Omnichannel Marketing

12 Key excerpts on "Omnichannel Marketing"

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  Managing Customer Experiences in an Omnichannel World

  Melody of Online and Offline Environments in the Customer Journey

  • Taşkın Dirsehan(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Emerald Publishing Limited

    (Publisher)

  In this globe, multichannel marketing has been an alternative choice of approach in meeting the demands of both stakeholders within the supply chain networking process. It is to say that it works well with the omnichannel world of conducting business. Multichannel marketing is such a marketing strategy that aims to interconnect the products and services with consumers by launching the different channels of operation. Within this strategy, the overall functionality has been put on meeting the needs of the consumers and becoming efficient on the company side. Basically, it is a combination of traditional way of doing business while combining internet technologies and practices. This is sometimes defined as “brick, click, and flip” as well. Consumers in this methodology visit various stores both offline and online before making the purchase decision. For example, consumers may initially visit the physical stores, check the prices, quality and design, and then move toward the website of the company for final purchasing process or engage in the cataloging process whereby purchasing may be finally done by ordering from the catalogue (Brassington & Pettitt, 2000, p. 85). Also, the related research on multichanneling strategy clearly reveals that it is an effective sales strategy within the integration of offering a shopping experience by providing various channels of distribution in terms of offering value and differentiation in the formation of effective business organizations. Effective promotional tools such as TV, radio are being used, however especially in this period of digitalization, social media is extensively used as a means to promote the value being transmitted in this process to the end users. Along with this notion, as internet has been on the rise as part of globalization, webrooming and showrooming concepts have been crucial to study in terms of defining and meeting the needs of the consumer groups as a means to compare prices and products

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  Entrepreneurial Marketing

  A Blueprint for Customer Engagement

  • Beth Goldstein(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  In a time when we have continuous, oftentimes overwhelming, access, 24/7 to information about more products and services than we care or need to know about, how do you ensure your brand’s message gets heard and is validated? This is a daunting feat to accomplish, especially when you have a limited budget. Identifying and engaging with your customers, the ones who want to do business with your brand, is not as easy as you might have believed before you began reading this book. We have seen this with the numerous entrepreneurs featured in the book as they struggle to achieve customer traction.

  Figure 11.1 Multichannel Marketing

  Let’s begin by defining the difference between omnichannel and multichannel marketing since this is the underlying premise of how to successfully grow a company. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2019) defines omni as “All, universally” while multi is defined as “many, more than one.” Using these definitions as a starting point, the difference between Omnichannel Marketing and multichannel marketing is that Omnichannel Marketing creates a unifying (universal) message across many platforms, thereby creating a seamless experience for the user. With a multichannel marketing approach, one might be able to learn about a company using different platforms, but the experience isn’t always seamless; you can’t go from one platform to the next with ease, and sometimes your leap from channel to channel feels as if you’re visiting a “different planet.” From the customer perspective, multichannel is less than ideal and doesn’t support a level of brand engagement that is important for a growing company. Omnichannel Marketing requires that you apply a strategic and holistic approach to your marketing that includes all customer touchpoints. If you have multiple individuals or departments working on your messaging, you might be aiming for a consistent brand engagement, but the outcome feels more like a mixed-up patchwork. This inhibits the delivery of your brand message. Still confused? A picture is worth a thousand words. With that in mind, look at the difference between the two images and this might help you to better understand the differences between multichannel versus Omnichannel Marketing approaches.

  Figure 11.2 Omnichannel Marketing

  Think Like Starbucks

  Let’s look at an example of strong, holistically designed, omnichannel engagement. Starbucks, the international coffee retailer, is a great example of a strategically deployed customer marketing approach. As of July 2018, Starbucks operated 28,720 stores in over 75 countries around the world. While it is clearly a well-established brand with a budget much larger than your start-up, it exemplifies what an ideal customer experience can be and how a company can provide a seamless experience for its customers. For example, if you are ordering any type of drink, perhaps a grande latte, from any of its stores, whether in Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Boston, or London, your experience will be the same. Starbucks strives to ensure customers will experience its brand in the same way through a selection of tools and channels that it has deployed. As the factsheet at the company website explains:

