The world of commerce is ever-evolving. Every day there is some new term, technology, or concept popping up that claims to “revolutionize” commerce altogether. An example of this is the term “Omni-commerce”.
Omni-commerce is a concept that seems to confuse a lot of people. Moreover, this is a term that is now a part of the commerce dictionary. Therefore, it’s important to define it and explain what it does for business owners.
After all, this one small term could be just the thing you need to take your business to new heights. However, if you are not familiar with this term, then you could be missing out on a valuable piece of information.
Therefore, in this slightly lengthy article, we will take a closer look at what omni-commerce is, and what benefits and drawbacks it can provide your business.
The term omni-commerce refers to a business model that uses both physical (offline) and online “channels” to conduct business.
An omni-commerce business uses both online and offline channels in marketing, sales, customer support, payment transfer, etc. to achieve the two main goals:
For example, a business with a brick-and-mortar store can become an omni-commerce business by also having an e-commerce website. Since this business sells products or services both online and offline, it is an omni-commerce business.
Any business using any combination of online and offline channels (as shown in the table below) will be an omni-commerce business.
| Online Channels | Offline Channels |
| E-commerce Website | Brick-and-Mortar Store |
| Social Media Marketing | Billboard Advertisement |
| Listing with Online Retailers | Door-to-Door Sales |
| Email Marketing | Kiosks |
Depending on the context, the term “omni-commerce” also has another meaning which will be touched on later in this article.
However, for the time being, we will refer to omni-commerce in this article as a business that uses both online and offline channels to sell products or services.
One term that you might come across that may seem similar to omni-commerce is “omnichannel commerce”. Therefore, to avoid any confusion between these two terms we will take some time to take a look at both these terms. Moreover, we will define what is what so that you have a clear picture of these two terms.
Before we jump into the difference between omni-commerce and omnichannel commerce. It’s important to first define what a “channel” is.
A business that sells products and services only through a physical store has a single commerce channel. Whereas a business selling products and services through stores, websites, social media, telephone calls, email, mobile devices, etc. has a multi-channel commerce model.
Having more than one channel is immensely beneficial for your business. For example, according to a report, using 3 channels for a marketing campaign can yield a 287% purchase rate when compared to a single-channel marketing campaign.
At first glance, you may think that it’s the same term but there is a subtle difference between these two terms.
Omni-commerce refers to a business model that uses both online and offline channels (multiple channels) to conduct business. In some spheres, this is also known as multichannel commerce.
Omnichannel commerce refers to a business model that also has both online and offline channels. However, in an omnichannel strategy, all the channels are integrated with each other to provide the customers with a seamless shopping experience on their path to purchase.
Both omni-commerce and omnichannel commerce include multiple channels to do business. However, in the case of omnichannel retail, all the channels are connected with each other.
Omnichannel retail strategies allow a customer to “switch” between different channels and not lose his or her shopping progress. For example, a customer who adds products to his/her cart using a mobile phone can checkout using their laptop later on.
Another example is that if a customer’s phone call with customer support gets disconnected, the customer can continue the conversation on the next call without having to repeat the problem from the beginning.
That’s the main benefit of an omnichannel strategy, no matter where the customer is on the “path to purchase”, if they switch channels (e.g. use different devices to complete a purchase) they can continue their shopping from where they left off. Whereas in the case of omni-commerce or multichannel commerce, the customer can’t continue their shopping from the same point if they decide to switch channels.
With so many terms floating about, it may get confusing for some readers about the difference between omni-commerce, omnichannel commerce, and multichannel commerce.
Well, we have a solution for this problem as well.
You can get a good understanding of omni-commerce by reading this article. Furthermore, you can find out the difference between omnichannel commerce and multichannel commerce by giving this article a look: Omnichannel Commerce vs. Multichannel Commerce: What is the Difference?
As a result, all of these 3 concepts will become clear to you, hopefully.
As we mentioned earlier, omni-commerce can take a variable number of forms that use any combination of online and offline business channels. However, there are two versions of omni-commerce that we feel deserve special attention.
The two forms of omni-commerce that we will briefly outline in this article are:
These are the two most popular forms of omni-commerce business models that are widely used by many people for the following reasons:
Let’s take a closer look at these two omni-commerce models.
The first omni-commerce model uses a physical store(s) in combination with a website.
The website is mainly used as a marketing device and does not contribute directly to sales. Instead, the website is used to provide information about the business such as what products are available, where the stores are located, etc.
The physical store in this omni-commerce model is where all the action (and sales) happen.
In this particular model, the purpose of the website is to channel all the heavy traffic that is present on the internet and re-direct it to the physical store so that customers make purchases.
However, to bring customers from your website to your physical store, you will need to make sure your website is able to display your products and locations in a neat and organized way.
