Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer shopping behavior has changed drastically, giving rise to contactless shopping. Now, as the world slowly makes its way back to normal, businesses are figuring out how best to combine the convenience of online, contactless shopping and the experience of in-store shopping. This has resulted in a blurring of the lines between brands’ online shops and brick-and-mortar stores.
"Businesses need to be wherever their customers are" is one of the most important rules of any industry. However, this can be easier said than done. After all, to be where their customers are, businesses first need to answer a few critical questions. Who, in detail, are their customers? Where do they typically hang out? And, what appeals to them?
If these are the questions your business is currently contemplating, keep reading and let Appier show you why OMO is the answer to your questions.
OMO retail bridges the information gap between online and offline channels
OMO, or online-merge-offline, is a marketing approach that consolidates different distribution channels, enables the convergence of online and offline customer bases, and provides a unified shopping experience through the collection of customer data.
In other words, OMO allows you to gather insights into your online customers before they even step through your physical shop’s doors so that you can base your product recommendations on their preferences. Furthermore, every in-store purchase will be recorded in customers’ personal profiles, meaning that no matter which channel they choose to use in the future, their purchase and engagement data can be easily accessed to create a more comprehensive shopping experience. To learn more about OMO strategies and applications, please refer to Appier’s guide to an OMO approach.
We are often asked one question by brands that have both online and offline presences: How can we obtain better analytic insights from fragmented data, given that customer profiles from the two channels are not easily consolidated?
Such is one of the greatest challenges faced by many retailers who sit on massive databases but lack the ability to draw insights from them. This is where OMO comes into play. As one of the key factors to crafting a better shopping experience in the modern age, OMO transforms data into useful information, which, if utilized effectively, can help brands understand offline customers’ preferences and behavior as well as online customers’ purchase history.
As an example, PX Mart, one of the retail giants in Taiwan, utilizes the AIXON Customer Data Science Platform to collate all of its in-store transaction data and enhance its digital strategies. By examining customers’ recent purchases, AIXON helps convert offline transaction data into structured data or tags in real time and consolidate them with transaction data from its official website and mobile app in order to generate comprehensive customer profiles and real-time customer insights. Please refer to the following case study for more details: Appier helps PX Mart enhance its OMO digital deployment strategies.
Know your customers more than they know themselves: 360° comprehensive customer profiles
Once your database becomes more comprehensive, you will be able to provide even more tailored product recommendations and contents based on individual customers’ attributes. By implementing “customer-centered” precision targeting, you are sure to build a better shopping experience to meet every customer’s needs and boost conversions, regardless of the channel they use.
In the post-cookie era, where cross-device tracking has become more and more limited, marketers must know how to spend their marketing dollars wisely, and Appier is here to help. By maximizing the potential of first-hand data, we spare no effort in assisting brands with painting a fuller picture of their customer base for more accurate predictions, all the while keeping our promise to safeguard customers’ privacy.
AIXON is able to construct intelligent user profiles by exploring each customer’s browsing time, device, location, triggered events, keywords, and interests. These characteristics can be combined to identify anonymous users, predict their behavior, and build comprehensive user profiles through probability matching, without requiring any input of personal information.
To make up for the lack of historical behavioral data, the platform also automatically tags each customer’s preferences and uses AI to predict their interests so that marketers can continue to refine their targeting strategies. For more details, please refer to Appier’s guide to thriving in the cookieless world.
In the following illustration, Amy is a frequent customer of the “Appier Shop” where she does her grocery shopping. The owner of the store utilizes AIXON’s data collection and analytic capabilities to cross-examine Amy’s offline transaction data and online engagement behavior to accurately predict her interest in organic products. The platform then shows Amy the latest deals on organic food items. With the help of AIXON, brands can easily speed up conversions by presenting the most desired products in front of customers’ eyes.
This flowchart shows how retailers can apply OMO into their marketing
With more comprehensive user profiles, marketers may choose to launch a membership program to effectively allocate their channel resources, uncover hidden needs and design a personalized experience tailored to each individual customer. How? By using information such as each customer’s purchasing behavior, channel preferences, and time of engagement, to name a few.
Senheng, a Malaysian consumer electronics chain, has incorporated AIXON into their marketing approach to great success, seeing a 12-fold increase in average order value. AIXON helped Senheng predict the potential customer base for different products by analyzing previous transaction data, including product types, brands, most recent purchase dates, and membership status. Compared to traditional rule-based targeting, this approach significantly increased targeting accuracy and results.
Offering personalized experience for greater loyalty and omnichannel revenue growth
Consumers expect to have a consistent, personalized experience regardless of which channel they choose to engage with a brand. By showcasing the most appealing contents tailored to individual customers through their preferred channels—be it your website, mobile app, chat, or in-store displays—you are sure to see a drastic increase in conversion rate.
A common way to collect offline transaction data is to attach QR codes to products displayed in physical stores. Customers can scan a product’s QR code, enter its serial number, or upload their invoice information in order to collect reward points and claim special prizes or discounts. For brands, this is not only a great way to record customers’ in-store transaction data (including product prices, categories, and purchase locations) but also an opportunity to launch a loyalty program for a better retention rate and mindshare.
In addition, we have the key AI technologies for customer acquisition with user profiling and extended interest prediction functions to identify high-potential audiences and turn online traffic into tangible revenue. Appier’s AIXPERT Campaign Automation Cloud monitors your promotional campaigns 24/7 and optimizes them by reallocating your advertising budget and fine-tuning target audiences on a daily basis.
Fostering customer communications and membership relations to create a win-win situation
For retailers, a well-thought-out OMO strategy can help them achieve better customer experience. For example, customers may check your website for additional discounts while visiting a store in person, or they may see a dress they like on your website and decide to try it on at a store. No matter which way it is, they can access the most relevant product recommendations informed by their purchase history directly through their smartphone.
In an era where the line between online and offline worlds is blurred, it is crucial for your brand to create a more engaging experience, foster personalized communication with loyal customers, and encourage interaction with new customers in order to create a win-win situation for both the brand (better sales) and your customers (better experience).
Are you ready to adopt an OMO approach to your marketing strategy? Contact us now for more information.
