As the retail landscape constantly changes, meeting customer demands across multiple channels is essential. In fact, businesses that use three or more channels in a campaign can earn a 494% higher order rate than using only a single channel.

Magento omnichannel solution provides an all-in-one approach to deliver a cohesive shopping experience across online, in-store, and mobile platforms. By connecting all touchpoints in the customer journey, you have the power to enhance customer experience, improve operational capacity, and drive more growth for the business.

Keep reading to find out how omnichannel Magento can enable you to thrive.

What is omnichannel retail?

Omnichannel retail is the selling strategy of making a business accessible via multiple touchpoints. The key is to maintain a consistent and well-integrated experience no matter where you meet the customers.

An example of omnichannel capabilities is allowing a customer to purchase a product via the website but pick up the order from the nearest physical store. Or they can see a TikTok video of your store and inquire about more information via your customer service chatbox.

While there’s not a fixed number of channels to use for an omnichannel selling strategy, some common ones are:

• Physical stores
• eCommerce stores
• Marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, eBay
• Dedicated apps
• Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
• Internet of Things (IoT) devices
• Email and phone channels
• Sales and customer service representatives
• Newsletters (digital and physical)

Omnichannel vs multichannel

At first glance, omnichannel may sound like multichannel. While there’s an overlap, the main difference is the connection between channels.

Omnichannel means covering all channels to create a cohesive customer experience, while multichannel means entertaining several channels but keeping one as the primary method to connect with buyers. With a more customer-centric approach, an omnichannel retail platform leads to a better result in managing loyalty, inventory, and data, while multichannel can result in disjointed experience and fragmented management..

With that out of the way, let’s find out why a Magento omnichannel solution is perfect for Magento retailers.

What is Magento omnichannel

Magento omnichannel is the strategy of integrating multiple sales channels within the feature-rich and versatile eCommerce platform – Magento, which is widely known for stability, flexibility, functionality, and scalability. Many corporations and big companies have been using Magento for years, utilizing its omnichannel features to manage indoor operations and serve customers on different aspects. Some notable brands are Ford, Land Rover, Christian Louboutin, Fred Perry, Helly Hansen, and more.

The key benefits of omnichannel commerce Magento are:

• Keep your customers updated with real-time data from all channels
• Ensure real-time order tracking to keep buyers updated
• Keep track of all inventory in one single dashboard
• Utilize the power of third-party integrations or omnichannel commerce software
• Create a progressive web app to ensure a smooth mobile experience
• Make the store more intelligent with smart analytics
• Personalize the shopping experience for all channels

These benefits offer significant competitive advantages for retailers, which we’ll explore further below through Magento features.

How Magento features benefit omnichannel retail

1. Order Management System (OMS)

The omnichannel approach is a must-have since shoppers now expect to buy seamlessly across every sales channel. They can shop online from a smartphone, a website, or a brick-and-mortar store and still demand a unified experience.

So if your business has multiple brands, sites, stores, and warehouses, having a well-functioning order management system is crucial to a successful omnichannel tactic. Magento back-end allows you to handle all orders with ease, you can ship or cancel orders, and build new customer profiles to collect data better.

Even if the retailer needs a more advanced order fulfillment system, Magento-native solutions are capable with features for:

• Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
• Click & Collect fulfillment option
• Dropship
• Warehouse inventory
• Order status tracking
• Smart source selection algorithm (by more advanced modules)

2.  Progressive WebApp (PWA)

Mobile commerce is critical for retailers to connect with consumers on their smartphones. Magento has introduced the feature of Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) to help create web pages that act as native mobile applications.

Basically, you can turn your Magento 2 omnichannel store into a web app, ensuring the best experience on smaller devices. You can use a Magento extension or plugin to create your PWA. avoiding the hefty development cost for mobile apps.

The best part is that PWAs work offline as well, so customers and potential leads can open the PWA on their mobiles to start buying even without an internet connection.

3. eCommerce platform integration

For selling on marketplaces, Magento provides API integration to connect Amazon, Etsy, or eBay as an additional way to increase revenue through giant online markets. Magento also supports Google Shopping ads so you can re-target customers who have performed specific actions on the website or marketplace.

You can use various plugins and extensions to manage 2 or 3 marketplaces more easily and create your own omnichannel commerce platform.

4. In-store pickup

In-store Pickup (ISPU) provides a convenient way for customers to select the nearest location to pick up their order. And you as the store manager can guide them to the most suitable physical store or quickly ship the item from another store to the location.

Magento also offers In-store Purchase, Home Delivery – effortless shipping for customers when buying large products, or when they need to go elsewhere after shopping at your brick-and-mortar store.

5. Point of sale

For selling in physical stores, an in-storePOS (point of sale) system is the key for success. It delivers a fast checkout experience and manages transactions. However, an omnichannel retailer should invest in a Magento integrated POS system to provide real-time data across locations and sell multichannel effectively.

Magestore POS for Magento is an example of the Magento omnichannel solution that helps connect online and offline sales, customers, and inventory data. Business owners can view and adjust stock, and manage customer loyalty directly on one single POS screen.

With a deep level of customization, Magestore POS has the same scalability as Magento, ready to meet any need of your business. Merchants can take advantage of all Magento built-in features for their POS system and customize advanced features to meet business needs.

6. Magento Open Source

Magento 2.3, the latest version, is completely open-source, which means it’s free for you to build an omnichannel Magento 2 store and upgrade as you grow.  Going omnichannel is a resource-eating task, and the scalability is highly valuable.

Magento’s built-in tool is more than enough to start an eCommerce store, ensuring your store’ visibility on the internet. Also, remember to get reliable Open source Hosting so that your website is always up and running efficiently.

7. Magento Business Intelligence

If you are using Magento 2 omnichannel, the Open Source version already packs several built-in reports. You can view data on sales, shopping carts, products, etc. You just need a few clicks to know how your online supply chain or certain selling location is performing.

The Magento Business Intelligence (BI) is an upgrade and paid version to cover more metrics and create an unlimited number of custom reports. For example, the Moving Average Cost is excellent data to show the actual profit margin of products, which leads to suitable pricing.

8. Language packs

If you sell internationally, Magento is the obvious solution. Multi-store View allows customers to buy products at different prices and taxes in different regions. You can also access 150+ language packs to localize the Magento website.

9. Multi-source inventory (MSI)

Magento is powerful in managing a large number of products with various types. With an omnichannel approach, complex operations will find no difficulties in offering their products/services to the market.

Multi-source inventory (MSI) by Magento is one powerful solution by Magento to:

• Assign products to different fulfillment locations and track quantities at each source
• Deliver an order by making separate shipments from different warehouses
• Create prioritization rules to fulfill orders dynamically
• Alert low stock to prevent out-of-stock
• Create Ship to Store process to ensure optimized in-store pickup orders

10. Third-party integrations

Magento has a highly active community with powerful third-party integrations. Because Magento is an API-led platform, you can connect your online store with many other platforms to help with inventory management, cash management, customer tracking, etc.

Some notable integrations for a Magento omnichannel retail store are:

• Social Login by Miniorange
• Magento 2 Advanced Reports Extension by Mageplaza
• MageFirewall Security
• Magento 2 Multi-Vendor Marketplace Solution by Magetop

Final words

Magento 2 provides a robust platform to embrace a retail omnichannel strategy. With extensive omnichannel features, management capabilities, and integration options, Magento retailers can create a seamless customer experience across multiple channels.

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