Four Tips to Keep in Mind While Developing Your Omnichannel Strategy In an omnichannel model, a brand reaches out to its customer through all the possible platforms like a website, a mobile and in fact, a brick and mortar store too

With all the hype around this model and more brands poaching customers through omnichannel, entrepreneurs should not jump on the bandwagon without a clear omnichannel strategy

In todays age, where the customers are the kings and their seamless experience is all the matters, the retail industry has realised the importance of having an omnichannel presence.

In an omnichannel model, a brand reaches out to its customer through all the possible platforms like a website, a mobile and in fact, a brick and mortar store too.

With all the hype and more brands poaching customers through this model, entrepreneurs should not jump on the bandwagon without a clear omnichannel strategy. And if you are planning to join the gang, here are the five tips from fellow entrepreneurs to keep in mind before going omnichannel.

Discovery v/s Conversion

Shreya Mishra during her journey as Flyrobe's co-founder has realised for different product categories, "the brand requires different customer touch points and for all the hype around online, the Indian consumers still like to go offline to try, touch and feel the product before they shop"she says.

According to the shepreneur, "there are three things one needs to understand while going omnichannel. There is discovery - how do people know of our brand, then there is consideration - if they know of about ten brands, are you in their consideration set or do they seriously think you have the right value proposition or the right collection and third is obviously, conversion - so, you are considering three brands, which is the brand I am finally converting on".

"I think it is very important to know what you are trying to achieve through an omnichannel strategy. I guess when offline brands go online, they are looking for discovery. But consideration and conversion are the two places where you return. Brand positioning, channel strategy matters. So, for us, online brands like us, we go offline for the latter," she added during Entrepreneur Media's Startup Summit 2018.

Evaluations

Spoorthy Shetty, CEO, BBlunt," offline companies should be clear on what is their goal - is profitability or the top line growth? Additionally, brands should also analyze if they have the infrastructure bandwidth to scale up.I think one should find the answers to these questions before jumping on to the bandwagon. It is very important to evaluate your strengths," she advises.

Human Resource

Aza Fashions, an offline brand, went online two years ago and today, it delivers in more than 60 countries. Devangi Parekh, Director of Aza, during this period, has realised the most fundamental factor to make this model successful is your employees.

"People need to be very passionate about the company, as they working round the clock and responding to queries or resolving issues on the backend," she added.

Cross Connect

Archana Walavalkar, Founder & Creative Director, StyleCracker says," entrepreneur should be open to cross-connect with the customer".