E-commerce and omnichannel strategy: the future of retail.

The traditional opposition between physical retail and online commerce is now a thing of the past. Success was once measured by website traffic, session counts, and frantic clicks on “Add to Cart.” Today’s consumers no longer think in terms of separate channels — they expect a seamless and consistent experience, regardless of how they interact with the brand. This transformation in buying behavior compels retailers to completely rethink their operational models and build a truly omnichannel strategy. It’s no longer about being present across multiple independent channels, but about creating an integrated ecosystem where each channel enriches and strengthens the others through complementarity.

Evolution of Buying Behaviors

The modern customer journey resembles a maze rather than a linear funnel. A consumer might discover a product on Instagram, check reviews on an independent comparison site, verify stock on the brand’s website, visit a store to see the product in person, and then complete the purchase from their smartphone at home. This fragmentation of the journey, far from being marginal, is now the norm for most purchases — particularly for high-involvement or high-value products.

Studies show that omnichannel consumers spend on average 30% more than single-channel customers and demonstrate significantly higher loyalty rates. This difference stems from deeper brand engagement and enhanced trust through multiple touchpoints. A customer who can order online and pick up in-store, exchange a web purchase in a physical store, or earn loyalty points across all channels develops a stronger bond with the brand and becomes less sensitive to competitors’ offers.

The pandemic greatly accelerated this transformation, forcing brick-and-mortar retailers to rapidly develop digital capabilities. Click & Collect, once a niche practice, became mainstream within weeks. Consumers who discovered these new habits largely adopted them and didn’t revert once restrictions were lifted. This forced acceleration created new expectations that brands must now meet — or risk losing market share to more agile competitors.

Reinventing the role of the physical store

The physical store no longer serves solely as a point of sale. It has become a multifunctional omnichannel hub — a showroom, pickup point, service center, and local warehouse all in one. This transformation requires a complete rethinking of store layout, staff training, and performance metrics. A store generating 40% of its revenue from online orders picked up on-site cannot be evaluated solely on its own sales, or else risk counterproductive behavior — such as staff discouraging Click & Collect to protect their personal targets.

Equipping store associates with digital tools enhances their capabilities and added value. A salesperson with a tablet can instantly access network-wide inventory, order out-of-stock items for home delivery, review a customer’s purchase history and preferences, or present complementary products not available in-store. This digitally enhanced salesperson doesn’t replace human expertise — it augments it by providing exhaustive information no human could memorize.

The connected store goes even further by integrating technologies like interactive kiosks, smart mirrors in fitting rooms, facial recognition for VIP identification, and touch-screen windows accessible outside opening hours. These are not gimmicks but practical responses to real customer needs. A kiosk allows shoppers to order missing sizes or colors without waiting for assistance. A smart mirror suggests product pairings or requests another size without leaving the fitting room. These innovations simultaneously boost customer satisfaction and average basket size.

Personalizing the omnichannel experience

Omnichannel retailing offers unprecedented opportunities for personalization by leveraging the wealth of data collected across all touchpoints. A customer who repeatedly browses a product online can receive a personalized alert when passing near a store that has it in stock. A regular buyer of organic products might see that category prioritized in their online journey. Such personalization mechanisms increase the relevance of the offer and naturally improve conversion rates.

A unified loyalty program is a powerful tool for personalization and customer recognition. Allowing customers to earn and redeem points across all channels streamlines the experience and enhances program value. Loyalty data identifies top customers and enables exclusive perks — early access to sales, private events, or dedicated support. This behavioral segmentation is far more effective than traditional demographic approaches for targeting communications and promotional offers.

Recognizing a customer as soon as they enter the store via their smartphone opens exciting possibilities. The app can notify the associate of a VIP client’s arrival and purchase history to tailor their approach, or guide the customer through a personalized in-store route to relevant sections. These features, of course, require explicit consent and strict privacy safeguards, but studies show that loyal customers generally welcome such services when they clearly perceive the added value.

The Foundations of a Successful Omnichannel Strategy

The cornerstone of any effective omnichannel strategy is customer data unification. A coherent experience is impossible if stores don’t know what a customer bought online, if customer service can’t access the full interaction history, or if the website ignores in-store preferences. This unified customer view requires a Customer Data Platform (CDP) capable of managing, in real time, all data from multiple channels and systems. While technically costly, this investment is an absolute prerequisite.

