Businesses are striving to enhance customer experience by providing an omnichannel experience. The traditional ‘brick and mortar’ model of business is again in play. However, before diving into this trend, businesses must carefully look at certain factors. “We want to be available for consumers, both online and offline. At present, the trend shows higher growth in online than offline,” said Anupam Bansal, Director, Retail, Liberty Shoes.
While going omnichannel, businesses must keep an eye on unnecessary burns.
Among a business’s various functions, marketing can be particularly challenging to track expenses for. In the current business environment, digital media has emerged as a preferred channel. “Digital consumption of media has far more measurability of results. It is nearly impossible to determine whether a newspaper advertisement was read or not,” Bansal added.
Rashmi Shukla, who is the Business Head at Jaypore, Aditya Birla Group, emphasises the significance of having an online presence after the pandemic.
“After the pandemic, you cannot not exist online. Your online presence serves as proof that your brand exists in the market. The first thing consumers do nowadays is google your brand.” She continues, “The social media algorithms are changing at such a rapid pace that you can’t even keep up. You should focus on acquiring customers organically.
Vandana Kohli, Founder Director of Tulip Comfort Wea, highlights the significance of digital marketing in attracting potential customers and creating a lasting impression on them and eventually converting them into buyers.
“We have to understand the nature of the online world; online consumers are restless; that’s what digital is doing to us. Customers are always looking for the next new thing,” she added.
Adopting an omnichannel presence brings with it its own set of difficulties, such as increasing customer acquisition costs, converting first-time buyers into loyal customers, maintaining consistency in the customer experience across all channels and so on.
However, by leveraging the technological advancements, businesses can cut costs in other verticals, such as marketing and logistics. With the changing shopping behaviour of consumers, businesses have to adapt to the new-age trends and satisfy consumers’ needs to remain in business.
By Nitesh Kumar, Correspondent, BW Businessworld
