THE OMNICHANNEL RETAIL PLAYBOOK

Talon.One’s
Ultimate Guide to
Omnichannel Retail
Exclusive insights and tips to deliver a consistent
brand experience everywhere you sell

Everything from the psychology behind the omnichannel retail marketing,

to hyper-personalization and a step-by-step guide to develop a future‑proof
omnichannel campaign

What’s inside?
Retail Reinvented: The New Era for customer experience 3

Omnichannel Retail Strategy 4

Omnichannel vs. Multichannel 5

Crucial Questions to Ask Yourself 6

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid them 7

Benefits of Omnichannel Retail 8

Underlying Theories 11

The 5-Step Omnichannel Retail Strategy 12

Hyperpersonalization 14

Omnichannel Retail in Action 16

UI/UX Design 17

Customer Loyalty 18

Best Practices 19

Final Thoughts 21

Integrate Talon.One’s Loyalty Solution

with Your Omnichannel Structure 22

Talon.One • The Omnichannel Retail Playbook 2

Retail Reinvented:
The New Era for
Customer Experience
The unparalleled growth of ecommerce, facilitated by the pandemic,
drastically changed the way customers shop.

Either/or thinking is dead It’s all about the phygital world

The pandemic experience showed all Phygital combines the words physical and
of us that dualistic thinking, founded digital to create a new word - and a new
upon differentiation and splitting world. From a retail point of view, this is a
apart, is dead. It’s no longer perfect opportunity for brands to address
about ‘my country or your country’, both emerging trends in customer behavior:
‘my company or yours’, ‘my wellbeing
• A
 growing appetite for digital and
or the health of the community’.
contactless shopping
The virus blurred all boundaries,
including the one between physical • A
 n increasing need for interpersonal,
and digital retailers. meaningful interactions

As customers reshape their shopping

habits, they continue to end contact
with brands that fail to create
a frictionless and cross-channel
experience for them. They want
their online and in-store shopping This playbook explains how
experiences to be seamlessly an omnichannel marketing
connected to each other.
strategy can help retailers
have an impactful presence
in every touchpoint
in the phygital world.

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Omnichannel
Retail Strategy
A strong omnichannel strategy
will ensure retailers create a seamless
shopping experience from
the first touchpoint to the last.

Since customers want to connect

their online shopping experiences
to their in-store interactions,
a retailer needs to be at their
disposal in every touchpoint.
This omnipresence requires an
omnichannel marketing strategy, Almost one in two e‑commerce
an approach that leverages
customers’ online and in-store decision‑makers in Europe
behavior to provide them and North America believed
with a frictionless, integrated
experience regardless of the
omnichannel strategies
channel they’re using. to be very important in 2021.
Statista
According to Tim Mason and
Miya Knighs, customers’
expectations for a seamless
shopping experience have raised This is a once‑in‑a‑lifetime
so high that retailers have to opportunity for retailers
operate connected omnichannel
businesses with a consistent
to connect with consumers
customer value proposition in new ways by leaning
across offline as well as online,
or fail.
in on digital, omnichannel, and
in-store technology ambitions.
McKinsey

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Omnichannel
vs. Multichannel
Both omnichannel and
The focus of multichannel
multichannel refer to retailers’
activities to sell across multiple marketing is on optimizing
channels. However, they differ customers’ touchpoints
when it comes to the depth of the
integration between the channels with a retailer. Omnichannel
and platforms the business is on. marketing moves beyond
Multichannel experiences are
single touchpoints, uniting all
often disparate. However, during interactions between a customer
an omnichannel experience, all
and a retailer regardless of
channels are interconnected to
enable the customer to move the channel, platform or device.
between them seamlessly.

An omnichannel strategy helps Omnichannel ensures a consistent experience

retailers engage with customers for a growing number of consumers who
at every single touchpoint. don’t tend to see a retailer in silos.

Multichannel vs. Omnichannel

Store
Mobile

Social
Web

Store Mobile Web Social

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Crucial Questions
to Ask Yourself
There are important questions to ask yourself if you want to boost sales
and customer engagement through a strong omnichannel strategy.

