Omnichannel journey: what it is and why you should implement it

Building an omnichannel journey means leveraging essential growth drivers for your revenue. From your physical stores to your e-commerce site and your connected sales associates, mastering phygital allows you to stay connected with your customers by investing in these diverse channels.

A well-designed omnichannel strategy also serves as a powerful engine to drive foot traffic through web-to-store initiatives like local SEO, Click & Collect, eReservations, and ReCommerce.

What is an omnichannel journey?

Multiplying touchpoints

In an increasingly digital-first world, it is vital for brands to leverage every available channel to increase their touchpoints and strengthen their presence in the consumer’s daily life. This is the primary goal of a multichannel strategy: reaching a wide range of audiences and engaging customers across every possible platform, including websites, SMS, the sales floor, and social media.

Evolving the brick-and-mortar store

In the era of the digitalization of sales points, physical stores must also undergo a transformation. This shift is captured by the term phygital a blend of “physical” and “digital.” As an essential marketing strategy, its goal is to combine the best aspects of both physical and digital channels to enhance the customer experience. Phygital plays a critical role in the omnichannel journey by ensuring a seamless experience between digital interactions and the in-store experience.

For your physical point of sale (POS), this involves integrating digital tools such as touch terminals that allow customers to browse your product catalog, check available inventory, or verify the price of a specific product reference. You can also equip your sales associates with tablets to facilitate assisted sales on the floor and streamline the checkout experience.

Addressing fragmented journeys

The proliferation of sales and communication channels presents major strategic challenges. Companies must be able to offer a cohesive experience to break down silos, improve customer relations, and create a truly unique customer experience.

Omnichannel is a brand’s ability to provide the same level of information and access to its products and services across every possible channel whether it’s an e-commerce site, social media, a physical store, or mobile apps. All these tools allow you to build an omnichannel journey for your customers and stay connected with them regardless of the circumstances.

Optimizing the customer experience through omnichannel

A new, ultra-digital customer base

Offering an omnichannel journey helps capture revenue, particularly from a new generation of digital-native shoppers. These consumers, who grew up with smartphones, expect a highly digitalized buying process long before they ever step foot in your store.

The importance of online research

Even when purchases are finalized in-store, more than half of consumers conduct online research regarding technical specs and pricing, read user reviews via mobile apps, and compare offers.

By the time they arrive at your point of sale, 60% of the buying journey has already been completed. Consumers are then looking for expert recommendations or simply the chance to see and touch the product in person, while benefiting from the phygital advantages of your physical store.

A truly seamless experience

It is therefore essential to provide a seamless experience. By being present during the initial research and comparison phases, you capture their attention and create a funnel effect that guides them toward a purchase with your brand. This results in a frictionless omnichannel journey, making it easier for them to gather information across all available channels while reinforcing your brand visibility.

This continuity is particularly vital as consumers place growing importance on manufacturing methods, sustainability, the origin of raw materials, and ecological impact. It is up to you to fluidify the entire process by leveraging the complementarity of your channels to offer the most pleasant shopping experience possible.

To go further: Web-to-store: 7 levers to drive customers back in-store

Supporting your customers through an omnichannel journey

Ensuring consistent information

Omnichannel is a vital factor for real-time consistency. A journey designed across all potential touchpoints allows consumers to access information wherever they are while on the move and via any channel. 

This consistency relies on the brand’s ability to synchronize operational data. Unified commerce further simplifies omnichannel inventory management.

Multiplying information channels

One telling detail is your opening hours, which customers must be able to find easily to visit your stores. Making this information accessible involves:

• A website providing the expected level of information for each point of sale.
• An updated and complete Google Business Profile.
• Social media accounts that are regularly updated, for example, to announce special opening days for loyal customers.

These new channels and social media also act as vehicles for your brand image and are an integral part of your communication strategy. They build loyalty with today’s customers while attracting those of tomorrow.

Real-time as a requirement

Be aware: real-time accuracy is paramount. There is nothing worse for a customer than finding your store closed when they expected it to be open. Similarly, finding a store shelf empty of a product that was listed as “available” online is highly damaging to your brand’s reputation.

To avoid these pitfalls, access to reliable, up-to-date information is indispensable. By equipping your sales associates with tablets connected to your management solution, you ensure they have access to crucial data such as real-time stock visibility which they can immediately share with customers.

Unified loyalty programs

Similarly, your loyalty program must be unified and seamless across different target audiences. For instance, if a loyalty card is activated in-store, your customers must be able to view and use the points they earned physically on your e-commerce platform. 

Your channels should be designed as extensions of one another to guarantee a consistent and hyper-personalized customer experience.

The importance of relationship marketing

Do not overlook the impact of your presence on social networks or apps that allow you to implement a true conversational communication and relationship marketing strategy. 

The omnichannel relationship is built through exchange and conversation. Whether it is a chat on mobile, your website, or an interaction on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, these exchanges promote engagement and conversion, both online and in-store.

Providing a fluid omnichannel journey has become essential as consumer behavior evolves. Phygital has established itself as a major driver of the customer experience, particularly regarding personalization: 34% of 18–24 year-olds expect offers tailored to their purchase history.

To meet these expectations, omnichannel performance relies on a unified technological foundation. With Orisha Commerce, data from the POS software, e-commerce, and OMS (Order Management System) is centralized within a single retail SaaS platform. Using Openbravo POS, this approach allows you to personalize interactions, activate real-time recommendations, and ensure total stock accuracy.