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  Entrepreneurial Marketing

  A Blueprint for Customer Engagement

  • Beth Goldstein(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  We have seen this with the numerous entrepreneurs featured in the book as they struggle to achieve customer traction. Let’s begin by defining the difference between omnichannel and multichannel mar- keting since this is the underlying premise of how to successfully grow a company. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2019) defines omni as “All, universally” while multi is defined as “many, more than one.” Using these definitions as a starting point, the differ- ence between Omnichannel Marketing and multichannel marketing is that Omnichannel Marketing creates a unifying (universal) message across many platforms, thereby creat- ing a seamless experience for the user. With a multichannel marketing approach, one Figure 11.1 Multichannel Marketing CHAPTER 11 • DEPLOYING Omnichannel Marketing TO CREATE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT 263 might be able to learn about a company using different platforms, but the experience isn’t always seamless; you can’t go from one platform to the next with ease, and some- times your leap from channel to channel feels as if you’re visiting a “different planet.” From the customer perspective, multichannel is less than ideal and doesn’t support a level of brand engagement that is important for a growing company. Omnichannel mar- keting requires that you apply a strategic and holistic approach to your marketing that includes all customer touchpoints. If you have multiple individuals or departments work- ing on your messaging, you might be aiming for a consistent brand engagement, but the outcome feels more like a mixed-up patchwork. This inhibits the delivery of your brand message. Still confused? A picture is worth a thousand words. With that in mind, look at the difference between the two images and this might help you to better understand the differences between multichannel versus Omnichannel Marketing approaches. Figure 11.2 Omnichannel Marketing THINK LIKE STARBUCKS Let’s look at an example of strong, holistically designed, omnichannel engagement.

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  Transform Customer Experience

  How to achieve customer success and create exceptional CX

  • Isabella Villani(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 6 OMNICHANNEL CX Channel strategy thinking has shifted from a multichannel to an omnichannel focus, and the change in terminology isn’t just a matter of keeping up with the times. An omnichannel approach shifts attention from the individual channels and touchpoints to the relationship between them, which is becoming increasingly integrated. At one level, this simply represents a recognition that customers are engaging with whichever channels offer them the smoothest way of obtaining the products and services they want. Omnichannel strategies involve a wider range of media than those covered in multichannel approaches. The main focus of multichannel analysis is on interactive media, whereas omnichannel also includes non-interactive one-to-many communications, from conventional print catalogues to targeted digital pop-ups in apps and on search pages. At the same time, both strategies include unglamorous but prolific communication channels such as phone, chat, email and snail mail, as well as direct visits in person. A mature omnichannel strategy offers customers a seamless, consistent experience across channels and touchpoints, no matter what technology or communication channel they are using. It’s the customer, not the organisation, who chooses the channels through which they interact. Say, for example, a customer is sitting at a computer trying to work out how to find a copy of a bank statement so she can print it out for her accountant. She is in a rush and panicky and she 116 TRANSFORM CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE can’t find the link to the statement, so she calls the bank’s contact centre. When the consultant at the contact centre explains how the customer can find the link to her statement, what he says should align with the terminology and structure of the company’s website, so the customer can be accurately guided to the right place.

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  Retail Futures

  The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of the Digital Transformation

  • Eleonora Pantano(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Emerald Publishing Limited

    (Publisher)

  To achieve this, value creation for the customer has to undergo a paradigm shift moving from a competitive vision of the retail channels to a cooperative one (Yami, Castaldo, Dagnino, & Le Roy, 2010). Operationally, this implies studying strategies that will increase retail ubiquity (namely, following a multipoint strategy) from a perspective of differentiating between offers. Through reinterpreting the role and services the different channels offer, it becomes possible to overcome the competitive approach and to embrace a collaborative one in which various channels contribute to the production of value for the customer. An omnichannel retail strategy can therefore be considered as an evolution of the multichannel one (Verhoef, Kannan, & Inman, 2015), aimed at overcoming its limits and constraints. It is a synergic way of managing the numerous channels and touch points in order to improve the customer's experience and optimize the retail company's performance. This implies the recognition that the different channels should interact with each other as they are meant to be available to customers simultaneously (Lee, Chan, Chong, & Thadani, 2019 ; Savastano, Bellini, D'Ascenzo, & De Marco, 2019 ; Tyrväinen & Karjaluoto, 2019). Starting from the recognition that customers use channels interchangeably and simultaneously, omnichannel management encourages synergic channel management, so that the customer's experience and, consequently, the company's performance are mutually reinforcing. Retail companies, then, should use the channels interchangeably and simultaneously to facilitate the customer experience within the customer journey (Barwitz & Maas, 2018)

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  Emotionalizing Fashion Retail

  • Jochen Strähle(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Books on Demand

    (Publisher)

  In most of the literature, multi-channel retailing stands for direct sales with simultaneous use of two or more distribution channels, i.e. via store, catalog and Internet (Heinemann, 2013b; L. G. Poloian, 2013). Multi-channel retailer try to harmonize the prices, as well as the promotion style, even though the channels and belonging systems are managed separately (Schwerdt, 2013). For the consumer, this means that the products are indeed across channels available, but enhanced services or complaints can only take place within a channel (Fost, 2014, p.41).

  In order to meet the increasing importance of integrated multi-channel retailing systems in corporate practice, the term cross-channel retailing evolved (Schramm-Klein, 2012, p. 421;Zentes, Foscht, & Swoboda, 2012, p.53). This should emphasize the aspect of the sales channel link and delineate it from the traditional multichannel retailing (Rittinger, 2013, p.21). In cross-channel retailing, the customer is able to change the channels during the buying process. An example could be an online purchase and a physical pick up at the POS (Fost, 2014, p.42). This process is called Click & Collect heine(Rittinger, 2014). A successful cross-channel management requires multiple integrated channels, which are technical and organizational separated (Greenwich Consulting Deutschland GmbH, 2012).

  The evolution of cross-channeling is omni-channeling which represents the focus of this paper. Here, the individual sales channels merge into so called touch points in a joint purchasing environment of the consumer, who gets access to the entire range of products (Fost, 2014, p. 42). The lecturer in marketing, Subrat Kumar Panigrahi, declares that “all channels have converged to the point that they have become one unit” (Panigrahi, 2013). The consumer enjoys a location-independent, continuous consistent and personalized shopping experience (Fost, 2014, p. 42). On this basis, Heinemann stresses that omni-channeling especially represents a change/trend in consumer behavior (Heinemann, 2013, p.9). Peter Sachse underlines this by expressing that “the consumer can choose whatever channel she wants to interact with you on, any device that she’d like to do that with, and (still) get a very consistent (shopping) experience” (Panigrahi, 2013). All product and customer data is centrally stored and updated in real time, so that, for example, the sales stuff is informed about the customer and that he has recently ordered a piece in the online store (Fost, 2014, p. 42). According to IDC, omni-channel consumer have a higher brand loyalty and spend about 20% more money than multi-channel consumer would do (Pine & Gilmore, 2011;Wiehr, 2011). Tools in omni-channeling, that are explained in the further reading, are used to prevent the customer to leave the brand during the buying process (Fost, 2014, p.44).

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  E-Commerce Growth Strategy

  A Brand-Driven Approach to Attract Shoppers, Build Community and Retain Customers

  • Kunle Campbell(Author)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Kogan Page

    (Publisher)

  Distribution is essential for rapid growth with minimal effort. Just as not all consumers use a single social media platform, they are also spread across various purchasing channels. They prefer to build customized shopping experiences by combining multiple channels into their customer journey. This is where consumer psychology comes into play in omnichannel retail. Customers have lives outside the digital world, and in-store experiences are important to them in their purchasing journeys. However, it’s important to approach distribution as a marketing channel, not just a distribution channel. This requires a strategic approach that aligns with your brand image, values and goals. Later in this chapter, I will provide examples of how some of the best up-and-coming brands, such as Hero Cosmetics and Tony’s Chocolonely, have used their distribution channel strategy to build brand equity and communicate their brand values effectively.

  Discovery

  Marketplace platforms aren’t simply used for purchase, they’re also used in the research stages of the customer journey for product discovery. As an example, up to 70 per cent of searches in the United States begin on the Amazon platform – you almost can’t afford not to be on the platform from a discovery perspective (Jungle Scout, 2021). The dynamic is similar on other marketplace platforms, too. Even if customers aren’t buying on them, they are using them for discovery and may later purchase through your owned channels.

  Consumer experience – building for your customers

  From a customer experience perspective, in-store offers unique experiences that online platforms struggle to replicate. For example, shopping, trying on clothes and building occasions around shopping experiences like a morning coffee with friends and a stroll through the central shopping district. Online and offline experiences can coexist harmoniously to provide the most value and pleasure for customers. Many retailers recognize the power of omnichannel strategy and are preparing for the increasing demand for it. Customers want to be able to purchase what they want, where they want and when they want. This means that if they are shopping at Walmart, they want to be able to add your product to their basket as well. Companies like Target and Walmart are opening up their marketplaces to direct-to-consumer retailers to provide the product selection that customers are looking for.