To achieve the above goal, you can use product and store locator software, such as WP Maps, to create a product and store locator page that your customers can use to browse your products and locate your stores. As a result, you will most likely see an increase in in-store foot traffic since your customers will have all the information they need about your products and stores.
This version of omni-commerce has an e-commerce website instead of a simple “information-providing” website. As a result, the website in this version of omni-commerce is also capable of generating sales.
The physical store also acts as a location through which sales are generated. However, in this case, since the website is also generating sales, the physical store may not see as many sales as in the previous version of omni-commerce.
If you’re looking to bring more traffic to your stores, the first version of omni-commerce might be right for you. This is because your website will act as a magnet to draw potential customers from the internet and redirect them to your physical stores.
However, if you prefer to keep sales at a minimum at your physical locations, and mainly want to focus on online sales, then the second version of omni-commerce is more suitable for you.
For more details on the above omni-commerce business models, please refer to this article: Two of the Most Popular Omni-commerce Business Models.
The activity of shopping is not what it used to be 20 or 30 years ago.
Gone are the days when the only option to buy something was to get into a car, drive to a store, and buy items using actual money. Nowadays, online sales have begun to take a major foothold in the world of commerce with online sales expected to grow by 162% by 2025.
These days shoppers are not limited to browsing and buying products in a physical store. On the contrary, consumers nowadays have access to almost all the stores in the world to browse and buy from.
Researching and browsing products, before purchasing, can be done from the comfort of their own homes. Moreover, researching products on social networks is done by 43% of global shoppers, which is a huge number of people who are carrying out product research online.
Purchasing products has also never been more convenient. After products are researched and browsed online they are instantly purchased with a click of a mouse. In fact, in 2023, it is estimated that online sales will account for 22% of global retail sales. Moreover, cashless payment methods are used to pay for the products. Lastly, the product is delivered right to the doorstep of the customer.
All these conveniences of online browsing, purchasing, and delivering have changed the landscape of shopping as we know it. Moreover, customers are now expecting this level of convenience from all major retail outlets.
If a small business wants to remain relevant today, it will also need to adapt to the changing consumer lifestyle.
Omni-commerce provides the perfect solution for small business owners to upgrade their businesses and not get left behind in the world of commerce. By incorporating an omni-commerce business model, even small business owners will be able to take on the challenges of providing customers with a smooth and seamless shopping experience through multiple channels.
Let’s now take a look at some of the benefits you can get by switching to an omni-commerce business.
An omni-commerce business provides benefits for both business owners and customers alike. Let’s take a look at the benefits of omni-commerce for both parties involved.
The main benefit omni-commerce provides a business owner is the opportunity to increase their sales.
By using omni-commerce marketing, a business owner can advertise their business through both online and offline channels, and this will increase awareness of their business. As a result, the increased awareness of the business can lead to more people choosing your products as the means to solve their problems.
The more people know about a business and its product, the more chances you have to get them to make a purchase.
Omni-commerce sales channels can be used to provide multiple avenues for customers to purchase products or services. For example, you can have sales channels through stores, kiosks, e-commerce websites, social media, etc.
The more sales channels you have the more chances you will have to maximize sales.
It’s no secret that about 20% of businesses fail within their first year of operation. One of the reasons for failure is their inability to adapt to market changes by adopting new business plans and strategies.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that things will remain the same forever even after establishing a business and building a loyal customer base. However, this is not the case. Businesses must realize that the demand they are fulfilling will not always be there forever. Customers will move to other outlets if they feel they will better service elsewhere. This is why businesses need to continuously adapt to changing trends so that they don’t become obsolete.
Omni-commerce provides businesses with the opportunity to remain relevant. Moreover, through omni-commerce business owners can future-proof their businesses so that they can keep up with the demands of consumers. Moreover, adopting switching to an omni-commerce business is one of the perfect ways to grow your business from its current state.
Moving to an omni-commerce or omnichannel strategy is a great way to improve the customer’s shopping experience by providing customers with different outlets to research, browse and purchase products. In fact, one study shows that 60% of millennials expect a consistent experience across all brand channels.
Through omni-commerce, business owners can provide consumers with the following outlets to research, browse, and purchase products from:
The biggest benefit consumers receive from an omni-commerce business is convenience. Specifically convenience of shopping.
Through omni-commerce consumers are no longer limited to traditional methods of shopping that take a long time. Gone are the tedious trips to the stores, and returning empty-handed because you couldn’t decide what product you needed.
Instead, omni-commerce businesses allow consumers to shop at their own pace and from the comfort of their own homes.
To begin shopping, a consumer just has to follow a few steps:
This is just a sample of the convenience an omni-commerce business can provide.
With the introduction of omni-commerce, consumers are no longer bound to shop at stores in their neighborhood, city, state, or even country. Omni-commerce has allowed consumers to shop from almost every location in the world that has access to the Internet.