Inventory unification is the second key pillar. Traditional silos separating store and e-commerce stock create major inefficiencies and frustrating customer experiences. A product listed as available online but actually out of stock causes lasting dissatisfaction. Conversely, in-store stock that could fulfill online orders represents direct lost revenue. A modern Order Management System (OMS) provides real-time visibility and orchestrates inventory flows to optimize both product availability and logistics costs.

The consistency of brand experience across all channels is the third pillar. Customers should encounter the same visual identity, tone, values, and promises — whether online, in-app, on social media, or in physical stores. Consistency does not mean uniformity; each channel should retain its unique strengths, but the brand’s DNA must be instantly recognizable everywhere. Any break in this experience — such as price discrepancies or contradictory messages — undermines trust.

Omnichannel services expected by customers

As mentioned earlier, Click & Collect has become the baseline omnichannel service, whose absence is now a dealbreaker for many consumers. However, implementing it poses numerous operational challenges. Order preparation must be fast enough to enable same-day — or even one-hour — pickup for top-performing retailers. Storage space must be scaled to absorb activity peaks, and the handover process must be smooth to avoid queues that cancel out the benefit. Some retailers install automated lockers for 24/7 pickup via SMS codes, removing time constraints entirely.

Ship from Store, which uses in-store inventory to fulfill online orders, optimizes resource use and shortens delivery times by shipping from the nearest location. This requires packaging systems, staff training, and careful process design to avoid disrupting in-store operations. Intelligent orchestration algorithms automatically select which stock to allocate to each order based on factors such as geography, stock levels, forecasted foot traffic, and transport costs.

The endless aisle concept enables stores to sell products not physically present on-site. A customer who can’t find their size or a specific reference can order it with assistance for home delivery or later pickup. This transforms every store into a showcase for the entire catalog, eliminating out-of-stock frustration and recovering lost sales — while allowing retailers to reduce storage space without shrinking their offering.

Integrating marketplaces into the omnichannel strategy

Marketplaces such as Amazon, Cdiscount, or La Redoute generate massive volumes of traffic and transactions that retailers cannot ignore. However, integrating them into a coherent omnichannel strategy raises complex challenges. Marketplaces impose their own rules for customer experience, pricing, and returns, which can create inconsistencies across channels. The risk of cannibalization between the brand’s website and its marketplace presence is real.

Unified stock management across sites and marketplaces requires technical connectors to synchronize inventory in real time and handle orders from multiple sources. Undetected stockouts can cause unfulfilled sales and penalties, while overly conservative inventory management can limit sales opportunities.

Pricing consistency is another concern. Channel-based price discrepancies confuse customers and encourage price-hunting behavior. Some marketplaces even enforce lowest-price clauses that prohibit sellers from offering lower prices elsewhere. This constraint limits the ability to use pricing as an acquisition lever on specific channels, forcing differentiation through added services, exclusive products, or superior advice instead.

Organizational Challenges of Omnichannel Transformation

Omnichannel transformation goes far beyond technology — it requires a deep organizational and cultural shift. Traditional siloed structures, where e-commerce and store networks operate independently, obstruct a seamless customer experience. Creating a cross-functional omnichannel leadership team capable of arbitrating across channels and driving a unified strategy is becoming the new organizational standard, though it often sparks internal resistance and power struggles.

Revising performance evaluation systems is particularly sensitive. How should a Click & Collect sale be attributed — to the web channel that captured the order, or to the store that fulfilled it and generated potential add-on sales during pickup? How should a store acting as a logistics node be rewarded when it generates no direct revenue? There’s no universal answer — each retailer must find the right balance aligned with its culture and goals.

Store staff must master digital tools and understand e-commerce dynamics, while digital teams need to grasp in-store realities and operational constraints. Some retailers organize regular cross-immersions where e-commerce teams spend days in stores — and vice versa — to build human bridges between worlds.

Measuring omnichannel performance

Traditional retail KPIs must be complemented by omnichannel-specific indicators to steer strategy effectively. The omnichannel penetration rate — the proportion of customers using multiple channels — is a key maturity metric. Tracking its evolution helps measure the success of initiatives promoting cross-channel behavior. The goal is to maximize the share of customers who generate the most value.