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  The Value of Design in Retail and Branding

  • Katelijn Quartier, Ann Petermans, T. C. Melewar, Charles Dennis, T C Melewar(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Emerald Publishing Limited

    (Publisher)

  Part 3The Value of…Context Passage contains an image

  Chapter 9

  Virtually the Same: Understanding Consumer Experience in an Omnichannel Environment

  Louise F. Reid, Alan Marvell, Don Parker and Philippa Ward

  A Call to Arms

  The consumer experience will be embroidered with digital touchpoints that distort the boundaries between what's physical and digital.

  –Womble Bond Dickinson [1 , p. 6]

  As a response to the environment and our current circumstances, there have been extensive and continuing changes in the way we shop, meaning that consideration of shopping across touchpoints and channels is key – leaving no space to view physical and digital channels as distinct [2] . For consumers, this means new shopping experiences with increased, and more complex, customer-firm interactions [3] .

  This chapter examines how to understand consumers' decision-making across touchpoints and channels and identify the factors that influence their omnichannel journey. Its goal is to combine different perspectives and approaches, arguing that to meaningfully examine contemporary omnichannel customer experiences, multidisciplinary methods are essential. To do this, the chapter first considers literature on customer experience, store environment and the omnichannel to offer a combined conceptual framework. This is then used to enable three forms of analysis of a consumer journey, that are then woven together to offer richer insights and illustrate a journey pattern. These vivid outcomes support the use of a more holistic approach to omnichannel customer experience analysis and demonstrate implications for both research and business practice.

  The Omnichannel Customer Experience

  To help retailers integrate touchpoints, several research streams seek to understand the consumer journey across (and within) channels [4] . Such research takes two broad perspectives: examining consumer behaviour or investigating channel choice outcomes across a range of metrics. There is, however, more work needed to better understand shoppers' omnichannel behaviour and what shapes and influences these experiences [5] . Moreover, Lee et al. [6] state that omnichannel retailers regard engaging customers across channels as one of their biggest challenges – as customer interactions are diverse and piecemeal [7]

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  Marketing Theory

  A Student Text

  • Michael J Baker, Michael Saren, Michael J Baker, Michael Saren(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of the key issues and questions inherent in the current ways in which digital marketing is approached. The marketing discipline itself is teeming with dilemmas and identity crises, yet the digital context brings them to the fore, as it clashes the old way of doing things with the new, not yet ‘status’ quo.

  A growing number of books, innumerable blogs, infographics and statistics can be found about digital and multichannel marketing on the Web. If what you are looking for is to bring your understanding up to date and see the latest trends and cases, there is no better place to refer to than the Web itself. Our focus here is a discussion on the theories of marketing communications and how they might be influenced by the digital transformation. Communication provides a thread that has enduring relevance, resonates with many readers, and holds yet more potential for revolutionizing marketing and marketplaces.

  Starting off with a review of the existing communication models and theories, we trace the development of thought on communications from mass broadcast to individualized and Omni-channel. Alongside we note how those models are affected by, and in turn are shaping, digital and multichannel marketing. A growing scholarly research base helps in this endeavour and signals some emergent research streams which we highlight. The organizational side of digital transformation from single- to omnichannel communication is illustrated by a case study of a top European sports company, Hummel. The chapter concludes by addressing the importance of theorizing within the digital domain and the challenges it brings.

  Development of thought on marketing communications

  Research on marketing communication has a rich history and provenance from a variety of other disciplines, including psychology, sociology and economics. Mass communication, representing print and broadcast media such as radio and TV, emerged as a research discipline in the early 20th century. The practice of mass communication relies on large, anonymous and often heterogeneous audiences, allowing broadcasters and advertisers to target relatively large groups cost-effectively – but with limited precision – by using basic demographics and consumption criteria such as postcode or magazine circulation. Furthermore, the basic economic function of mass media has been to appeal to and hold the largest audience possible so they can attract revenue from advertisers interested in reaching massive audiences to promote their products or brands.

