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Investing in retail stores? Consider Omnichannel too

As more and more businesses go online, they should start exploring way to omnichannel their business from day one

Investing in retail stores? Consider Omnichannel too

Monday November 13, 2017,

3 min Read

India, one of the largest markets in the world is slowly emerging as the land of opportunities for numerous global brands. The population of 1.3 billion people makes it a country that has a high spending potential. So naturally, Brands can be assured of healthy dividends if they invest now in the growing economy. One of the fastest growing economies in the world India has a lot to offer to investors who are ready to put their money in the growing retail landscape of this great country.

Source- Google

Source- Google

The retail sector of India in the past few years fuelled by a growing consumer base and technological advancements is growing at a fast pace. The rapid evolution of the online retail sector has been a living proof of it. With the coming of E-commerce websites like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Myntra Online on the digital horizon retail have been experiencing an exponential rise. Almost every big brand is using this E-commerce sites to sell their products and that has made this E-commerce sites the pioneers of digital change in India. Online retail: whether from a desktop, mobile platforms or wearable gadgets, aims at providing a real-time personal experience to the consumer by informing and influencing the customer with precise information on a varied range of products helping them take a decision.

Now that selling happens both offline and online. Sales happen on multiple channels. As a shrewd retailer, you need to cover every aspect to ensure better customer experience for all your customers. Handling every sales channel separately is a tedious task and can lead to fatigue and mismanagement. The best way is to integrate those separate sales channels into one unified system and manage it via that integrated system. This way of managing your business is called- The Omnichannel way

The Omnichannel way -

An omnichannel strategy aims to provide a smooth and error free experience to the consumers across different channels factoring in the different devices that consumers use for transactions like mobile, online stores, mobile app stores, telephone sales, physical stores etc. Most brands have come up with new and innovative methods to interact with their customers. This strategy will enable retailers to rethink their marketing plans and tap the best of both worlds- The Real and The Virtual.

An enterprise-grade Omni-channel order management system with B2B, B2C E-Commerce, and advanced warehouse management lets business manage procurement to payment workflows. Instead of having multiple systems for E-Commerce, ERP, SCM, OMS, WMS, CRM and Accounting needs, a single ERP system or Digital Commerce platform (the latest buzz word) which has all these modules inbuilt, is a bliss for business as it takes out integration hassles, omits complexities and saves: time & cost.

In this era of digitalization where the digital world is expanding its horizons day by day. Brand should owe their own online stores. Ignoring the online aspect of business would lead you to miss on capitalizing the vast amount of opportunities that the digital world has to offer you. The world is getting digital and it’s time you should as well adapt to the change that’s happening and embrace the digital revolution.

If you decide to invest in technology, invest in the right technology keeping omnichannel in mind from day 1 for your business setup. For if you choose a technology that doesn’t suit you, it would slow down your growth and changing an already installed technology is tiring and cumbersome. So why not select the right technology in the very first instance, that

“Omnichannel is a must and the faster we understand the better it is”.

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Anita SachdevDigital commerce evangelist, Hotwax systems