Conversion rates for omnichannel services like Click & Collect or Ship from Store reveal their adoption level and friction points. A Click & Collect pickup rate below 95% signals process issues that warrant quick investigation. Average preparation and handover times are also crucial operational metrics that directly affect customer satisfaction.

Technology powering omnichannel retail

The technological backbone of any omnichannel strategy is the Order Management System (OMS), orchestrating all order and inventory flows. It must simultaneously handle diverse order types — standard online sales, Click & Collect, Ship from Store, online returns in-store, or endless aisle transactions. The OMS routes each order to the optimal fulfillment point based on configurable business rules and real-time constraints. Implementing such systems is typically a multi-year, large-scale project.

The Customer Data Platform (CDP) aggregates and unifies customer data from all sources to build a 360° profile for each individual. It must ingest diverse data — in-store transactions, web browsing behavior, social interactions, customer service contacts, and marketing campaign responses. This unified view fuels all personalization, segmentation, and marketing activation tools. Modern CDPs also embed AI capabilities to predict behaviors and identify churn risks.

Store Management solutions equip stores with digital capabilities to fully play their role within the omnichannel ecosystem. They typically include mobile apps for associates (with access to global stock and customer data), queue management systems, indoor geolocation to guide shoppers, and tablet-based continuous training platforms.

The future of omnichannel retail

Emerging technologies like augmented reality open new possibilities to enrich the omnichannel experience. Visualizing furniture at home via a mobile app (as in IKEA’s case) reduces uncertainty and return rates. Virtually trying on glasses or makeup from home partially replicates the in-store experience. These innovations are moving beyond experimental stages to become widely adopted services, particularly in sectors like furniture, décor, and beauty, where visualizing the product in context is key to the purchase decision.

Artificial intelligence will greatly enhance personalization and anticipation capabilities. Conversational assistants that understand natural language and retrieve the right information from catalogs and content repositories will transform product discovery and remote advising. Predictive algorithms will anticipate customer needs before they’re expressed, proactively suggesting relevant products or services at the right moment. This personalization improves customer experience while boosting commercial efficiency.

Social commerce, which allows purchases directly within social platforms without redirecting to external sites, is emerging as a standalone channel that must integrate into omnichannel strategies. Instagram Shopping, Facebook Shops, and TikTok Shopping shorten impulse buying journeys by eliminating steps between product discovery and purchase (especially in B2C). Integrating these new channels requires adapting information systems to synchronize catalogs, stock, and orders in real time.

5 Key Takeaways

The real goal isn’t always “Add to Cart.” The website isn’t always the final destination — it’s a touchpoint within a broader strategy. Especially in B2C, the main goal may not be an online sale but to drive potential customers into physical stores. This aligns perfectly with their business model: 90% of sales happen in-store, where personalized advice and human experience remain core strengths. Digital is a discovery tool — the real customer relationship begins in the physical world.

Less traffic can mean more revenue. Sometimes, the goal isn’t to drive more visitors but to qualify them. Attracting more relevant prospects — genuinely interested in the brand’s premium universe and values — makes each visit more valuable.

Brand experience outweighs aggressive conversion. Rethinking an e-commerce site to prioritize discovery and storytelling rather than omnipresent calls to action can be strategic. Conversion then becomes a natural consequence of brand affinity, not aggressive solicitation.

Digital strategy should be designed as a holistic network of touchpoints. The overall customer experience is only as strong as its weakest link. There’s no point perfecting the website if other touchpoints fail. Excellence must be pursued holistically, treating every interaction — website, social media, email, store visit, delivery, packaging — as a chance to strengthen or erode trust.

Patience is a strategy (even in digital). A successful digital strategy isn’t a flawless plan — it’s a long-term commitment that requires patience.

Customer expectations evolve constantly, technology advances rapidly, and competitors innovate relentlessly. The retailers that succeed are those that understand omnichannel is not a project with an end date but a new mindset for commerce that must infuse the entire organization. Though it demands significant investment and organizational change, omnichannel transformation is now the only viable path to stay competitive in a fast-evolving retail landscape.