You should see me in a crown: Our best omnichannel content

Omnichannel customer experience has become a priority for brands across all industries. From retail to manufacturing, companies know that customers expect options in the digital age.

This omnichannel trend has been growing for several years, but really took off during the pandemic.

A McKinsey & Company 2021 study found that between 60% and 70% of consumers used both online and offline channels to research and buy products.

Since then, buyers haven’t looked back. Omnichannel is a requirement, whether you’re a retailer or a B2B company. A separate McKinsey study found that B2B customers now regularly use ten or more channels to interact with suppliers, up from five in 2016.

We’ve been covering omnichannel since our site was launched 10 years ago, so it’s hard to choose just a few here. But these are some of our best posts covering one of the hottest topics impacting commerce.

Breaking it down: Omnichannel, explained

This post from top contributor Branwell Moffett, published in 2017, is one of our most-read – and most-copied – articles. He breaks down buzzwords, provides examples, and explains benefits:

Tracey Wallace, a stand-out contributor, penned this article that delves further into the omnichannel phenomenon, complete with statistics, examples, and strategic tips:

In another post on omnichannel, Wallace details omnichannel strategies and provides real-life examples from Starbucks, Disney, and Nike.

Her practical perspective is spot-on:

Omnichannel: Retail and beyond

The retail industry has led the omnichannel charge.

In this post, SAP’s Shayonie Mila Kundu provides a great omnichannel guide for retailers by describing how UK toy company The Entertainer adapted quickly to changing buying patterns during COVID:

As the pandemic hit, many grocers had to scramble to meet the demand for online grocery shopping. Now, what was a niche has become mainstream.

In this article, Angelica Valentine – who wrote about omnichannel for us back in 2014 – provides expert insight into what grocers need to do to attract modern shoppers:

As retail goes, so goes the CPG industry.

Consumer products companies need to toss out old playbooks and develop new strategies to engage with consumers on multiple channels for direct-to-consumer growth, Valentine explains in this post:

In the B2B world, companies also face omnichannel pressure as customers expect the same kind of fast, seamless experiences they have in the consumer world.

This article explains the impact of digital commerce on industrial manufacturers and how they can drive more sales with an omnichannel approach:

Not business as usual

The demand for omnichannel experiences is changing core businesses operations, from marketing and sales to service and fulfillment.

The explosion of digital channels creates both challenges and opportunities for marketers.

This post covers the fundamentals that marketers need to know and offers omnichannel tips to ease the transition:

Omnichannel is a massive shift for the sales profession, which has been so reliant on face-to-face customer engagement.

This article explains what sales pros need to do to effectively engage with digital-first customers:

Omnichannel means seamless, including consistent pricing across sales channels. But as they ramp up their e-commerce operations, B2B companies can overlook this.

Doug Fuehne of Pricefx explains the risk and what companies can do to avoid it in this post:

The pandemic forever altered delivery and fulfilment for retailers as options like BOPIS became standard.

This article explains the benefits of having flexible fulfillment:

This post explores how retailers are rethinking their supply chains including inventory management and forecasting to meet the needs of omnichannel customers: