Behind The Buzzword: How Merchants Should Approach Omnicommerce

There are plenty of ways merchants can justify taking a wait-and-see omnicommerce strategy. They can cite the high cost of investment, the lack of demand from customers or concerns consumers have expressed regarding mobile payments. But, merchants who ignore mobile are neglecting something more important: The danger of failing to respond to new technologies.

If you watched a movie with friends or loved ones this Labor Day, it’s likely that you did so with a streaming service or through your cable provider’s on-demand services. It’s even more likely that you didn’t think about one of the more notable victims of a failure to adapt to an omnichannel world – Blockbuster – or get nostalgic about talking trips to the video store to rent movies. Blockbuster’s demise is proof that when merchants are able to adapt their product or service delivery across multiple channels seamlessly – and deliver a great customer experience across those channels – consumers will follow.

So, how can today’s merchants build an omnicommerce strategy and avoid this fate?

This was the topic of a new white paper from Vantiv, which found that despite perceptions, digital technologies are already “having a profound impact on merchants.”

The white paper revealed, not surprisingly, that the majority of shoppers now use the Internet to help them research their purchases. Fifty-seven percent of consumers reported having researched and finalized a purchase online, and 61 percent indicated they had conducted research via the web before completing a transaction in store.

To get a look inside this white paper, “Omnicommerce: Taking Payments to the Next Level,” and to learn how omnicommerce is changing commerce for both merchants and consumers, we spoke to Lorena Harris, Vantiv’s VP of corporate marketing, for her insights and analysis.

Mobile Is Creating New Consumer Behaviors

Most notable among the paper’s findings was that consumers no longer see a distinction between shopping channels. In fact, showrooming – the practice where consumers find a product at a physical store, then use their mobile phones to secure a lower price elsewhere – is on the rise.

Harris said that they found that about 30 percent of consumers regularly “showroom” when they shop, though it was more common among certain demographics. She noted that young adults were about 11 percent more likely to showroom, and that men were 10 percent more likely to engage in this practice than women.

Still, Harris indicated that merchants are taking steps to retain business, and developing best practices that provide results.

“Merchants can start with steps like making their site mobile friendly with responsive design,” Harris told PYMNTS.com. “They should consider trigger discounts for shoppers who are using smartphones in their stores, and they should make sure that their online and in-store inventory and prices are consistent.”

Omnicommerce Is Creating New Merchant Tools And Functions

This piece also detailed how merchants are being shaped by omnicommerce, identifying key “payment-related fronts” where merchants can pivot to adjust to changing consumer preferences.

Harris stressed the importance of embracing innovation in all of these areas, saying, “the overall experience should be consistent in order to avoid frustrations with the consumers while they’re moving from channel to channel.”

But, the study suggested that not every investment needs to be made in the short-term:

Mobile payments – The report found that 66 percent of survey respondents expect mobile payments to be common in five years. Nearly 40 percent reported that they would be using this payment method within that time frame.

Mobile wallets – The white paper indicated that for now, merchants may be wise to pursue a “wait-and-see” approach with mobile wallets. It cited the fact that providers still need to eliminate consumer confusion and illustrate the value of mobile wallets in order to spur adoption.

Rewards – Rewards were revealed to be a powerful way for merchants to recapture potentially lost spending. However, merchants may want to carefully craft this strategy over time – Vantiv and Mercator noted that 76 percent of consumers worry about getting irrelevant promotions.

Security – The study found that consumers need to know that by using mobile payments, their information won’t be compromised. However, technological advances like multi-factor authentication and biometrics have still yet to become mainstream.

Crafting Your Omnichannel Approach

Since omnicommerce is still a new field, Harris suggested that merchants look to thought leaders in the business for inspiration on how to begin crafting an omnicommerce approach now.

Harris cited major retailers such as Brooks Brothers, Macy’s and PetSmart, which have named “Chief Omnichannel Officers” to craft company strategy, and lauded popular chain drugstore Walgreens for its app that offers in-store mapping, rewards and a quick-print photo service.

“They’re investing in all this because they found there are customers who shop across all their channels actually spend six times as much as store-only consumers,” Harris said in an interview.

For more insights and best practices for omnicommerce, download a copy of Mercator and Vantiv’s full white paper here.

To learn more about how these companies are moving commerce fowrard, listen to our full interview with Harris below.

*If you have trouble with the audio player above, click here.

Lorena Harris

Vice President of Corporate Marketing for Vantiv

Lorena Harris, Vice President of Corporate Marketing for Vantiv, has more than 20 years of marketing experience with large business service companies. Her expertise is in designing research-based Thought Leadership programs for brand building and demand generation.

During the last decade, Lorena has built revenue-generating Thought Leadership programs for $B+ B2B service companies such as Donnelly (directory publishing services), ADP (payroll/benefit services), Convergys (contact center services) and Vantiv (payment processing services). She currently directs Vantiv’s brand and digital marketing efforts, overseeing brand development, content marketing, lead generation, and sales support strategies across new and traditional channels.

Since earning her MBA from Duke University, Lorena has been active in the Raleigh, Atlanta and Cincinnati marketing communities, and often speaks about content marketing at CMO conferences. She is on the Board of Directors for the Cincinnati American Marketing Association and President-elect for 2013-14. Her customer experience marketing blog, thecustomerbitesback.com, is syndicated via Customer Think. More background on Lorena Harris is available on linkedin.com/in/lorenaharris.