In the past, doing business used to be a lot less complicated. There were only offline retail stores that a consumer must visit to make purchases. Today, people interact with a plethora of brands via both offline and online modes using multiple devices and distinct platforms – often at the same time. Even online and offline shopping, which used to be distinct once, is no longer completely separate based on the changing consumer expectations.
Whether it is selecting products/services or paying for them, consumers are not ready to give up the convenience brought forward by the changing dynamics of the business. They also expect to receive the same service and buying experience whether they reach a brand via social media, through a local brand outlet, or the official brand website or app.
In today’s consumer-driven business landscape, delivering seamless shopping experiences has become the primary focus for most businesses.
The question is –
How have you planned to give your target audience what they want and deliver the expected buying experience in 2023?
The answer lies in formulating and implementing a well-defined omnichannel strategy.
Let’s get into the details of omnichannel retail and trends to watch out for.
More about Omnichannel Retail
Omnichannel retail aims to provide a seamless buying experience to the targeted customers across various channels, platforms, and devices throughout the consumer’s journey. The primary objective of this business strategy is to place the buyers at the center of all business activities in order to provide a consistent, seamless experience.
Having a strong omnichannel strategy for the business can help retain 89% of the customers. To be more specific, the customer retention rate is 90% higher for omnichannel than for a single channel (Source).
Pair it with the following statistics and you will realize the importance of adopting an omnichannel strategy:
- Marketing professionals using three or more channels in a campaign earned 287% higher purchase rate than those using one channel.
- Omnichannel strategy results in a 250% higher purchase frequency with a 13% higher average order value per order.
The implementation of an omnichannel strategy may vary from one business to another. But some of the key goals remain the same and are:
- Delivery of personalized content or products/services as informed by past interactions with the customers
- Maintaining consistency in branding and vision across platforms
- Seamless customer experience throughout the purchase path even if they switch between devices and platforms
Payments as a Part of the Omnichannel Strategy
Find out how your customers prefer to pay
A crucial step toward simplifying the payment side of your business is to figure out where the end customers love to stay and how. For example, they might prefer to stay more active on social media than scroll through brand websites. On the payment front, it also implies the need to focus on social selling and accepting payments either via a payment gateway or payment links.
Make the right payment modes available across all touchpoints
The next big thing is to make various touchpoints shoppable and capable of accepting payments. It means if your customer reaches the offline store, he should be able to make payments via a QR code or cash. Similarly, if others want to buy from you online, you should have a suitable payment gateway integrated into your website to accept payments via credit or debit cards.
Connect both offline and online sales channels
Many customers might want to connect with your brand in both online and offline spaces. Some of them might want to check the available stock online before visiting the local store. Hence, it makes sense to focus on multiple channels to further improve the conversion rate.
Consumer Behavior Trends to Watch Out For in 2023
Even as buyers across the globe have returned to buy from both local stores, they continue to consider online shopping an integral part of their lives. As they stick to the behaviors they picked during the pandemic, they prefer digital payments over traditional cash on delivery.
Given below are five payment trends to watch in the upcoming year:
A mix of online and offline payment preferences
In terms of statistics, 79% of households across multiple income groups now use different types of payment apps (Source). On the other hand, the use of cash for offline payments has led to the growth of currency in circulation at the rate of 10.2% between 2014-2019 (RBI), indicating the acceptable blend of offline and online payments as businesses proceed toward spreading their wings with an omnichannel strategy.
Digital wallets becoming the new norm
Amidst the closed ecosystem of many apps that consumers would use daily, customers expect a seamless, contextualized, and efficient buying experience, which is possible with digital wallets. On the business side, it requires brand websites or apps to accept digital payments via these wallets.
Popularity of the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) payment option
BNPL has emerged as a popular short-term financing option in the last couple of years because of the financial uncertainty that came forward during the pandemic. It allows the buyers to spread payments for both online and offline purchases across multiple installments, a win-win for both buyers and sellers. As obvious, BNPL adoption is expected to rise at 28.9% CAGR by 2028.
Growth of QR code usage penetration
QR codes once seemed to die before the pandemic happened but have now returned in a number of settings. From daily need stores to restaurants to shopping malls, QR codes are available almost everywhere. Research now shows that QR code payment users are expected to grow beyond 2.2 billion by 2025 (Source).
Make Paytm for Business Your Omnichannel Payments Partner
If you have dealt with multiple payment solutions and tools from different providers, switch to Paytm for Business to support your omnichannel payment strategy. More than 28 million merchants, including some of the leading brands in the country, benefit from our business offerings. These include:
- Paytm Payment Gateway to accept payments from 100+ payment sources, including UPI, Paytm Wallet, and Paytm Postpaid
- Paytm Subscriptions to facilitate recurring payments
- Paytm Payment Links to accept payments remotely without having a website or app
- Paytm QR, Soundbox, and card machines for in-store payments
- Paytm Ads to get access to customers that are perfect fit for your brand
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