Omnichannel vs. Multichannel

Omnichannel is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “denoting or relating to a type of retail that integrates the different methods of shopping available to consumers (e.g., online, in a physical store, or by phone).” Omnichannel provides a seamless shopping experience for your customers and gives them a connected experience shopping on their phone, laptop, or in a brick-and-mortar store.

Multi-channel on the other hand refers to a business strategy that has multiple sales channels, but those channels are isolated from each other and may not share common data or processes. A multi-channel strategy does a good job of reaching customers through different channels but fails to bring them into one seamless experience and provide flexibility when channels are connected to one another.

Benefits of Omnichannel for JD Edwards Organizations

Now that the difference between omni-channel and multi-channel, and the advantages of one over the other, are clear, we can ask an important question for JD Edwards organizations. Why should JD Edwards organizations adopt an omnichannel strategy for sales channels?

Through our experience of partnering with JD Edwards organizations to deliver ecommerce, payments, and retail solutions, we’ve consistently noted two main benefits of omnichannel: an improved overall customer experience and increased revenue for your business.

1. Improved Customer Experience

It only makes sense that as your organization simplifies and streamlines the customer buying process making your products more accessible, customer satisfaction will increase. 

One Experience Across All Sales Channels 

It is no secret that no matter how your customer is shopping, they expect outstanding service and flexible ordering and payment options. With an omni-channel strategy, your organization will now have just one platform to manage all your digital commerce, physical stores, inventory, pricing, customer relationships, and reporting. This ensures your products and services are presented consistently across all platforms. As your customer experiences a consistent and efficient engagement across sales channels, they will come to build trust and become loyal proponents of your brand. Loyal customers are crucial to your company’s success and growth given the lifetime value of a customer and high cost of customer acquisition. 

Access to Ordering and Account Information

Another great benefit of an omni-channel strategy is that your customers can order at the right time, using the buying medium that is most convenient for them. They will also always have access to their purchase history and account information. Not only does this make the customer experience easier but it also relieves operational duties for your internal team and streamlines customer service. Management gets even easier with SmarterCommerce as you can now change prices and update inventory all from one place - JD Edwards. Also with SmarterCommerce’s solution, reporting and data syncing have never been easier as your retail data is now synced together in one place. 

To illustrate the power of an omnichannel strategy, think of a customer who needs to place an order to be picked up at a branch or warehouse location near a job site, which different a different location than where they normally pick up. Through the ecommerce website, the customer can browse products, check inventory levels at the appropriate location, build the order, receive their negotiated contract pricing, and place an on-account order for pick up. A few hours or days later, they drive up and pick up the items ordered online.  The following week, they log into the ecommerce platform again and identify the invoice for the order they picked up, and then choose to pay the invoice with a corporate credit card or ACH transfer. This entire process that spanned multiple sales channels and would have normally required multiple phone calls and coordination was seamlessly addressed with an omnichannel solution to provide an excellent customer experience.

2. Increased Revenue

As the overall customer experience experienced by customers improves, naturally so will your revenue. The Harvard Business Review reported in a case study of 46,000 shoppers that omnichannel shoppers “spent an average of 4% more on every shopping occasion in the store and 10% more online than single-channel customers.”

Customers More Likely to Shop

The easier it is to shop and buy your products and services, the more often your customers are likely to shop. When customers see live updates of product availability in-store, they are 73% more likely to shop if this information is available online. This transparency builds trust with your customers and turns them into repeat customers with higher spend levels. Trust is the foundation of every long-lasting customer relationship, and providing reliable and timely information along with omnichannel ordering options to your customers is a critical reason why customers will stay with your organization long-term.

Reach New Customers

Organizations often invest time and money into finding or developing an omnichannel platform. These projects can span many months, and often are bogged down by the complexity of integrating multiple platforms and an ERP. At times, this takes away from the available resources to grow the platform and reach new customers. It’s critical that organizations select an omnichannel platform that is designed to connect to the ERP, and that the solution not only helps them solve current operational problems but also aligns with their business goals. Once your software is a true asset to your organization instead of an obstacle, your focus can shift to targeting even more customer segments that you have never before had the resources to pursue. 

Omnichannel also helps your business scale at a faster rate. Once an omnichannel strategy is in place, it is easier to open more brick-and-mortar locations as well expand your online presence. As your physical presence grows with your online presence, your products and services will become more widely recognized reaching deeper into your existing customer base and beyond into new customer segments. Expanding your online presence and shopping capabilities also attracts competitors’ customers who have not caught up to the technological advances and improved shopping experience. 

The JD Edwards Connected Omnichannel Solution

 A fully integrated omnichannel solution sounds great, right? Business and IT leaders know that deploying an omnichannel strategy requires a solution that can support the complexity of your operations and demanding customer requirements. In the past, JD Edwards organization have had to make the tough decision to use a software that is integrated with their current ERP system but lacks key capabilities or use a non-integrated solution with more functionality.

SmarterCommerce is designed to fully connect to JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, and has the comprehensive omnichannel capabilities to support your omnichannel initiatives. The Ecommerce, Retail, and Payments solutions all operate with a single business logic and integration engine so that your organization can offer customers a truly omnichannel experience without the headaches of managing the complexity. By choosing SmarterCommerce, you can power your digital commerce, payment, and retail initiatives without compromise.