People now have access to a whole global marketplace from where they can easily compare different types of products and buy the one that they like.
The huge selection of stores that can be accessed and the number of products at a consumer’s fingertips ensure that consumers don’t have to settle for second-best.
For a business to transition to an omni-commerce business, you will need to add either an online or offline component to your existing business model.
For example, if you have a physical store or chain of physical stores, you can transition to an omni-commerce business by creating an online presence for your business. This can be done via:
An online presence will greatly benefit your business by creating awareness of your business and products for the millions of people who browse the internet daily. As a result, once a potential customer becomes aware of your business, they are likely to consider you as an option to buy from.
To bring more customers from your website to your physical store(s) you will need to provide your customers with all the information they need about your products and stores on your website. This can easily be achieved by using product and store locator software, such as WP Maps, to add a product or store locator widget to your website.
On the other hand, if you run a purely online business such as an e-commerce store, then you will need to incorporate an offline component in your business model to transition to omni-commerce.
For example, to work along with your e-commerce store, you can create a “pick-up” location from where customers will be able to personally collect their online-purchased orders.
This can be very beneficial because it will save you the trouble, time, and money of having to deliver products to each of your customers’ locations.
Of course, for the “pick-up” location method to work smoothly, your customer will need to know two things:
The good news is that you can easily provide customers with everything they need to know by adding a product or store locator widget to your website. As a result, this will reduce the order load on your website and redirect it to your physical store where it will be easier to dispatch orders.
These are two examples of how to make a simple transition to omni-commerce. As time goes on, you may want to add even more channels to your business model and grow your omni-commerce business even further. Furthermore, for more details on how to effectively transition to an omni-commerce business, you might want to give this article a read: How to Effectively Transition to An Omni-Commerce Business Model?
Omni-commerce is not without its challenges. Here are a couple of challenges you may face while setting up or operating an omni-commerce business.
One thing to note here is that while omni-commerce uses multiple channels, these channels are not connected to each other as in the case of omnichannel commerce. However, an omni-commerce business owner might face some of the same challenges that an omnichannel commerce business owner might face due to the similarities between these two models.
The adoption and integration of various offline or online channels have proven to be challenging if not planned carefully.
For example, let’s say someone is running a purely offline business (using a store to sell products). If this person wants to transition to an omni-commerce business by creating an e-commerce store that sells their product, then they will have to consider the following elements:
As you can see, even a simple decision to incorporate an e-commerce store comes with many elements that need to be considered before making the final decision.
With other channels (online or offline) there might be different challenges a business owner will face if they want to smoothly incorporate and run an omni-commerce business.
One thing is for sure, the more complex channels you add to your business model the more challenging it will be to integrate them and run your business. Therefore, before deciding to upgrade to an omni-commerce business, you must first plan the transition and figure out if you have all the resources necessary for the transition.
Once a channel has been successfully integrated with your business model, now comes the challenge of efficiently managing your new channel.
For every channel that you add to your business, you will need to ensure that it is functioning properly and fulfilling its intended purpose, otherwise, it will just be a wasted resource.
For example, let’s suppose you decided to create a Facebook account for your business. Once the account is created, you will need to manage your account by:
The point is that once you have created a Facebook account, you will need to take some time out to manage it, otherwise, it will just remain idle and not be of any use.
If you are unable to manage the account, you could always hire someone to manage it for you (a social media manager). However, in this case, you will need to make sure the person you hired is doing their job properly and not slacking off.
No matter what approach you take, there will always be challenges that you will absolutely have to face. However, with careful planning and the right resources, any of these challenges can be overcome. Moreover, if you have just started an omni-commerce business, you may want to read this article about 5 omni-commerce tools that can make managing your omni-commerce business easier and more enjoyable.
Additionally, if already have an omni-commerce business in place, then you should check out the following article: 5 Omni-Commerce Business Strategies for Brand. This article outlines 5 simple strategies you can use to get your omni-commerce business up and running.
Omni-commerce is the natural progressive step for every business. Especially for a business that wants to grow, flourish, and remain relevant in these competitive times.
You can switch to omni-commerce by carefully and properly adding either offline or online channels to your business. As a result, you will surely see a major positive change in your business.
We hope this article has given you a better understanding of the topic of omni-commerce, what it involves, and how it can help your business. Hopefully, this article will help you decide whether you would like to take your business in an omni-commerce direction.
If you would like to explore more diverse topics related to e-commerce, please see our blog page.
Waleed Daad Khan is a results-driven Marketing Consultant with a passion for Businesses. He holds certifications From Wharton, McKinsey, Hubspot and SEMrush, and has helped businesses of all sizes improve their online visibility and reach. With 4 years of experience in the field, Waleed stays up-to-date on the latest digital marketing trends to deliver cutting-edge strategies.
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