Does your brand meet customers’ omnichannel expectations?

Today, consumers expect a seamless, personalized and secure omnichannel shopping experience. And those businesses failing to deliver are those failing to hold onto customers.

Consumers across every retail category are incredibly discerning. If they don’t feel that the brands they are shopping with take their time or their security seriously, then they will choose to shop elsewhere. Choice is ubiquitous, after all.

The omnichannel landscape is changing. We’ll help you get ahead of it.

Convenience is key, on the main street and online

Today, we can shop almost wherever and however we want. It’s possible to be in the queue for checkout in a physical store while shopping for the latest technology on our phones. And in both processes, we expect that our payments will be accepted with ease and that our items will end up in our hands – quickly.

When we talk about convenience in shopping, the mind tends to go straight to “online shopping.” However, our research shows that just because a shop may be online, doesn’t mean people will flock to it.

While 87% of consumers told us they shop online because it’s convenient, 77% said they shop in-store for the same reason. Often, convenience means getting something right now. You probably wouldn’t place an online order if you could obtain the desired product by simply walking into a nearby store.

Security concerns are shaping how people pay

While convenience drives where people shop, security tends to drive how people pay.

Our research revealed that, for 61% of shoppers, security is the primary factor in their choice of payment method. This is a particularly important find, as it suggests that security considerations will trump even convenience. If a customer isn’t convinced that you will keep their payment details safe, they’ll shop elsewhere.

The general awareness of risk among the population is increasing, following a number of high-profile data breaches in recent years. 48% of respondents said that security is their biggest concern when shopping online in general, meaning you should integrate advanced security features wherever possible. This will help reassure customers and keep them coming back.

Omnichannel – Bringing it all together

For retailers, the key to success lies in being open on all of the channels that your consumers regularly use. According to the Harvard Business Review, 73% of consumers use more than one channel during their shopping journey. Your task as a retailer, then, is to ensure that they can jump from one channel to another seamlessly. You want to make it convenient to buy from you, no matter where or when the customer is shopping.

This is the true essence of omnichannel: a seamless, secure shopping journey across multiple touchpoints. Ideally, consumers should be able to search for an item via one channel, then have their preferences remembered throughout purchase, delivery, customer care and beyond.

Naturally, this comes with a number of considerations. For example, how will you collect and safely store customer data, while still being able to use it across channels? What are the security and regulatory implications of this? And how will you ensure that the customer is having the same experience of your brand while shopping via mobile as they are when walking around your store?

Omnichannel shopping is the expectation of customers around the world, but very few businesses have achieved a high level of omnichannel maturity. However, it’s clear that those that have are those leading in their sector. Truly omnichannel businesses are changing the entire retail landscape.

We’ll help you align your channels

Worldpay can help you reinvent or boost your omnichannel operations, providing not just the payments infrastructure needed to enable cross-channel shopping, but also the expertise to transform transactions into connected customer experiences.

If you’re looking to kickstart your omnichannel journey, or simply learn more about the changing omnichannel landscape, be sure to download our latest research report.