without confusion, as they see the same price, discount, and product descriptions on all touchpoints. This ensures that every stakeholder can access relevant inventory-related information as and when needed.

Unified inventory

Flexible fulfillment options

Many customers use online and offline tools to shop. They may buy online and pick up in-store (BOPIS) or buy online and return in-store (BORIS). They may also opt for curbside pickup, use in-store kiosks, and use other semi-physical channels, making it extremely important for retailers to use software tools that feature flexible fulfillment options.

Flexible fulfillment options

Mobile enablement

An omnichannel tool must be mobile-enabled. As most people use mobile phone stores, browse the internet, and access social tools and e-commerce websites, all retail processes must be mobile-friendly. An omnichannel tool ensures that customers and frontline workers can access relevant information and perform appropriate tasks from their mobile devices anytime, anywhere.

Mobile enablement

Advanced analytics

It’s enough to access reports and insights generated solely from a customer point of view. You will need deeper insights that tie in insights and data from other tools such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), HRMS, and various other third-party tools.

Omnichannel retail tools ensure that data from different sources are pulled together so that predictive analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) can do their job and deliver the insights you need.

Advanced analytics

A single source of truth

Last but not least, the most important thing for any retailer is to have the latest and most accurate information across touchpoints and devices. This is only possible when you choose an omnichannel new retail solution, as it updates all data in real-time while correcting errors in previous copies. This ensures you have access to a single source of truth across devices, touchpoints, and departments.

A single source of truth

Selecting the right omnichannel retail software

Regardless of the customer’s buying journey, omnichannel retail software helps them pick up where they left off. Omnichannel retail retains and updates historical and real-time data and streamlines it across channels so customer backstories continue to shape their current and future shopping-related actions without friction. Here are a few things to keep in mind when selecting the right omnichannel retail software:

  • Identify the problems you currently face in your workflow.
  • Conduct a customer survey to understand their unique pain points.
  • Identify where your IT infrastructure lags, and what devices and tools need upgrades.
  • Make sure to choose an omnichannel solution that is essentially a centralized retail solution.
  • Make a list of software programs you plan to integrate with your new omnichannel retail solution.
  • Ask the vendor if they offer after-sales support and training.
  • Make sure that your staff is in the loop, as they are the ones who will use the tool the most in the end

 

Tips for choosing an omnichannel retail software provider

Choosing the right omnichannel retail software provider enhances the customer experience. The trick is to find a partner who will help your staff and employees find a solution that results in a holistic retail solution. This includes unified customer profiles, implementing better sales and marketing campaigns, ensuring timely deliveries and order fulfillment, and accessing historical and real-time customer data.

To ensure you choose the right omnichannel retail software provider, ensure they understand your unique pain points and offer tailor-made solutions for your business. Priority Software adopts a client-centric position, which helps us deliver an omnichannel retail solution that solves your unique pain points. To learn how we do this, contact us today.

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