Introduction
With increasing digitalization, customers are always looking for a consolidated shopping experience across all platforms, online and offline.
No wonder, 49% of customers are looking for a blend of physical and digital channels when interacting with brands.
Users can now check the products and make the purchase through the online store. They have the liberty to pick up the order from the store or go for home delivery. That’s the power of omnichannel experiences. If you want your eCommerce business to thrive, you ought to invest in such technologies that make shopping even more convenient for the users.
If you are still pondering over implementing omnichannel strategy in your F&B business, here’s why you should do it on priority.
Why Should F&B Businesses Invest in Omnichannel Strategy?
- When it comes to the food and beverage industry, omnichannel commerce serves as a challenge as well as opportunity —- challenge because not adopting an omnichannel strategy can lead to loss of revenue; opportunity if you use it to boost customer loyalty and yield maximum business.
- Customers expect a smooth shopping experience across the different touchpoints. Therefore, you must integrate the online and offline operations to cater to these demands. Through a powerful omnichannel strategy, you can impart a consistent experience throughout the diverse channels, including physical shops, website stores, social media, and mobile apps.
- Taking an omnichannel approach would enhance customer loyalty and help retain them. As the customers get a personalized experience across every platform, they can strengthen the relationship with the customers. For example: Just like groceries, you can order food online through the mobile app like DoorDash and then pick it up from the restaurant. In other words, you interact with the brand through their app and then their physical outlet. It is the simplest form of omnichannel experience.
- You are not just competing with restaurants on food-delivery apps but also in the physical world. So, having a user-friendly website, app, and being listed on the food delivery platforms will increase your visibility and keep you ahead of the competition.
- Finally, let’s talk about how an omnichannel approach gives you detailed insights into the customer. As all your platforms are synced together, you get a perfect idea about what your customers prefer and their purchase patterns. You can use this information to craft tailormade marketing communications, optimize inventory management, and elevate the overall customer experience.
Challenges of Incorporating Omnichannel Strategy
Despite the plethora of advantages presented by omnichannel strategy, restaurant owners still hesitate to incorporate it in their business — The reason being that it requires exorbitant investment, execution of complex technology, and expert or platform-certified professionals. You will need to synchronize minute data sets and track every aspect of the customer journey.
It is an exhausting task to keep a uniform look and feel across the different channels. Creating a consistent digital experience considering the distinctive quirks of every platform requires professional assistance and mastery of customer behavior. You would also need a proper inventory management strategy that works in sync with all the channels so that there is no overstocking or understocking of the food items.
It is always advisable to seek help from digital experience experts and qualified eCommerce professionals. Besides technical knowledge, they should also be well-versed with the changing customer preferences and their behavior across different channels. It is not enough to have a powerful data analytics software. You must also be able to translate the details into actionable strategy with targeted marketing and personalized messages.
Metamorphosis of Omnichannel Strategy and Customer Journeys
There are three stages involved in the evolution of omnichannel strategy.
1. Multiple-channel
In this stage, customers can interact on multiple channels. However, they are not synced and data is stored in siloed form. You cannot access data across different departments. So, you won’t be able to take action based on the customer behavior.
For instance: The customer can make the purchase online but cannot pick the order from the restaurant. Such a setting exists in a multiple channel company.
2. Multi-channel
Multi-channel stage has easily accessible data across different channels. The only problem is that every channel has a different look and feel. The operations run based on the business processes instead of customer needs. You won’t be able to have a complete picture of the customer behavior in this model.
3. True omnichannel experiences
When the users have a seamless, coherent customer-centric experience and can move in and around all the channels with the same comfort, it creates a truly omnichannel experience. Unlike multichannel setup, omnichannel experience perfectly blends all the channels. That’s quite evident from the fact that 85% of customers said their ideal channel is an amalgamation of all channels.
To impart a true omnichannel experience, you ought to have a great grip over your data analytics. You will get data from multiple sources at every second. And all these insights will have to be integrated to create a single customer view and then design relevant experiences.
How are Data Insights and Omnichannel Success Connected?
Using traditional data mining techniques offer unstructured data. So, it is likely that you miss out on important insights concealed therein. By employing a powerful data collection and analytics software, you can get a comprehensive view of the customer journey. It will bridge the gap between all the interactions and record everything that the customer does.
Talking about the F&B industry, data will give you information about:
- What does the customer buy?
- Is the customer a discount shopper?
- Does the customer follow a definite shopping pattern?
- What are the diet preferences? Is the customer vegetarian or non-vegetarian?
- Is the customer falling in special categories like vegan food choices?
- Which is the most preferred channel for the customer?
Based on these insights, you can craft winning upsell and cross-sell marketing campaigns that grab eyeballs and uplift the digital experience. You can also collect feedback and optimize your customer experience accordingly. Whether it is the customer’s journey or the website design or app functionality, data analytics fixes any gaps that would lead to friction in the customer’s journey. They let you segment and target the customers according to their behavior, preferences, and needs.
Just like there are online tools to optimize processes on your website or app, you must employ special tools or software to facilitate offline shopping too. Real-time data integration is the key to creating a seamless omnichannel experience. It allows you to formulate dynamic and responsive strategies that are perfectly aligned with the latest trends and customer behavior.
Many business owners misinterpret omnichannel as “just being everywhere”. It does not end there. It means that your presence on every channel should count.
According to the data analytics, establish a seamless customer journey map. It will help you perceive your brand according to the customers so that you can stand true to their expectations.
Source: Food Service Customer Journey Map
Starbucks sets the perfect example of delivering omnichannel experiences. They allow customers to order and then select a pickup store to collect their parcel. Their promotional offers are designed to encourage more customers to order from them, thereby boosting customer retention and brand loyalty.
Source: Omnichannel Customer Experience
Wrapping Up
There was a time when connected customer experiences were just a buzzword and a rising trend. However, the modern customer expects it everywhere, be it apparel shopping or dining out. If you are in the food and beverage industry, delicious food no longer suffices. Along with taste, the experience also counts. Make sure that you record every customer touchpoint and deliver consistent experiences across different devices and channels — the restaurant outlet, your app, website, and food delivery platforms. There’s no other way out to sustain in the fierce competition.
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Nishit specializes in assisting brands and businesses unlock maximum growth through digital transformation and optimizing operations. With a passion for strategic discussions, he excels at improvising strategies to generate revenue and expand customer bases. Beyond his professional endeavors, Nishit enjoys traveling and connecting with new people, sharing experiences, and engaging in conversations about technology.
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