Omnichannel statistics for powerful shopper insights

Retail is transforming. The growth of in-store sales is slowing, while ecommerce sales continue to soar, expected to reach $632 billion in 2020[1].

So, is this the end of the bricks-and-mortar store? Well, apparently not. A look at the activity of originally online pure-plays tells a different story.

We're increasingly seeing ecommerce businesses like Amazon, Sonos, and Bonobos opening stores. And with great success.

So what’s going on?

These online-first businesses realise that the store still plays a crucial role in the buyer journey.

It lets them establish a stronger emotional connection with their shoppers. They achieve this by offering a full sensory experience that's impossible online.

And, with no legacy systems tying them down, these retailers can start from scratch.

They have the freedom to build the in-store experience around the expectations of today’s shopper.

The next step is to connect their online and offline channels. They can then provide channel agnostic experiences, which redefine the shopping experience. Think AmazonGo.

Of course, all this looks great. But most retailers have established bricks and mortar stores and separate ecommerce businesses.

In this case, what's a good omnichannel approach and where should you start?

There's a lot written about omnichannel retail strategies and how to serve omnichannel shoppers.

But for many retailers, the journey to omnichannel can feel like a huge task.

You’re faced with consolidating fulfilment. You have to integrate in-store POS systems to online commerce platforms for CRM.

You have to synchronise order management and stock management. And, internally, you have to unite in-store and ecommerce teams, who may be meeting for the first time.

We understand that, amongst all this complexity, payments is a small part.

But in fact, payments holds the key to a wealth of benefits. And they can help you increase your omnichannel sales now.

By centralising your payments, you'll have access to data-richcustomer insights. This is gold-dust for your business.

Below is a mock-up of what you can achieve with omnichannel data.

Card data (in this case from a store in Manhattan) is analysed over a period of time.

It's then used to create a heat map to show in-store shoppers’ online activity.

Weekly reports will keep you informed of the international reach of your in-store shoppers. You can see how many are from Europe, how many from Asia, and so on.

This helps you position your store to cater to specific tastes. You can offer express overseas shipping, and adjust the choice ofpayment methods.

For example, to make it easy for Chinese shoppers to buy in store you can support Alipay and WeChat Pay. Adyen also has a direct connection to UnionPay both online and in-store.

And this is just the beginning ...

With omnichannel data, you can build a unique identifier for each shopper in-store and online. You can then use this to track behaviour across both channels.

The good news is that consolidating your cross-channel payments can be pretty straightforward.

IC Group (behind the brand Peak Performance) partnered with Adyen to get an overview of sales across all channels. They use this to offer a better service to shoppers.

“Working with Adyen for both ecommerce and point of sale enables omnichannel shopper journeys.” – Henri Legentil, IT omnichannel consultant, IC Group

Omnichannel payments makes it easy to support journeys that benefit everyone.

Letting your shopper buy online and collect in store, is not only more convenient for them. It has the great side effect that shoppers may buy more when in-store. Drapers Multichannel Report found that 32% of shoppers buy more with click-and-collect.

Put an end to out-of-stock issues. Serving up your entire inventory to shoppers via in-store kiosks or tablets. They can then pay for the item with an in-store/online transaction. In some cases, endless aisles can increase sales by up to 14% (Drapers Multichannel Report).

This is a great illustration of a modern shopper journey. While on the move, a shopper browses items in-app and adds something to their basket.

Later, as they walk through a shopping area, the store recognises they are nearby and notifies them that item is in stock.

The shopper then collects the item in-store and paying in-app. To support this, the in-app basket value is transferred to thePOS paymentssystem.

The personalisation of an item (like engraving a watch) is typically reserved for online orders.

With omnichannel payments your shopper can buy one item in store, and another online in the same transaction. So your shopper can leave their new handbag and have the engraved watch delivered later.

You can remove friction from the buying process. Your shoppers can shopper browse, buy, and collect the item as it suits them. While in the background payments feed into one system.

So you can track performance and drive optimisation every step of the way.

Omnichannel retailing might still seem a long way off. But, with the right payments partner, you start reaping the benefits right now and take your next steps towardsunified commerce.