This article uses the example of a cake baker to illustrate how multi-channel retail can integrate online and offline businesses to improve customer experience, and how to analyze and use omnichannel data. It is very helpful for students who want to learn about the design of multi-channel conceptual models.
01 What is multi-channel retailing?
Multi-channel retailing typically refers to the combination of offline and online business to connect the various touchpoints of customer interaction with the brand owner, and ensure the smooth flow of information between the various touchpoints, supporting the overall business strategy.
Multichannel retail focuses on how multiple channels and customers interact with each other, with the goal of providing the most convenient and consistent experience for customers across channels.
For example, a cake baking merchant has stores offline, and online channels such as WeChat Mall, Ele.me, Meituan, and Douyin. Ideally, customers can go from touching a product to completing a purchase, on any channel. In addition, we can also carry out various marketing activities and interactions with customers.
02 Why do merchants want to operate multi-channel?
Brand merchants are gradually entering the era of omni-channel development.
For brands, they may have had a preference for sales channels in the past due to different brand positioning. But in the future, all brands will face a situation where they need to evolve across channels.
For a brand to be long-lasting, it is more important to establish a holistic mindset, understand its own channels, and see trends, which is more important than working hard.
It is also necessary to know how to analyze and use omni-channel data, find problems in business, evaluate the effect in a timely manner, and optimize operational strategies. Through multi-channel operations, we can further focus on and understand customers and extend the value of customer lifecycle.
In order to effectively reach consumers, businesses are paying more and more attention to operating multiple channels, including:
• Increase customer reach: By selling through multiple channels, merchants can reach more customers. Customers prefer to shop on different channels, such as physical stores, online stores, mobile apps, and social media platforms. A multi-channel strategy allows businesses to offer their services in multiple places where customers are active, increasing exposure and sales opportunities.
• Improve customer experience: Through multi-channel operations, merchants can provide a coherent online + offline shopping experience. For example, a customer can shop online and choose to pick it up in a physical store, or browse the product in-store and choose to buy it online. This flexibility is not only convenient for customers, but also helps merchants increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Omnichannel customer data: Merchants are able to collect large amounts of customer data from different channels, such as purchase preferences, behavior patterns, and review information. This data is critical for optimizing products and services, developing operational strategies, and improving channel offerings.
• Enhance brand influence: Consistent brand image and messaging across multiple channels can help enhance the brand's market influence, allowing merchants to interact with customers on different platforms and strengthen brand awareness and brand loyalty.
03 Multi-channel conceptual model design
Channel definition: refers to the route of goods or services from retailers to end consumers. Channels can be abstracted into two levels:
• Primary channels: traffic platform channels + store channels, such as: stores, WeChat, Alipay, Douyin, Meituan, Xiaohongshu.
• Secondary channel: A closed-loop solution for sales scenarios, which refers to a full-link solution from customer contact with the brand's products or services to fulfillment. For example: Meituan takeaway, mini program, etc.
Some examples of primary and secondary channels:
04 Application scenarios of multi-channel models
The multi-channel model application scenarios cover the management of goods, inventory, page decoration, marketing activities, membership system, order fulfillment, and data reports, and each management scenario may adopt differentiated operation strategies to adapt to the characteristics of different sales channels.
This multi-channel management model allows enterprises to respond more flexibly to market changes and carry out more refined operations according to the characteristics of different channels, thereby improving efficiency and user satisfaction.
• Multi-channel inventory management: Realize independent management of product inventory in each sales channel, including price, inventory level, and shelves.
• Multi-channel management decoration: Allows different channels to personalize page decoration according to their user preferences and platform characteristics, including homepage, order page, micro page, etc.
• Multi-channel management marketing: Realize the channel differentiation management of marketing activities, including coupon issuance, promotional activities, etc., and set different marketing strategies according to user behavior and preferences in different channels.
• Multi-channel management membership system: allow members of different channels to enjoy different stored value rules, points rules and other member rights and interests according to the characteristics of the platform, and the behavior data of members should record channel information.
• Multi-channel order fulfillment: Orders from different channels can be screened for order processing and fulfillment services.
• Multi-channel data report: Support the generation of data reports by channel, including customer analysis, product analysis, business reports, financial statements, etc.
• Consumer transaction link: Ensure that consumers get a shopping experience that matches the operation strategy of the channel in different sales channels, involving product browsing, add-ons, orders, payment and marketing calculations.
This article was written by Everyone is a Product Manager Author【Tang Shiye】, WeChat public account: [Architect Tang Shiye], original/authorized Published in Everyone is a product manager, without permission, it is forbidden to reprint.
Image from Unsplash, based on the CC0 license.