As compared to the past few decades, Omnichannel retail solutions now have become an essential part of the modern retail business. The reason behind this is the usage of multiple sales channels for sales lift. These channels which may vary from business to business include; brand website, multi-vendor platforms, mobile app, multiple retail outlets, warehouses etc. Retail businesses in Pakistan cannot leave any of the platforms because of the competitive market as they know the reason behind it. The reason is customers approach through varied resources. According to the Statista report below graph shows the past year’s comparison of the usage of online and offline sales channels:
According to graph 1.1 more people are using offline sales channels than online but with advancing years things are getting changed. Online purchasers are inclining. Among these online customers below the graph will show a split between desktop and mobile users. Let’s have a look:
Graph 1.2 shows that among Pakistan retail customers, mobile users are increasing over years as compared to desktop users.
As per the mentioned graphs, people are making purchases through mediums which suit them. With time they are approaching more online purchases. Here Omni channel can play a great role in balancing overall sales throughout the sales channels whether they are online, offline or any other.
When it comes to shopping, omnichannel refers to the practice of establishing an unified experience across all of a retailer’s owned platforms during the shopping process. The objective here is to ensure that the consumer’s overall experience is uniform across all owned channels. In addition, omnichannel gives the client a variety of alternatives to choose from throughout their buying trip.
The Omni channel helps improve the product delivery services as well. This mechanism allows an end-to-end approach to a broader range of customers who are not only located within the retailer’s distribution area but also beyond it. You can use a dedicated app, website, or even an SMS message to keep customers updated in real-time.
The benefits of using Omni channel retail solutions include the following:
The e-commerce and retail industry including electronics, apparel, fashion, food etc. in Pakistan is increasing rapidly with time. This expansion may be ascribed to several factors, including the growing popularity of internet shopping and rising levels of consumer discretionary money. The following graph from Statista shows retail industry updates according to the type of industry:
According to graph 2.1 customers of all retail industries of Pakistan are increasing with time. Omnichannel retail solutions are highly essential for the success of the Pakistani e-commerce and retail industry. Merchants can extend their sales channels to reach out to more customers in less time providing an unified experience to all their customers. No matter whether their customers belong to any region, they can get the same product sitting anywhere.
As mentioned earlier, Pakistan’s e-commerce and retail industry is growing faster than usual within moments. People are approaching brands through their websites, social media, digital devices, physical outlets etc. Brands should look forward more to providing a unified experience throughout their sales channels. This is only possible through the Omni channel and automation. Major benefits of having an Omni channel for your brand are mentioned below:
Customers can connect with your brand in a greater variety of ways than ever before because of omnichannel capabilities. They can either approach through any social media, e-commerce store, and retail outlet or via any online marketplace. As the customers will expect the same type of products across all channels, merchants will be able to provide this facility to their customers via the Omni channel. Hence, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Overall brand’s operational efficiency increases by using the Omni channel as the first choice. Operating all channels from a single dashboard brings more grip over business operations. Merchants can focus more on creating newer business strategies rather than spending time overviewing operational tasks.
Using Omnichannel retail solutions helps brands to stand in a competitive market through miraculous sales lift. Through a unified experience across all sales channels, customers can approach the broader range of products that a brand provides. A seamless buying experience is far better for generating a brand repute than a distorted one.
Omni channels help in checking stock levels as well. It keeps ERP components synchronized and updated in real-time. This allows merchants to overview the current number of stock available across sales channels. Thus allowing them to keep inventory updated to provide a unified buying experience to its customers throughout. So better inventory turnover also leads to increased customer satisfaction.
Customers can reach the brand through any portal. This may include a physical outlet at any place, e-commerce website, marketplace, social media platform or app etc. For better revenue generation, merchants must keep their product collections ready all the time across all channels. Omni channel retail solution is the only way to do that. It keeps the doors open for new customers at the local and international levels.
Omni channels also allow brands to track customer activity and trends through Artificial Intelligence. It keeps on recording customer’s buying behavior through all channels, in its database which merchants can later view via analytics and reporting feature. This information can help brands improve customer service and marketing efforts. In addition, using Omni channels can reduce costs associated with shipping and marketing materials.
One of the main benefits of using the Omni channel is that it can save businesses time and money. For example, if a business sells its products through online stores and physical stores, it will need to hire two separate teams – one for online sales and another for sales in physical stores. However, using the Omni channel means the business can have one team responsible for all sales activities. It will save both time and money.
On the market these days, merchants may choose from a wide variety of tailored and non-tailored Omni channel retail solutions to meet their needs. Each of these has its own set of benefits and drawbacks.