TOPIC QUESTION

Resources Do you have sufficient financial resources required

for the development an omnichannel approach?

Technical Do you have a skilled team of developers ready to take up the task of
support continued support and maintenance of you omnichannel environment?

Startup Working in an omnichannel strategy requires a high level of

mindset technological and non-technological agility to meet customers’
expectations at every touchpoint. If you’re already an established
retailer, are you ready to depart from your legacy structures
and act like a startup?

Flexibility Since the beginning of the pandemic customers have reformulated

their shopping habits and decision journeys and they will continue
to do so in the future. As a retailer, are you flexible enough to take
this opportunity and contact with your customers in new ways?

Scalability Walking into the omnichannel world will connect you to more
platforms and larger markets. Is your tech stack scalable enough
to meet your new demands and challenges?

Real-time Your omnichannel retail approach will enable your customers

customer to choose from their desired platform at any time of the day.
service Are you ready to provide them with a quality support that
goes beyond a single channel and traditional shopping hours?

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Common Mistakes
and How to Avoid Them
The global retail automation market is estimated to grow to $33b
by 2030. Executing an omnichannel strategy ensures you’ll have a fair
share of this growing market. However, there are common mistakes
that you should avoid in order to reach your optimal ROI.

Being inconsistent Copying messages

What causes customers to sign up but Having a consistent brand voice
not Working across multiple marketing doesn’t mean you should duplicate
and sales channels can be detrimental your messages across all your retail
to your overall branding strategy if channels. Your brick and mortar store,
you’re inconsistent in sending out your website, app, LinkedIn page, etc. have
messages. Inconsistent messages on their own specific features which
different platform sabotages your affect the format and frequency of
omnichannel efforts. your messaging.

Overlooking updates Failing to respond

Keeping your tech stack frequently in real time
updated is a prerequisite for the Real-time functionalities are the
success of your omnichannel strategy. defining characteristics of omnichannel
If you don’t have the sufficient operations. From real-time store-level
human or financial resources to stay product availability information to
up-to-date, you can outsource your real-time updates on the mobile app,
omnichannel operations. This is what every single interaction between you
nearly half of retailers did in 2020. and your customer must take place
without any delay.

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Benefits of
Omnichannel Retail
By linking several marketing and sales channels,
retailers can benefit from various advantages.

Access to valuable Staying ahead of competition

customer data
Businesses and customers have been
An omnichannel approach gives grappling with uncertainty through
retailers access to valuable customer the COVID-19 crisis, which is estimated
data that can be used to personalize to have sped the process of digital
promotions and offers. With customers transformation up by an average of three
increasingly being concerned about to seven years. Linking their online journey
their privacy and personal data, a to their in-store experience is the new
strong omnichannel structure can help normal for customers. Retailers that can
retailers rely on first-party data that adapt quickly enough will be well positioned

‘‘
customers voluntarily share with them. when the recovery comes.

Closing offline channel (e.g., catalog, stores)

can have a negative effect on customers’
purchase incidence and loyalty to the retailer.”
Ahmed Timoumi, Manish Gangwar & Murali Mantrala

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Capacity to scale up High percentage
of customer retention
An omnichannel approach gives
retailers access to valuable customer A 2017 Harvard Business Review study
data that can be used to personalize of 46,000 shoppers shows that:
promotions and offers. With customers
increasingly being concerned about • 7% shopped online exclusively
their privacy and personal data, a
• 20% were store-only shoppers
strong omnichannel structure can help
retailers rely on first‑party data that • 73% used multiple channels
customers voluntarily share with them.
The study concluded that customers
loved synchronizing their physical and
digital retail experiences. The trend
has definitely risen in recent years,
highlighting that brands’ investment
in omnichannel retailing pays off.

‘‘
The first core insight gained from this study
is that future competition in the retail
industry will be based on the holistic consumer
experience, rather than individual products.”
Frederik von Briel

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‘‘ Omnichannel commerce
requires a flexibility that
traditional, monolithic
platforms can’t support.
A frictionless customer
experience demands
‘best of breed’ function
across multiple domains.
Composable commerce
is the only approach
that blends the physical
and the digital with the
appropriate depth of
integration. Leadership
demands innovation.”
Chris Holley, Global Director, ISV Partnerships, commercetools, Inc.

