Omnichannel sales means that the customer moves between the shop, the online store, the phone, and social media without having to repeat information or run into different conditions. In practice, this means a unified view of stock across the warehouse and shops, the option to order online and collect or return in the shop, a shared customer history, and the same prices and promotions across all channels. The obstacle is usually the technical separation of systems and the internal splitting of results, when the shop and the online store compete for revenue instead of cooperating. The solution is to credit an order collected in the shop to both sides. The benefit shows up in a higher customer value, because people who buy across multiple channels spend significantly more. It therefore pays to measure customer value across channels, not the performance of individual channels separately.
See also: Click and collect and parcel pickup points, E-shop integration with ERP, Customer retention.
