Omnichannel Retail Strategy: A Guide for Retailers

Omnichannel experiences aren’t just a nice-to-have anymore. They’re what customers expect. In fact, 73% of shoppers use multiple channels during their journey. But here’s the challenge: while most retailers say they have an omnichannel retail strategy, very few have truly connected the dots between their online and offline operations.

A strong omnichannel retail strategy is the key to meeting customers wherever they are and delivering the seamless experiences they demand. In this guide, we’ll break down what omnichannel retailing is, why it matters, and how you can build a strategy that works for your business.

What Is Omnichannel Retailing?

Omnichannel retailing is a strategy that gives customers one connected experience across all touchpoints. It lets them move smoothly between channels. These channels include your website, mobile app, online store, physical store, and social media.

From the customer’s perspective, it should feel like one continuous, integrated experience versus fragmented touchpoints with your brand. They should be able to start an interaction on one channel and pick up where they left off on another channel.

On the business side, an omnichannel retail strategy requires linking systems and data across channels to provide a 360-degree view of the customer. This allows you to provide personalized experiences based on their preferences and history across touchpoints.

Key elements of an omnichannel retailing include:

• Consistent branding and messaging across channels.
• Integrated data and systems that connect channels. 
• Contextualized experiences based on customer history and preferences.
• Seamless hand-offs between channels.
• Flexibility to move between channels at any point.

Omnichannel retailing vs. multi-channel

Omnichannel retailing and multi-channel retailing may seem similar, but they deliver distinctly different customer experiences. Multi-channel retailing offers various sales channels, like stores, websites, and apps, but these operate in silos. In contrast, omnichannel retailing integrates all channels into a unified experience, ensuring a consistent and connected customer journey.

Benefits of Omnichannel Retailing

Omnichannel retailing provides many benefits and an investment in it can and will transform your business. 

Increased sales and revenue 

A strong omnichannel strategy isn’t just nice for customers, it’s great for your bottom line. Businesses with robust omnichannel operations retain 89% of their customers, compared to just 33% for companies that lag behind. Providing a seamless experience across touchpoints makes it easier for customers to engage, purchase, and remain loyal to your brand. Clienteling is one of the most direct ways to drive that incremental revenue in-store.

Enhanced customer experience

Customer expectations are higher than ever, and 65% of consumers say inconsistent experiences across channels are frustrating. An omnichannel approach eliminates these inconsistencies, offering a smooth, personalized journey tailored to individual needs. Whether customers shop online, visit a store, or use an app, they’ll experience the same quality and convenience, leading to higher satisfaction and stronger loyalty.

Deeper customer insights

By collecting data from every customer interaction—whether online, in-store, or on social media—you gain a comprehensive understanding of your audience. These insights help identify trends, anticipate customer needs, and address pain points. Armed with this information, your business can deliver more relevant experiences, improve product offerings, and create targeted marketing strategies that truly resonate.

Adaptability to customer preferences

Customers crave flexibility in how they engage with brands. An omnichannel strategy provides options for customers to use their channel of choice without sacrificing convenience or quality, building trust and making their shopping experience more enjoyable.

Competitive differentiation

As consumers expect omnichannel experiences, it’s becoming table stakes for customer retention and acquisition. According to McKinsey, getting omnichannel personalization right can increase revenue by 5 to 15 percent across the full customer base. Brands that act now build a compounding advantage over competitors still operating in silos.

Operational efficiency

Integrating your inventory, customer data, and logistics across channels reduces redundancies and streamlines operations. This cuts costs and gives customers real-time access to product availability, faster delivery options, and more reliable service.

Taken together, these benefits make omnichannel retailing critical for understanding customers, engaging them on their terms, and delivering consistent experiences across every touchpoint.

How to Create an Omnichannel Retail Strategy

Follow these six steps to implement an effective omnichannel approach:

1. Map your current channels and ideal customer journeys

Start by auditing your existing channels and touchpoints. These may include:

• Website
• Mobile app 
• Online store
• Physical locations
• Contact center/phone
• Email
• Social media

Document all the ways customers currently engage with your brand across their journeys. Identify any gaps in channels where you lack a presence. Then, outline the end-to-end experience you want customers to have as they interact with your brand across channels. Consider key journeys like buy online pickup in-store (BOPIS), ship-to-store, omnichannel returns, mobile checkout, etc. Look for any inconsistent experiences, gaps in data, or constraints that impact the ways in which customers experience these journeys. 

2. Evaluate your current retail ecosystem

Audit your existing systems and processes to understand what you have and what you may need to invest in. These may include:

• Order management system (OMS)
• Inventory management system
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
• Point-of-sale (POS)
• Ecommerce system
• Customer relationship management (CRM) system
• Payment provider
• Loyalty and promotions engine
• Returns management system

A retail tech stack will look different from retailer to retailer, but in general you’ll benefit from having an ecosystem of technology partners that is future-proofed and can drive the digital experiences your brand needs today and tomorrow. Consider embracing MACH principles and building a commerce environment with composable elements: microservices, API-first, cloud-native SaaS, and headless. Taking this kind of approach to your retail ecosystem will allow you to deliver omnichannel strategies efficiently and effectively. 