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Underlying Theories
Why does omnichannel experiences seem alluring to customers?
Two cognitive theories explain the mechanism underlying customers’
preference to bridge the gap between their offline and online
shopping experiences.

Cognitive Simplicity Theory

dissonance theory
According to the French scientist
Leon Festinger’s cognitive dissonance Jean‑Louis Dessalles, Simplicity
theory explains human have an inner Theory (ST) defines simplicity as the
drive for psychological consistency. difference in complexity between
An individual who experiences expectations and observation. From a
inconsistency tends to become marketing perspective, people have a bias
uncomfortable and irritated. toward simplicity and are predisposed
to choose products and experiences that
The unsynchronized retail channels minimize their cognitive load.
can have a negative impact on your
customer’s shopping journey, making A strong omnichannel structure can
them uncomfortable or even frustrated eliminate the complexities of shopping on
to interact with your brand. multiple platforms, giving customers the
peace of mind that they won’t end up in a
painful labyrinth.

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The 5-Step Omnichannel
Retail Strategy
The way you develop your omnichannel strategy depends on
your business model, overall brand strategy and customer traits.
This 5-step guide gives you a general framework,
which can be tailored to meet your specific demands.

1 Conduct customer
research 2 Synchronize online
and physical worlds
First, you need to know everything Now it’s time to create a link between
about your customers. On which all your operating channels. You need
channels do they spend most of their to make sure that your store is well
time? What are their expectations? connected to your digital platforms.
How have their expectations evolved Technological innovations such as
over the past years? What specific smart mirrors, Bluetooth beacons,
age group is mainly interested in and in-store kiosks can differentiate
your brand? you from your fellow retailers.

Don’t rely on outdated customer You need to make sure that you’ve
surveys. The characteristics, made every touchpoint shoppable.
expectations and concerns of your Omnichannel capabilities enable you
customers have immensely changed to simplify the customer’s shopping
compared to pre-pandemic years. process because they don’t need to
On top of that, millennials and Gen Z, switch channels in order to make a
who are now among your main purchase. This is why brands with
prospects, have totally different omni-channel retail strategies retain
concerns and demands. Your an average of 89% of their customers
omnichannel strategy will give you from channel to channel.
a competitive edge if you frequently
update it with fresh customer data.

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3 Deliver a consistent brand voice
Different channels have their own specific features. However, you need
to make sure that your core values remain intact across all channels.
For instance, if you’re known as a retailer who prioritizes sustainability,
you need to demonstrate it throughout all your operating platforms.

Consistency is also key to your omnichannel promotion marketing. If you

decide to launch a discount campaign, you should integrate it into all your
channels. If your customers receive reward points after each purchase,
they must be able to redeem their points at every touchpoint.

4 Share data
across channels 5 Provide omnichannel
training to your staff
Your technical ability to share customer As you move your operations to
data across physical and digital channels the omnichannel environment, you
is a prerequisite for the success of your need to focus on providing sufficient
omnichannel strategy. Your tech stack and relevant training for your staff.
must be able to transfer customer data The training process will equip your
across channels in order to increase team members to make the best out
your visibility, automate processes and of your brand’s omnichannel capacity.
personalize your messages.
You should consider adopting the
You can turn your customer data right technology to make your store
into valuable insights and engage personnel more tech-savvy. This could
in real‑time interactions with your mean giving sales associates digital
customers. It is of note that as your devices and tools to enable them to
omnichannel strategy give you the better help customers choose what
opportunity to acquire first‑part data, they need, offer them real‑time
you need to safeguard your data assets. product recommendations and
Any personal information breach assist them with any possible mobile
would endanger the trust that your app/ website queries.
customers have put in your brand.

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Hyper-personalization
A crucial component of delivering a memorable omnichannel
experience is the ability to go beyond personalization and
communicate hyper-personalized experiences. How is
hyper‑personalized experiences different from personalized ones?

