A Prediction on Omnichannel Trends in 2018

Updating with Omnichannel trends in 2018 to make your business prosper this year.

2017 has witnessed a boom in Omnichannel retail, as this strategy has reached its prime time. The number of online retailers went offline as well as that of traditional retail businesses went digital have really emphasized the need for an Omnichannel transition. Especially, that the two biggest e-commerce giants worldwide, Amazon and Alibaba, expanded their offline footprint did bombard other retailers with the urge to go Omnichannel.

Related Post: Top 25 Best Omnichannel Retailers and What to learn from them

Here we want to introduce you with 4 trends predicted to dominate the global Omni channel retailing in 2018. It’s the starting point of 2018 and it’s expected to be another chaotic year for retailers worldwide. Many predictions about retail in this year were made and now it’s time to sit down and share about Omnichannel trends in 2018.

Trend 1: Mastering the Omnichannel Experience Remains the First Priority

As the main core of Omnichannel is customer centricity, customer experience is always the first priority in improving an Omnichannel strategy. Therefore, mastering the Omnichannel experience is still an ongoing battle among retailers in 2018.

This year, tailored customer experience is expected to be a norm. To thrive in today’s competitive retail market, businesses must provide their customers with the most convenient experience. However, a standardized operation can’t satisfy every customer, and only a tailored customer care can meet up to all individuals’ demands. The more personal shopping journey a customer gets, the more likely they will make purchases.  

Besides, mastering Omnichannel experience means that retailers have the ability to create a personal experience in all integrated channels. They can provide a customer the same offers at every touchpoint. It can be in their webstore, on-site messaging, email, social, or physical stores. Therefore, cross-channel personalization will be the key to success in 2018.

Trend 2: Retailers will Focus more on Omnichannel Revenue Management

It’s obvious that the strongest incentives for retailers to invest in Omnichannel are to boost sales, expand market share and enhance customer engagement. However, the majority of retailers answered a survey that they can’t evaluate their profitability in different Omnichannel order flow paths. In another survey, most of the respondents answered that they can’t even measure the financial impact of return.

It can be explained that the existing analytics infrastructure and models can’t keep pace with the integration of brick-and-mortar stores with other online channels. Especially shared inventory resources, cross-channel fulfillment and prices are new challenges in managing Omnichannel revenue.

To optimize the Omnichannel revenue management, the retailer must have better control of cross-channel fulfillment inventories and lifecycle channel prices across the retail network. In doing so, they are recommended to adopt an optimization model which jointly better their order fulfillment management and prices across all channels.

Trend 3: There’s a Growth on Omni-platform and Omni-device

Omnichannel has dominated the retail industry for years, but not every retailer can find platforms and devices that are powerful enough to connect and control their retail network. Hence, there is a need for platforms and devices to operate all channels at a high level of integration. And this year,  we are expecting to witness a boom in the number of Omni-platforms and Omni-devices.

2018 is expectedly the end of platform distinctions between shopping in-store and online. Omni-platforms and Omni-devices will start a new era of extreme-convenience and the highest level of integration in all channels. They help optimize every step in the customer experience, including how a customer finds an item, how they buy and get it shipped, and how they are provided after-sales service.

Customer experience cloud may be a good example. This is a platform allowing retailers to bring together all data about customers, digital experience, or personalization to create an efficient way to manage interactions with customers. In 2018, this platform is predicted to gain prominence in the area of Omnichannel experience.

Trend 4: Retailers will Invest to Have a Better Measurement on Omnichannel Strategy

Omnichannel has reached its prime time and there are more retailers considering this strategy. In this scenario that Omnichannel is the key to retail success, a proper measurement of this business model seems to be a must. It will help retailers evaluate their performances and make better investments.

There may be no one-type-fits-all KPI framework that helps every business measure their Omnichannel retail. However, those measurements can share some common criteria, which are awareness, engagement, trial, conversion, and loyalty. Besides, retailers can build their own Omnichannel Balanced Scorecard to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy.

The Conclusion: An Evolution of Omnichannel Retail

This is an amazing time for retail. 2017 was the year of digital discovery. 2018 will be the year of technology and more integration of it into mainstream retail.

But, the most important key for you that is focusing on the customer and offers of maximum convenience to give consumers a reason to leave their homes, regardless of what omnichannel trends are coming your way.

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