3. Define your omnichannel objectives

With executive input, determine your key omnichannel goals and success metrics. These may include:

• Customer acquisition costs (CAC)
• Customer lifetime value (CLV)
• Sales channel contribution
• Online, in-store, or mobile app conversion
• Average order value (AOV)
• Inventory accuracy
• Order delivery times

Having a successful omnichannel retail strategy requires aligning yourself with your transformation goals. You might want to track specific metrics like those listed above, or historical measures like same-store sales, sales per square foot, and customer traffic. Alternatively, you can look at omnichannel business metrics like the cumulative value of customers, sales, and fulfillment. Regardless, you must articulate your goals to the entire organization, from your board to your retail store teams. In making your goals and metrics visible, you’ll ensure everyone works hard for only the best results. 

4. Create an implementation roadmap

Prioritize omnichannel initiatives and map out a phased rollout plan. Quick wins balanced with long-term vision. Factor in the following:

• Timelines
• Resources
• Costs
• Risks
• Interdependencies

Omnichannel is a long-term and transformative strategy and choosing the right technology partners is critical to success. When it comes to implementation specifically, there are a lot of considerations that affect the business and your technology infrastructure. Choose a partner or partners that have flexible and open technology, and teams that stay close to you at every stage of the relationship. They also should have a success manager to act as a trusted guide in the journey as omnichannel impacts people and processes as much as it does technology. 

5. Bridge your physical and digital experiences

Don’t neglect the role of brick-and-mortar stores just because customers are online or in-app. While each retailer’s omnichannel retail strategy will be unique, most will include elements like:

• In-store pickup (BOPIS): Allows customers to buy products online and pick up their purchases at a location near them, usually in a matter of a couple of hours. 
• Clienteling: Equips staff to access customer data and order history across channels to provide personalized service. 
• Inventory visibility: Provides a real-time view into product availability and location across the retail network, including other stores, warehouses, and distribution centers. 
• Integrated mobile: Enables customers to use a mobile shopping app in-store to pick-up orders with one tap, access product and review information, preview loyalty rewards and discounts, interact with store staff, and more.
• Universal shopping cart: Allows customers to easily add or edit items from any channel into one persistent cart. 
• CRM connectivity: Links customer profiles and interactions between marketing platforms and sales channels.

Believe it or not, forecasts predict that three-quarters of all U.S. retail sales will occur offline this year. But that doesn’t mean ditching digital or focusing on your physical store in isolation. It means integrating physical and digital to create a unified customer experience. An omnichannel approach eliminates these inconsistencies, offering a smooth, personalized journey tailored to individual needs.

6. Continuously optimize experiences

Use omnichannel data and customer feedback to refine your strategy. Things to track include: 

• Channel usage and shifts 
• Channel contribution to revenue
• Channel switching along journeys 
• Customer satisfaction across channels
• Personalization engagement

Optimization is everything. Your omnichannel strategy should include advanced analytics to give you a full picture of your business and actionable insights to keep improving. You should have an easy way to access and explore live metrics and insights, enabling any stakeholder to take immediate action, whether it be responding to inventory trends or following up on sales opportunities. The objective is to use data and insights to test new initiatives, personalize engagements, and double down on what delivers results. Omnichannel evolution is ongoing. Make incremental improvements that are data-driven and customer-centric. 

Omnichannel Retailing Examples

Two standout examples of omnichannel retailing are Scheels and Nordstrom.

Scheels excels with a seamless online shopping experience, featuring well-organized categories and a user-friendly design. Its mobile app adds convenience with an intuitive interface and updates on deals. In-store, Scheels maintains an “energetic” atmosphere with knowledgeable associates and well-arranged displays, ensuring consistency across channels.

Nordstrom offers a robust website, mobile app, virtual meet-and-greets, and livestream shopping. Online, customers enjoy an easy-to-navigate website, access to purchase history, and in-home appointment scheduling. In-store, Nordstrom offers extraordinary customer service further reinforcing a seamless and customer-centric experience.

You can find more examples of brands who are excelling in omnichannel retailing in our 2024 Omnichannel Leadership Report.

The Bottom Line

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this guide! The lines between physical and digital retail continue to blur. Implementing a strategic omnichannel retail strategy is no longer optional for retailers – it’s imperative. 

To recap, here are the key things every retailer needs to know: 

1. Omnichannel retailing synchronizes all sales and engagement channels to deliver a seamless experience for every shopper, everywhere.
2. Benefits are plentiful, including improvements to sales, loyalty, and customer satisfaction, as well as overall business performance. 
3. Creating an omnichannel retail strategy focuses on auditing what you have (channels and tech stack), identifying goals and key success metrics, planning implementation, and optimizing continuously. 
4. Omnichannel matters now more than ever due to digital acceleration, fierce competition, rising expectations, and technology innovation.

With the right strategy, you can plug gaps in the customer journey and meet people wherever they are. Delivering unified shopping experiences is the new imperative for winning over today’s customers.

To understand where your retail strategy has gaps and how to address them, talk to one of our retail experts.