The new omnichannel consumer demands a quality shopping experience that allows the physical channel to live with the digital channel, integrating all sales channels through a single unified trading platform.
There are many concepts that have emerged prior to the consolidation of unified trade. These include multichannel and omnichannel strategies, two terms that it is important to know to really understand what a unified trading strategy is all about.
What is multicanality and omnicanality? A business carries out a multichannel strategy when it sells on multiple channels, for example, a clothing store that sells both in its physical establishment, as well as through social networks or the online channel. These channels can be independent and there does not have to be a greater relationship between them, they simply allow the end customer the possibility to choose the channel through they want to make their purchase, search for information about a product, etc.
However, the omnicanality goes one step further and focuses on the user experience. A business carries out an omnichannel strategy when in addition to selling in different sales channels, all of them are related to each other, so that the end customer can use any of them throughout the purchase process and even combine them.
For example, a customer could interact with a store making a purchase through the app, contacting them through social media, or going to a physical store to make a return. In this way, as mentioned above, the customer would be interacting with multiple sales channels integrated under the same strategy and focused on achieving the improvement of the user experience.
So, what is unified trade and why is it so important today?
Unified commerce allows you to integrate all sales channels through a single platform, taking advantage of all the tools available to achieve the maximum possible performance and prioritizing in improving the customer experience.
Ecommerce has increased sales volume by 24% during the pandemic. This is a significant change for retailers, as this situation driven by the health crisis has allowed them to realize the importance of having a digital strategy implemented and selling their products across multiple channels at the same time, all through a single unified trading platform.
The following are some of the reasons why it is so beneficial to build a unified trading strategy:
- A single platform: deploying all sales channels on a single platform allows retailers centralized control of their business and gain an overview of the evolution of their sales. In addition, you will have at your disposal intuitive dashboards with valuable information of your customers, being able to know which payment methods they prefer, which sales channel they use most to make their purchases, the times at which the most sales occur, etc. This will allow you to make business decisions that help increase your sales and retain more customers.
- Make the customer experience memorable: the customer must feel that they always receive personalized attention, so that their experience throughout the purchase process on any of the sales channels is as satisfying as possible. To do this, the trade must ensure that there is a connection between all sales channels that allows the customer to use all of them simultaneously and guaranteeing the best experience in each of them.
- Variety of payment methods: selling through different channels also means having a wide range of payment methods specific to each channel, so the possibility of integrating a wide variety of methods into a single platform will facilitate and encourage commerce to offer more payment methods to its buyers thanks to the simplicity of the unique integration for all. Also, it is important that the checkout process for all channels is unified, so that the consumer is trusted enough in any of the channels on which they make the purchase.
- Increased sales: for retailers, offering a flexible shopping experience that allows the user to use the different sales channels in the same purchase not only improves the customer experience, but can also mean an increase in sales volume for the business.
Sipay, a gateway specialized in omnichannel payment solutions, emphasize the importance of merchants placing the end user at the center of the strategy. To do this, it will be very useful to integrate all sales channels into a single unified trading platform that allows to add value to the business, as well as contribute to the improvement of the customer experience.
