Omnichannel retail software helps retailers connect the shopping experience for customers across channels whether its in-store, online, or in a third-party marketplace. Integrating eCommerce, inventory management, and point-of-sale (POS) systems into one robust solution creates a seamless repeatable customer experience that ultimately drives brand loyalty.
In this blog, we’ll explore how omnichannel retail software facilitates a better customer experience through more choice for checkout, accurate inventory levels, and customer loyalty programs.
Give More Choices for Checkout to Expedite the Process
For most customers, convenience and price are two of the most significant factors when it comes to completing a purchase. A cumbersome process or expensive products will often result in customers leaving your store in favor of a competitor. However, with omnichannel retail software, retailers can provide customers with multiple options to improve their experience.
Check out options range from buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) to using tablets and mobile devices to expedite the purchase process. BOPIS enables customers to place orders online and then pick up products within hours of ordering, saving them the wait time of having products shipped from a warehouse and then delivered by truck days later. Geo-routing technologies improve BOPIS’ efficiency as retailers can optimize order fulfillment, completing the orders at the store nearest to the buyer’s location.
For in-store purchases, customers want to know that their desired products are in stock and spend as little time at checkout as possible. If a customer comes into a store and the desired product is not available in the color or size they want, a sales associate can quickly use their tablet to check stock at other store locations and have the item shipped directly to the customer’s home.
Maintain Accurate Inventory Levels for Order Fulfillment
In addition to giving customers more choice, omnichannel retail software ensures that the inventory counts customers see online or through the online marketplace are accurate. Brands who sell across channels without the proper infrastructure stand to have unfulfilled orders and in turn, unhappy customers. A customer who makes a purchase through the online marketplace will be receiving that order from the same inventory as someone who purchases from the brand website.
For example, if there are four grey t-shirts in size small available, and one was purchased through the website and two more were purchased through an online marketplace, only one would remain. Without an inventory management system that can sync with every channel in real-time, a retailer might be susceptible to duplicate inventory counts, in this case, showing that there are four t-shirts available each on the website and on the online marketplace, for a total of eight, when in fact there are only four.
Customers who have their orders fulfilled on a consistent basis and are satisfied with the quality of products are more likely to become repeat customers that participate in customer loyalty programs.
Enroll in Customer Loyalty Programs to Reward Customers
In addition to providing a seamless experience and accurate inventory counts across channels, omnichannel retail software enables customers to enroll in retailers’ customer loyalty programs.
Footwear retailer DSW runs a customer loyalty program that uses its software to track customer purchases, points, and rewards. This program is unique in that once customers build a profile, points from purchases are automatically added to their account. Customers don’t have to worry about maintaining a card or mobile app, rather DSW’s software is able to recognize customers through information they’ve provided such as name, phone number, email address, or payment method. The software makes it easy for customers to redeem rewards and continue shopping at DSW for their footwear purchases.
Omnichannel retail software is improving the customer experience and is one of the strongest drivers for customer loyalty. Runit offers a cloud-based integrated inventory management and point-of-sale (POS) system that enables retailers to manage orders across store locations from anywhere. Our system seamlessly integrates with SQQUID to manage online channels and enhance the customer experience to facilitate business growth. To learn more about using Runit and SQQUID together, contact a member of our team today.
