In order to stay relevant, retail businesses are constantly adapting to meet customer expectations. Traditional retail strategies are no longer sufficient for modern consumers who expect seamless, personalized experiences across all channels.
That’s where unified commerce comes into play.
By integrating all aspects of your retail operations into a single, cohesive system, unified commerce not only enhances the customer journey but also streamlines your backend processes. In this blog, we will explore how unified commerce is revolutionizing the retail industry, making it the future of retail by providing unparalleled flexibility, accuracy, and customer satisfaction.
What is unified commerce?
Unified commerce integrates in-store and digital operations into a single, comprehensive system that delivers a consistent customer experience across all sales channels. This approach creates a more integrated and seamless experience for buyers while providing retailers with actionable insights.
By adopting unified commerce, retailers can connect data and processes from physical stores, eCommerce sites, mobile apps, call centers, and other customer touchpoints, creating a single view of inventory, customers, and orders. This allows customers to move effortlessly between channels with a consistent experience while enabling retailers to track all interactions.
Omnichannel vs. unified commerce
If you think unified commerce sounds a lot like omnichannel, you’re not alone. Both aim to provide a consistent experience across sales channels. While they do cover a lot of common ground, there are some key differences.
Unified commerce goes beyond omnichannel retail by integrating the entire sales process, including products, payment systems, production, and customer interactions, into a seamless solution. For example, it aggregates data from retail POS systems to track in-store sales and eCommerce payment processing.
A key illustration of this difference comes from a Harvard Business Review Analytics Services (HBRAS) study. It showed that most retailers now offer an omnichannel sales experience, yet 85% of consumers report inconsistent experiences across departments or channels. Additionally, retailers are not leveraging their data comprehensively, with only 16% of companies having a single view of their customers across all interactions.
Why is unified commerce important?
Customers today expect a seamless experience across both physical and digital sales channels. While omnichannel retail is a step in the right direction, reducing friction and meeting these expectations requires more.
Unified commerce elevates omnichannel retail by creating an integrated supply and value chain, including:
- Avoiding channel conflicts: Ensuring accurate inventory counts across all channels to prevent overselling, stockouts, and inconsistent pricing.
- Unified customer data: Enabling retailers to track every interaction, regardless of where it occurs, to provide more personalized experiences.
- Data-driven insights: Creating a single version of the truth to drive better marketing and operational decisions.
An effective unified commerce strategy enables retailers to deliver engaging brand experiences across all channels while streamlining data access. It provides business leaders with comprehensive analytics for informed decision-making and marketers with deeper insights into customer behavior.
Benefits of unified commerce
1. Enhanced customer experience
Unified commerce ensures that customers have a consistent and seamless experience across all channels. Whether they are shopping online, in a physical store, or through a mobile app, the experience remains uniform. This consistency is crucial in building brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. Customers can start their shopping journey on one channel and complete it on another without any disruption. For instance, they can browse products online and purchase them in-store, or vice versa. This fluidity enhances convenience and meets the expectations of today’s tech-savvy consumers.
2. Comprehensive customer insights
Retailers are also able to collect and analyze data from all customer touchpoints, creating a single, unified view of the customer. This comprehensive data collection provides deeper insights into customer behavior, preferences, and buying patterns. Retailers can use this information to personalize marketing efforts, tailor product recommendations, and improve customer service.
Understanding the customer journey in its entirety enables retailers to anticipate needs and offer more relevant and timely promotions, thereby driving higher engagement and sales.
3. Seamless inventory management
One of the standout benefits of unified commerce is its impact on inventory management. By integrating inventory data across all channels, retailers gain real-time visibility into stock levels, reducing the risk of overstocking or stockouts. This visibility enables more accurate demand forecasting and inventory replenishment, ensuring that products are available when and where customers want them. Additionally, unified commerce supports more efficient fulfillment options, such as buy online, pick up in-store, ship-from-store, and ship-to-store, enhancing flexibility and customer satisfaction.
4. Operational efficiency
Unified commerce streamlines operations by consolidating disparate systems and processes into a single platform. This integration reduces the complexity and costs associated with managing multiple systems. It also minimizes errors and redundancies, leading to more efficient workflows. For example, centralized order management allows retailers to process and fulfill orders more quickly and accurately, regardless of the channel through which they were placed. This efficiency not only improves the bottom line but also enables employees to focus on higher-value tasks, such as customer engagement and strategic planning.
5. Data-driven decision making
The unified view of data provided by unified commerce empowers retailers to make more informed and strategic decisions. With access to comprehensive and accurate data, retailers can identify trends, measure performance, and optimize operations. For example, they can analyze sales data to determine which products are performing well and which are not, allowing for more effective merchandising and inventory strategies. Additionally, real-time data insights enable retailers to respond quickly to market changes and customer demands, staying agile and competitive in a fast-paced retail environment.
6. Increased sales and revenue
By enhancing the customer experience, improving inventory management, and streamlining operations, unified commerce ultimately drives increased sales and revenue. Satisfied customers are more likely to make repeat purchases and recommend the brand to others. Efficient inventory management reduces costs and maximizes sales opportunities by ensuring that popular products are always in stock. Moreover, the ability to offer flexible fulfillment options can attract more customers and increase sales.
