Sales channel integration: from omnichannel to unified commerce

How can we meet the requirements of the modern customer and provide them with a convenient and consistent shopping experience? As a store owner, you should ensure that every customer has a smooth shopping experience, whether they purchase on a website, in a brick-and-mortar store, or through a mobile app. How do you do it? The answer may be the full integration of sales channels, which allows you to manage all sales channels within one integrated system.

From multichannel to omnichannel to unified commerce,

At the outset, it is worth noting that each of the strategies – multichannel, omnichannel, unified commerce – has one common goal: to provide the best possible customer experience. However, they are still different from each other.

The first to appear on the market was the multichannel strategy, which focuses on the product and its distribution in multiple sales channels. Customers can purchase stationary online or on platforms such as marketplaces, but each channel operates independently. What does that mean? Customer and order data may vary depending on where you purchased.

The omnichannel strategy no longer focuses on the product but on the customer. It provides access to the offer through various channels, such as brick-and-mortar stores, websites, mobile applications, social media, etc. However, in many cases, this data is not fully integrated, which can lead to discrepancies in prices, inventory, or product offerings.

Unified commerce, on the other hand, goes one step further and provides one central source of truth. Customers experience the same offer regardless of how they shop, eliminating data inconsistencies. All information about orders, products, or stock quantities is exchanged in real time.

How do stores combine different sales channels?

To effectively integrate sales channels, companies implement various modern technologies and solutions that improve the management of purchasing and warehouse processes. These are, m.in, the following:

1. Integrated warehouse management systems

Modern ERP and WMS systems allow full synchronisation of inventory levels in various sales channels. Customers can check the availability of the product online, pick it up in a physical store, or use the “click & collect” service.

2. Consistent pricing with electronic price labels (ESLs)

Companies are increasingly implementing Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs) to ensure a uniform pricing policy across each channel. This solution allows you to automatically update prices in brick-and-mortar stores, eliminating discrepancies between channels. It also reduces the cost of the traditional manual process of changing paper labels.

3. Personalization of the offer and omnichannel marketing

Advanced data analytics and AI allow you to tailor the offer to the customer’s preferences. Businesses use purchase history to offer personalised promotions regardless of the channel a customer purchases from.

4. Integration of payment systems

Modern payment methods, such as BLIK, Apple Pay or Google Pay, provide customers with convenience and security of transactions, regardless of whether they buy online or in a brick-and-mortar store, and allow them to manage the entire payment system in the company from one place.

How to effectively integrate sales channels?

To achieve full integration of sales channels, it is worth following a few most essential principles:

1. Data centralisation – Implementing a unified data management system for multichannel/omnichannel/unified commerce will allow for full synchronization of information about products, customers, and transactions.
2. Process automation – using modern technologies, such as AI, which will enable ongoing updates of prices and inventory.
3. Flexibility and scalability – IT systems should be adapted to the company’s development capabilities and the introduction of new sales channels.
4. Customer journey optimisation – It is worth analysing customer journeys and adapting processes to their expectations.