Omnichannel ecommerce goes beyond traditional ecommerce
Learn how omnichannel selling can create more opportunities for CPG shoppers than traditional ecommerce. Market while selling for the best consumer reach.
Our series will dive into the intersection of physical and digital sales and marketing strategies. You'll discover which tactics are most effective for converting your customers.
Traditional ecommerce has many limitations compared to the new omnichannel ecommerce shopping experience. Meeting your shoppers anywhere can help you grow your CPG sales.
Omnichannel is now essential for CPGs looking to scale. In What is an omnichannel experience?, we mentioned that almost 90% of consumers desire an omnichannel experience. The omnichannel approach combines digital and physical shopping channels, ultimately increasing sales through various touch points.
Traditional ecommerce is a common step for brands, but modern shoppers are looking for more than that. Ecommerce has a broader reach than stores, allowing customers to shop at any time of day. However, it doesn't help with high shipping costs, personalizing shopping trends, or tracking shopping habits during sales.
An omnichannel approach can immediately counteract these drawbacks. Using customer data, your brand can customize product recommendations, target promotions, and personalize content across various channels. By monitoring what customers do online, you can tailor your products to their interests.
Omnichannel commerce has many names. Shopify refers to it as unified commerce, EMARKETER refers to it as adaptive retail, and it can also be called cross-channel retail.
Retail Dive highlights the benefits of marketing across channels, with a focus on social media and advertising:
"Social media has become central to multichannel marketing success, with 55% of marketing professionals saying it is one of the tactics which has had the biggest impact on their campaigns, up from 46% last year. Digital advertising also saw a jump, with 41% of professionals listing it as having a big impact, up from 26%."
Omnichannel goes beyond multichannel approaches by creating a cohesive customer journey. Unlike multichannel marketing, these channels integrate rather than working separately toward the same goal.
Omnichannel ecommerce uses various shopping channels to provide a seamless customer experience. These channels include websites, apps, social media, and physical stores. This approach allows you to reach customers through their preferred shopping platforms. By coordinating your sales and marketing efforts, you can connect with customers wherever they choose to shop.
The The phygital experience is even beneficial to brick-and-mortars! The Wallstreet Journal reports:
"Store owners once viewed ecommerce as a mounting threat to their survival. Now, more brick-and-mortar stores are thriving after integrating their properties with the online shopping experience. Shoppers browse in person to see, touch, or try on items before ordering them online."
The reverse shopping method is still popular as well. BOPIS (buy online, pickup in store) is a type of phygital fulfillment that started during the pandemic and continues to soar. Reporting on the evolving ecommerce landscape, Retail Dive shares: "The service [BOPIS] has become handy at the holidays as a way for shoppers to get packages without worrying about shipping delays. Buy online, pick up in store accounted for a quarter of online orders in the three weeks after Cyber Monday, according to Salesforce."
The possibilities become endless when you mix and match physical and digital touchpoints throughout your campaign. Omnichannel sales means customers can encounter your brand in multiple places. They might see it in a store, hear about it from a social media influencer, or come across your Facebook ad.
By utilizing different platforms, CPG brands can increase brand visibility and engagement. Consumers are usually ready to purchase your product when they reach the third touch point.
Brands must strategize based on up-to-date consumer preferences. Rely on product discovery tools like shoppable media and actionable store locators. With the shortest paths to purchase, it won't take customers long to buy and try.
Marketing tip: Gen Z responds particularly well to shoppable ads.
With omnichannel selling, data is your best friend. Since Pear's tools can create paths to purchase anywhere, those insights along the shopper funnel can be critical for your brand. With unified visibility into consumer decision-making, CPGs can inform trends, product development, customer conversions, and more.
Pear Commerce empowers brands by providing in-depth sales data, campaign insights, and growth opportunities. With Pear, CPG brands can optimize their marketing performance and provide an intuitive user experience.
Get advice from our team on how to refresh your omnichannel strategy. Book a demo today.