Personalization focuses on the basic

information about a customer such
as name, gender, location and other
demographics to tailor marketing
messages that interact directly to the
customer as an individual.

Hyper-personalization is when we
decide to go beyond basics, pulling
from real-time and behavioral data to
deliver highly relevant, individualized
messages.

Hyper-personalization:

• Leverages AI, NLP and automation According to Deloitte,

to create highly relevant and
customized experiences. hyper‑personalization is the
most advanced way brands
• T
 racks clickstream data (clicks,
add to carts, etc.) in real-time to can tailor their marketing
create relevant product/service to individual customers.
recommendations.
It’s done by creating
• Increases marketing ROI and reduces
marketing costs in the long run.
custom and targeted
experiences through the
use of data, analytics, AI,
and automation.

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‘‘ After a decade discussing it,
a lot of brands realized that
a huge blocker to achieving truly
omni-channel experiences were
weak customer data strategies.
Customer Data Platforms
like mParticle are helping
retailers finally solve the data
management piece of the puzzle,
giving brands a truly 360° view
of customers and their behavior
and collecting/sharing customer
data across the organization.
Our prediction is that brands
who are able to achieve this
level of orchestration will see
outsized ROI, compared to brands
who execute incrementally
better email personalization.

Jonathan Senin, Senior Product Marketing Manager, mParticle

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Omnichannel
Retail In Action
How does omnichannel strategy translate into retailers’ functionalities?
Here’s a list of key retail innovations.

Dark Dark or grey stores are micro-fulfillment centres that mimic retail stores
stores but may never see consumers directly. The pandemic accelerated the
growth of dark stores. During the lockdown, Levi’s used some of its closed
stores in the US and UK to fulfill online orders.

BOPIS “Buy online, pick up in store” is a popular omnichannel element that allows
customers to browse and buy online and use the convenience of picking
up their purchase at their desired store. Canadian athletic apparel retailer
Lululemon allows its shoppers to pick up their purchase at any of the
physical stores of their choice.

BOSS “Buy online, ship to store” gives customers a seamless shopping

experience as they can freely buy what they want even if it’s not available
at their preferred location. The item can be directly shipped to the
location they select. This omnichannel feature means your shelves
are always fully stocked. Boss also limits the need for stock on hand,
allowing for a smaller store footprint.

BORIS “Buy online, return in store” allows customers to use digital platforms
to buy and use physical platforms to return the item if that’s not what
they expected. Zalando, for instance, allows its customers to return their
purchase at a nearby store. This is very reassuring to the users especially
when the purchased item is a piece of clothing that may not fit.

Self- Many retailers today allow customers to use the self-checkout option.
checkout This is particularly important because buyers are now more concerned
about social distancing and contactless shopping. At Decathlon stores,
you can put the item at the checkout counter, scan your credit card
or mobile payment app and that’s it.

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UI/UX Design
Your omnichannel approach unlocks
many opportunities in terms of UX/UI design.

The Next-level UX
As you dissolve the offline-online
divide, you can optimize your
customers’ journey by removing
any friction that might negatively
affect the seamlessness of their
experience. An omnichannel UX
strategy puts users at the centre
of the design process.

Your design team should

particularly focus on creating
device-specific experience.
Omni-UI An important element in
delivering the optimal design is
The growth of omnichannel marketing “responsive web design” (RWD).
has far-reaching consequences for UI (user RWD addresses the issue of
interface) design. Retailers are increasingly consistent designing for a wide
deploying Zero UI, which implies that range of devices available to
screens will have no role in the future of customers, from small mobile
brand-consumer interaction. screens to huge desktop
monitors. The use of the same
However, it’s time to step further and focus HTML and single codebase makes
on omni-UI where anything and everything
• customer’s journey frictionless
from touchpoint A to touchpoint Z is an
interface. • maintenance easier over time.

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Customer Loyalty
The development and execution of an omnichannel strategy
by a retailer affects the loyalty of its customers.

A zero-friction journey increases the loyalty of customers because they receive

consistent and hyper-personalized messages from the retailer. The results of
a recent study shows that personalized and hyper-personalized omnichannel
messages significantly boost a retailer’s customer loyalty.

Omnichannel mindset
Your decision to operate within an omnichannel
environment determines the loyalty programs you wish
to add to your promotion marketing.

Omnichannel tools
Legacy loyalty programs fall short of providing your customers with
a seamless experience across your channels. Moreover, they fail to
provide you with key customer
insights that can be developed into valuable data.

Omnichannel loyalty program

As a result, you need a loyalty program that can be integrated into
your composable structure. In other words, your retail business needs
an API‑based loyalty program, which you can easily scale up.

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Best Practices
Recent years have demonstrated a major boost in using
omnichannel opportunities by retailers across the world.
See how these brands created remarkable customer journeys
through their omnichannel strategies.

SPOILT
No need to
change channels
The Australian gift and hardware
store, has effectively connected its
brick and mortar stores to its digital
platforms. Spoilt’s customers can view
all products on its Instagram shop
and buy whatever they want without
having to navigate out of the app.

As a result of its omnichannel

structure, Spoilt’s sales and inventory
data are automatically synced, which
ensures the retailer doesn’t have to
worry about overselling its products.

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 OASIS
Ultimate integration
Oasis is a fashion retail brands operating mainly
in the UK and Ireland. The brand has equipped
all its staff with iPads, which allow them to analyze
customer data in real time and offer personalized
recommendations.

Oasis also has a wide range of product return

options, which are integrated into its offline and
online sales channels

TARGET
Just capture an image
The American retailer Target
is a leading brand in using the
opportunities of omnichannel
approach. During one campaign,
Target partnered with Pinterest to
create a great mobile journey for its
customers. With their smartphones,
users snapped a photo of what
they liked and had the Target app
(integrated with Pinterest Lens
technology) show them similar items
available for sale at Target stores.

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Final Thoughts
As the number of platforms where customers can interact with a
brand continues to grow, delivering a consistent customer experience
everywhere a brand sells is more important now than ever.

An omnichannel strategy
gives retailers the ability
to blend in‑store and
online channels to create
integrated and memorable
experiences for their
customers. A retailer’s
omnichannel approach
can lead to increased
customer satisfaction
and accordingly increased
customer retention. The move to omnichannel The development
environment has of omnichannel retail
The omnichannel unlocked a lot of exciting requires the evolution of
allows a retailer to opportunities for legacy loyalty programs.
send hyperpersonalized retailers to engage with Composable commerce
messages to its their customers. These and microservices have
customers, messages opportunities, which will taken loyalty programs
that benefit from AI, certainly evolve over time, to the next level, allowing
NLP and automation to include dark stores, brands to integrate their
create highly relevant and BOPIS, BOSS and BORIS desired loyalty features into
customized experiences. among other things. their headless tech stack.

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Integrate Talon.One’s
Loyalty Solution with
Your Omnichannel Structure
The omnichannel approach enables
retailers to build their stacks around
a core group of microservices.
This allows them to meet their
scalability and flexibility needs,
while also giving them greater
control over the cost of their stack.

Your loyalty program, as an important

element of your omnichannel approach,
should be scalable and flexible to
be easily integrated with other
components of your system.
Talon.One’s loyalty solution
integrates seamlessly with CRMs
and other third party APIs, allowing
you to get up and running quickly with
a scalable, versatile and future-proof
promotion solution. You can benefit
from in-depth developer docs that
guide you in every step of the way.

Talon.One’s scalable and reliable With Talon.One’s software you have

platform handles unexpected load the freedom to run any loyalty campaign
spikes and peaks on dedicated across your channels without having
Kubernetes server cluster. Your unique to cause any friction to your customer
deployment auto-scales to meet your shopping journey. Your customers can
specific needs. This is an important easily redeem their points, save up to their
feature particularly for retailers digital wallet, use vouchers and coupons,
because they face peaks on certain etc. across your physical and online
occasions such as Black Friday. environments.

Talon.One • The Omnichannel Retail Playbook 22

 The World’s Most Powerful Promotion Engine
Create and deploy creative and targeted campaigns
using any of your customer and live session data.

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