Omnichannel in retail
Maxis Business enhances companies via seamless shopping engagement.
WHILE the Covid-19 pandemic may have disrupted our global economy, digital transformation has helped businesses survive by providing a multi-channel retail approach so customers can shop and purchase online and in physical stores.
Problem is despite the wider reach compared to in-store footfall, customer experiences and engagements also run the risk of being isolated within each channel. With tomorrow’s customers expecting to engage with brands at their own convenience, future retailers must be ready and able to comply.
Adopting a new outlook
The omnichannel represents the next evolutionary step for those who are quick to meet these new demands. It combines digital and physical brand engagements with a heightened customer experience; it delivers consistent customer service across all channels; it holds a centralised stock information and has the ability to check on stock availability in real-time.
It also enables the possibility of cross-channel loyalty programmes such as memberships and reward systems that can be collected and redeemed both digitally and physically.
Be it in-store shopping, online-to-offline (O2O) or purely online shopping, the approach offers a holistic customer experience across different channels and touchpoints.
The result is a wide-reaching net with multiple possible touchpoints that represent a single customer’s journey.
Watching out for common speed bumps
A successful transition into the omnichannel approach requires proper planning and proficiency.
That’s why it’s crucial to engage experts who can steer your business away from obstacles and challenges.
Many enterprises store their information as channel-based silos – which disrupts and delays data sharing. To provide high-level and data-driven decision-making, data convergence and extraction needs to be integrated into the system in order to play a key role in understanding customer segments.
This starts with carefully selecting the right platform to ensure that businesses can attain flexibility to scale and grow according to their needs in the future.
However, the sales and operations teams must also be trained to handle multi-faceted customer demands and work on new platforms so everyone on board can be equipped with the skills needed to engage tomorrow’s customers.
Starting the omnichannel journey
Avoiding these potential mishaps require the right foundation.
To date, one of the fastest, most cost-effective ways to embark on the journey is by simply employing an experienced and knowledgeable technology partner.
Look for one that is well-versed in retail and omnichannel operations, as well as possess deep industry knowledge to collaborate in developing strategies.
It should have a well-established history in digital transformation and can provide guidance on the best approach to set up the omnichannel, along with the technical expertise to not only advise but also implement technological solutions.
The partners should also have a track record of forging long-lasting partnerships with its customers that extends into post-implementation support and customer service.
Maxis Right Partner journey
With vast experience in supporting businesses of different sizes throughout their digital transformation journey, Maxis taps into industry partnerships to deliver best-of-breed eCommerce and retail solutions.
From small SMEs to large corporations, Maxis Business works closely with its customers to understand their challenges and develop bespoke solutions for them, mapped out in a tailored roadmap to suit their needs.
As a Gold partner of Kentico, a Bronze partner of Adobe and an Advanced partner of AWS, Maxis’ eCommerce and Retail team is fully certified with the Right Expertise to successfully support businesses throughout their commerce transformation journeys; helping them deliver outstanding customer experiences – all to stay competitive and ahead in the market.
Seamless online shopping experience with MR DIY
As a favourite South-East Asian fixture in the “do-it-yourself’” (DIY) consumer market, MR DIY has over 2,300 stores across the region. It understands that customers prefer bulk purchases, which prompted it to bring the convenience of click-and-collect to its webstore.
How MR DIY’s click-and-collect feature works:
- When placing an order, the customer can select a click-and-collect option, to pick up their purchases from the nearest store, at their own time.
- The logistics team ships the items from MR DIY’s warehouse to the selected store.
- The customer visits that store with the collection invoice to pick the items up.
- To assure ready stocks and speed fulfilment operations, MR DIY integrated their eCommerce Warehouse with their eCommerce platform Magento, which was built and launched by Maxis in 2018.
The eCommerce Warehouse is powered by robotics to drive efficiency, especially with the increase in online shopping behaviour.
This article was originally published in The Star on 16 Dec 2022.
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