7. Scalability and flexibility
Unified commerce systems are designed to be scalable and flexible, allowing retailers to grow and adapt to changing market conditions. As retailers expand their operations or introduce new sales channels, unified commerce systems can easily accommodate these changes without the need for significant reconfiguration. This scalability ensures that retailers can continue to provide a seamless customer experience and maintain operational efficiency as their business evolves.
8. Enhanced security and compliance
With unified commerce, retailers can implement consistent security measures and ensure compliance with industry regulations across all channels. This consistency reduces the risk of security breaches and ensures that customer data is protected. Centralized data management also simplifies compliance reporting and auditing, reducing the burden on retailers and ensuring adherence to regulatory requirements.
How to implement a unified commerce strategy
1. Assess your current technology stack
The first step in implementing a unified commerce strategy is to evaluate your existing technology infrastructure. Conduct a comprehensive audit of your current systems, including point of sale, eCommerce platforms, customer relationship management, and inventory management systems. Identify any gaps or redundancies that may hinder seamless integration.
2. Choose the right technology solutions
Selecting the right technology solutions is critical for a successful unified commerce strategy. Look for platforms that offer robust integration capabilities and can unify various channels. Consider cloud-based solutions that provide scalability, flexibility, and real-time data synchronization.
3. Integrate your systems
Integration is the cornerstone of unified commerce. Ensure that your POS, eCommerce, CRM, and inventory management systems are interconnected. This integration should facilitate real-time data sharing across all channels. For instance, when a customer makes a purchase online, your inventory levels should be updated instantly, reflecting the change across all sales channels.
4. Centralize your data
A unified commerce strategy requires centralized data management. All customer data, transaction records, and inventory information should be stored in a single database accessible by all systems. This centralization enables a 360-degree view of the customer, allowing for personalized marketing and improved customer service.
5. Train your staff
Your staff plays a crucial role in the success of a unified commerce strategy. Provide comprehensive training to ensure they understand the new systems and processes. Equip them with the knowledge to assist customers seamlessly, whether they are shopping online or in-store. Empower your staff with tools and information to offer exceptional customer service.
6. Monitor and optimize
Implementing a unified commerce strategy is not a one-time effort. Continuously monitor the performance of your systems and processes. Use analytics to gain insights into customer behavior and sales trends. Regularly review and optimize your strategy to ensure it meets evolving customer expectations and market demands.
7. Foster collaboration across departments
A unified commerce strategy requires collaboration across various departments, including IT, marketing, sales, and customer service. Foster a culture of collaboration by promoting open communication and shared goals. Ensure that all departments understand the importance of unified commerce and work together to deliver a seamless customer experience.
8. Solicit customer feedback
Finally, solicit feedback from your customers to understand their needs and preferences. Use surveys, reviews, and social media interactions to gather insights. Incorporate this feedback into your strategy to continuously improve and adapt to customer expectations.
Unified commerce is the future of retail
Unified commerce places the customer at the heart of your retail strategy, aligning your backend operations with their shopping journey. By integrating four key components, unified commerce ensures seamless synchronization across your entire retail ecosystem.
Systems integration
Unified commerce allows your foundation to adapt and scale effortlessly, regardless of where or how customers shop. Expanding to new markets, locations, or channels becomes straightforward as your backend tools integrate seamlessly. If you close a channel or location, inventory can be reallocated automatically, maintaining operational continuity.
Channel unification
Unifying payments with your POS systems across every channel allows for easy identification and linkage of customers, regardless of where they shop. This integration simplifies tracking and measuring results. For instance, if you open a new retail location, you can analyze its impact on eCommerce sales in the region. Such data is vital for making informed business decisions.
Consider launching an in-app loyalty program: unified commerce enables you to track sales increases and their effects on both online and physical locations.
Product management
Maintaining inventory accuracy is critical, yet many retailers struggle with it. With products spread across various locations, distribution centers, and channels, inventory counts can easily fall out of sync.
Retailers often cannot confirm item availability or location. Customers become frustrated when they find out that a purchased item is actually out of stock or unavailable for pickup. For retailers, inaccurate inventory counts lead to stockouts (lost sales), overstocks (unnecessary capital tied up), and significant supply chain issues.
Unified commerce enhances delivery options and creates additional sales opportunities. For example, you can implement “endless aisles” to showcase your entire inventory to in-store shoppers via kiosks.
Customer interactions
Modern customers are discerning, basing spending decisions on factors beyond price. Speed, convenience, and consistency are crucial.
Personalization is no longer optional. McKinsey research indicates that 70% of customers expect personalized interactions. Unified commerce enables such personalization across channels and locations. Its importance is underscored by the fact that 75% of customers report frustration when they do not receive a personalized experience.
Embracing the future of retail with cloud technology
The cloud is essential for integrating everything. A modern cloud architecture supports unified commerce across channels and locations. Implementing a unified commerce strategy is a complex but rewarding endeavor. By following these steps, retailers can create a seamless, integrated shopping experience that meets the demands of today’s consumers and sets the stage for future growth. Plus when you partner with Sekure Payment Experts, you get the tools you need to deploy unified commerce efficiently and cost-effectively and save while you’re at it. Find out how much you can save and discover how Sekure can improve customer experience, streamline operations, and drive revenue growth.