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  Digital Marketing

  Integrating Strategy, Sustainability, and Purpose

  • Ira Kaufman, Chris Horton, Mariusz Soltanifar(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  INTEGRATED DIGITAL MARKETING DEFINED INTEGRATED DIGITAL MARKETING 164 IDM is a comprehensive marketing strategy that merges multiple digital channels, platforms, and media to help organizations achieve their goals by providing value for, and building sustainable relationships with, all stakeholders. In many ways, IDM is the logical progression of its precursor, integrated marketing communications (IMC), a term that emerged in the late twentieth century in reference to the application of consistent brand messaging across numerous marketing channels. The term has varying defnitions, and the differences can impact how IMC is viewed and used. ● The initial defnition for IMC came from the American Association of Advertising Agencies in 1989, and it was explained as, “an approach to achieving the objectives of a marketing campaign through a well-coordinated use of different promotional methods that are intended to reinforce each other.” 1 ● In the 1990s, Northwestern University’s Journal of Integrated Marketing defned IMC as “a strategic marketing process specifcally designed to ensure that all messaging and communication strategies are unifed across all channels and are centered around the customer.” 2 ● In 2022, Adobe defned IMC as, “a feld of academic research and a strategic approach to improving marketing operations with consistent and multichannel customer experiences that lead to greater brand recognition, trust, and loyalty. It has become even more important in the age of social media and mobile phones, when consumers interact with brands they care about on a daily basis.” 3 1 “Marketing Communications,” Wikipedia, accessed November 27, 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_ communications#Integrated_marketing_communications.

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  Strategic Customer Management

  Integrating Relationship Marketing and CRM

  • Adrian Payne, Pennie Frow(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  Building a multi-channel strategy Building a multi-channel strategy involves a channel design that offers the greatest value for the customer and the company. This involves assessing the value created for the end consumer by different channels structures, understanding the economics of different MULTI-CHANNEL INTEGRATION 329 channel structures and determining the channel strategy that will create the maximum value for consumers and the greatest pro fi t for the company. Developing a multi-channel strategy that delivers an appropriate customer experience for a company ’ s main customer segments includes a number of key activities: develop strategic multi-channel objectives; understand the needs and concerns of key customer segments; undertake a strategic review of industry structure and channel options; understand shifts in channel usage patterns; review channel economics; develop an integrated channel management strategy. Drawing on earlier discussions, each of these activities is now reviewed. Develop strategic multi-channel objectives The starting point for formulating a multi-channel strategy is to determine the key strategic objectives. The overall objective of multi-channel integration is to provide a signi fi cantly enhanced customer experience resulting in higher customer satisfaction and increased sales, pro fi ts and share of wallet. Ideally, this should be accompanied by a lower cost to serve, through alternative channels, for example, from direct sales force to desk-based account management, or from desk-based account management to the adoption or an increase in the use of electronic solutions. Speci fi c strategic objectives should be developed by a company to re fl ect the earlier CRM strategy development and value creation processes.

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  Managing Media Businesses

  A Game Plan to Navigate Disruption and Uncertainty

  • Mike Rosenberg, Philip H. Seager, Mike Rosenberg, Philip H. Seager(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Yet I continue to be amazed by how many websites are not mobile friendly. Writing in IESE Insight magazine, Nueno states: “Companies have to make the most of all opportunities to interact with and relate to their cus- tomers at every stage of the marketing process. Social networks have become much more than platforms for self-promotion. A few years ago, brands were content to create Facebook fan pages, Twitter accounts, YouTube channels and blogs for sharing information of interest, with the aim of attracting fol- lowers and eventually converting them into customers. Today, they can sell directly through these channels. Sites such as Pinterest, where communities form according to interest, have seen spectacular growth and are turning into huge product recommendation platforms. Companies should not let channel proliferation or the rise of new media overwhelm them. To persuade the new consumer, they must arm themselves with a marketing strategy that integrates the various channels and uses each channel in the most appropriate way for each type of customer” [10]. That said, it is worth bearing in mind the observation of another Media AMP executive who said: “In a multichannel media environment, it seems rational to think that a traditional distribution channel should be out of busi- ness, and yet who knows? It only seems rational based on today’s information. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this new media landscape, it’s that nothing stays constant. There are always new disruptors, so by tomorrow the 4 Marketing in a New Media World 68 terms of the competitive game may have changed yet again, and the interme- diary that seemed redundant by today’s standards may well be in a new posi- tion of strength.” As we live in this in-between state of affairs, we have to stay open-minded and ready for anything.

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