Choosing the right solution for your business is essential to maximizing profits and growing your business. Some of the good Omni channel retail solutions other than Ginkgo Retail includes the following:
XStak Retail Solutions
Major features
Inventory Management System
Order management System
POS System
Delivery Management System
Loyalty Management System
Microsoft Dynamics Solutions
Major features
Omni channel
Project Automation
HRM
Retail CRM
Salesforce Ecommerce Solutions
Major features
Omni channel
Retail CRM
Retail Pro
Major features
Omni Channel – Unified Commerce
POS and Retail Management
App Integrations
Ginkgo understands the importance of Omnichannel retailing and has developed a unique Omni channel solution for the Pakistani market. Ginkgo’s Omni channel retail solution differs from other providers because it is tailor-made for Pakistan’s unique retail landscape.
It ensures that customers get a unified experience across all channels they interact with. This makes things simpler for merchants to broaden their customer base and retain those which they already have.
Ginkgo itself is an ERP solution however can get integrated into any ERP solution as well. It is flexible enough to allow multiple app integrations as well. It can be tailored according to the merchant’s needs. This makes it a perfect solution to fit Pakistan’s retail market.
It becomes a central hub which keeps on updating data timely across the connected channels including online stores, brick & mortar, ERPs and logistics, etc. Ginkgo’s main aim is to provide automation to daily e-commerce operations to merchants so that they can spend more time in strategy building rather than being busy overviewing daily operations.
The best part of Ginkgo’s Omnichannel retail solution is that it is evolving day by day according to Pakistan’s trending e-commerce market. Merchants can easily manage inventory and track orders on a single interface. They just need to connect POS, ERP, marketplace and couriers etc. Ginkgo will handle all further operations by itself and will show updates on a single screen.
Through Ginkgo retail’s Omni channel solution merchant’s now can enjoy faster deliveries to their end customers with lesser returns earning overall customer satisfaction.
Features that make Ginkgo stand out as the best Omni channel for Pakistan’s retail market include the following:
Ginkgo provides an interface for end-to-end order tracking. Merchants can also view and manage local and international orders on the same screen. They even can split the orders as and when required.
This feature allows local and international courier handling. Merchants can preset rules for courier selection as well. Ginkgo retail helps merchants by suggesting the best courier based on their performance in a specific region.
As an Omni channel, Ginkgo retail provides merchants with the capacity to connect their multiple e-stores to a single portal. They even can connect multiple marketplaces to get it managed with one admin panel.
Ginkgo retail is a platform which helps in the centralization of retail and storefront to ease e-commerce and retail operations. Merchants can segment their customers based on their buying behaviour. They can create triggers and automate flows as well. Ginkgo also makes merchants aware of the customer health mentioning whether they approached for the first time or are returning customers.
As managing inventory is the most important daily operation, Ginkgo retail allows merchants to automate the inventory control process throughout connected channels whether it is a storefront, ERP, Marketplace or any other. Ginkgo syncs all data whose status can be viewed via a single portal.
Instead of uploading products one-by-one Ginkgo’s product management system allows merchants to upload media in bulk. They can even optimize the product images, sort collections and map fields as well.
Nothing works best until we view the progression reports of how business operations are going on. Being the most optimized Omni channel for the Pakistan e-commerce market, Ginkgo helps merchants by providing couriers/order ageing reports. It provides product level and team/management level dashboards as well for merchants’ ease.
An efficient notification system is highly essential to keep things up to date and for merchants, this is something more than essential. Considering its importance Ginkgo provides the most efficient notification system with IVR calls, SMS and emails for both customers and the system users.
Ginkgo retail’s Warehouse management system helps in reducing duplicate order dispatch. It provides efficient order processing with the pick, pack and ship functionality. This feature keeps on scanning orders at all stages from one end to another.
The e-commerce and retail market is overgrowing in Pakistan as shoppers increasingly are adopting digital channels for buying goods and services. This trend will likely continue as the country’s population is growing more affluently and adapting to newer technological trends.
These factors will probably drive the expansion over the next several years as well. Merchants should opt for automating their business operations to stand out in this competitive market. Omni channel retail solution is the only way which can provide the most optimized environment to achieve the best results.
Obaid Arshad is CEO/Co-founder of Ginkgo Business Solution. He has diverse experience of 10+ years in versatile domains of e-commerce, logistics and tech-oriented business. His eminent role in ecommerce management empowered him to benefit the industry with his knowledge, vision and experience.
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