An Omnichannel approach is a modern approach to ecommerce. It offers customers a seamless shopping experience. Companies use omnichannel approach to improve their user experience. Omnichannel marketing offers a number of ways to the customers to engage with companies, be it mobile apps, websites, virtual catalogs or social media. This approach implies integration between communication, distribution and promotion on the backend. Services are accessed and purchases are made by the customers using landlines, desktops, smartphones, laptops & more and these channels are used by the people to interact with brands and companies. Omnichannel approach offers customers a cohesive user experience and makes these experiences seamless, steady and efficient for them.
Ecommerce has taken many B2C companies to new heights. Those unable to adjust rapidly have vanished while as those that have adopted have flourished. Various traditional business models have been disrupted by the growth of internet. Lots of B2B & B2C giants including eBay, Amazon, and Google have been created with the help of web technologies. The way consumers access sites have changed after the advent of smartphones and so the businesses have evolved accordingly and offered new tools to fulfill the demands of the consumers. Without a robust ecommerce platform, no business can be successful completely. Ecommerce is poised to start a remarkable change in B2B; Forrester reports that in the United States alone, B2B ecommerce will be twice the size of B2C ecommerce by 2020.
Direct sales strategy has become vital in the business world and there is an explosion of new direct-to-consumer companies. More retailers are investing in direct sales by beefing up their ecommerce sites. The expectations of customers are increasing and they demand a better experience. Wholesalers are at the mercy of distributors when it comes to ensure that the customers are satisfied with how the product is sold. By selling directly, companies can use the necessary tactics to make sure that the customer leaves the store or website fully satisfied with the experience. You might get a sale if the customer buys a product from you instead of your competitor but direct-to-consumer model allows companies to build their brand relationship with customers.
The usage of smartphones, social media platforms, tablets, interactive kiosks, and more for retail shopping might have been a funny idea in the past but today, customers check prices, read reviews before buying, compare products and even look up on social media before making a decision to buy a particular product. That is why it has become imperative to cover your customers from beginning to end through omnichannel retail strategy. Integrating several functions on a single platform will offer customers an effective and seamless shopping experience which will ultimately prove beneficial for your business. There are various ecommerce platforms such as PROS Ecommerce Open Platform that offers turnkey ecommerce solutions for manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, distributors from small businesses to large corporate enterprises and save your time as well as money.
Turnkey PROS Ecommerce Open Platform
An omnichannel approach to ecommerce has proved favorable for the brands. A sustainable competitive advantage can be created by making your brand name as it can differentiate your business from others and help you align your venture, and your marketing efforts towards a common purpose. You can even secure the loyalty of your customers by shaping a particular customer experience. Your brand can move from being a cost to your most valuable asset. You can achieve these goals with the right combination of strategic focus, creativity, insight, and discipline. Consumers will get more selection and better pricing and hence a better user experience and this is enabled by the ecommerce marketplace platform solutions. The omnichannel retailers can now have favorable economics and a chance for a better outcome.
As investment in social media is increasing, b2b social media marketing strategies are becoming essential in order to establish a path to success. The focus of the social media programs should be how the B2B companies achieves marketing objectives and develops relationships with a target audience. Lots of companies have already achieved success with B2B social media marketing and are growing further by tapping into the major social networks for more customers. Due to lack of awareness about the social media, many B2B companies believe that social media is not for them and it is only costing sales. Some of them lack the right staff or resources to run their campaigns on social media. Don’t ignore the fundamental goals and it can be as effective as B2C social media marketing.
The marketing and ad offerings of the LinkedIn are already powerful and it is adding more functionality to it so that b2b marketers have more opportunities to reach out to prospects. The time has come for the B2B marketers to notice LinkedIn’s potential. Have your LinkedIn Company Page set up and device a strategy to keep your endeavors focused. The value of LinkedIn as the world’s largest professional networking site is realized by most b2b marketers. In addition of sharing news, articles and endorse posts within their network, they also use LinkedIn to actually acquire new leads. According to a research, “LinkedIn drives 80% of B2B social media leads”. You can drive leads to your landing page with a form for collecting their information and use LinkedIn for lead generation. You’re missing out on one of the most efficient ways to increase and engage leads if you’re not using LinkedIn for lead generation. LinkedIn assists you to connect with leads to get more sales and revenue.
Zahoor Bhat has over 10+ years of experience as an online editor and media manager. He has worked with major online news and content sites as a media manager. He is well versed with major content management systems and web platforms such as WordPress and social media networks including Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google Business, Yelp, Instagram & Linkedin. He is an expert in content creation, proofreading and finally making it live. Being a social media expert, he is able to make relations with social media influencers and make sure to generate leads and grow business via different social media platforms.
