Omnichannel Marketing and the Return to “Phygital” Shopping

Providing an integrated and personalized shopping experience to your customers is not just about being present on all online and offline channels. Brands - and especially retailers - that want to successfully compete in 2021 must meet today’s omnichannel customers where they are, while also ensuring that every interaction is seamless, consistent and personalized. Why should brands pursue an omnichannel and more specifically a “phygital” marketing strategy? And what role does Digital Asset Management (DAM) play in this effort?

While you may already be familiar with the term omnichannel marketing, it has long moved on from simply being a marketing buzzword. Omnichannel marketing has become a top priority in companies’ digital transformation roadmaps and businesses have mostly accelerated their omnichannel investments during the global pandemic. 

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The flight to digital and online shopping that we witnessed during the sanitary crisis has left a significant and lasting impact on customer buying journeys. Customers are buying online and collecting their purchases in store (BOPIS: buy online, pick up in store) - according to McKinsey consumers report high intention to continue using models such as BOPIS, 56% and grocery delivery, 45 %,  after the pandemic‍

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They are turning to mobile apps for their banking transactions and healthcare needs. In stores and restaurants, they are even making payments digitally with their phones and wearable devices. The expectations of today’s tech-savvy and experience-seeking customers have reached new heights and as customers value convenience, agility and relevance. The quality of the customer experience you provide is the best reflection of your customers’ impression with your brand. 

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Omnichannel Marketing: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

Companies must therefore ensure that they provide positive and consistent experiences across a multitude of devices and touchpoints: on their websites and e-commerce sites of course, but also on social media networks, mobile apps and even online marketplaces. Omnichannel marketing is about creating synergies so that channels work together to create unified messaging and personalized brand experiences whether a customer is browsing on the internet, checking their email inbox, or are at the point of sale in an online or physical store. Display ads, social media ads and personalized email campaigns are just some of the ways brands are retargeting and converting their omnichannel customers that have previously visited their e-commerce site and abandoned their cart.

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DAM at the heart of successful omnichannel experiences 

Delivering personalized and unified omnichannel customer experiences across all channels and formats at scale may seem like an impossible endeavor, but with the right technology in place, you can turn your omnichannel marketing dreams into reality. Digital Asset Management (DAM) and Media Delivery and Digital Experience exist to help brands create the best possible customer experience with their brand and content no matter where their customers are. 

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With these platforms, you can ensure all your marketing campaigns, visual content and messaging are consistent but also optimized to each context - the channel and device for example, but also the local market and buyer Persona. An enterprise DAM platform with customer experience functionalities allows companies to automatically create all the media variations they need for display advertising, social, e-commerce and m-commerce channels, as well as for different bandwidths and screen sizes. It is even possible to create personalized email campaigns and localized in-store print materials from pre-branded templates with Wedia's DAM. 

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Not only do marketing teams save time when creating and bringing content to market, but by integrating the DAM with their entire martech and app ecosystem (PIM, CRM, CMS, CDP) they ensure every customer experience is cohesive and relevant as important product, customer and content-centric data is leveraged.

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But in order to do omnichannel marketing right, it’s important to think beyond digital touchpoints. Especially as customers are returning to brick-and-mortar stores, retailers need to innovate the traditional shopping experience and fully integrate it into their omnichannel strategy. In other words, they need to start thinking about how to turn the physical shopping experience into a “phygital” one. 

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What is “phygital” marketing? 

Phygital marketing is about blending physical and digital worlds in order to create a superior retail experience, from the first to the last touchpoint. One way of doing this is by aligning the in-store shopping experience with customers’ digital habits. In-store shopping remains an irreplaceable touchpoint as customers still want to try on and feel products, or talk to sales personnel to make more informed purchasing decisions. It’s easy to make small expenditures online, but when it comes to buying a new smartphone or motorcycle for example, it’s a different story. 

From grocery stores to telecom providers and car dealerships, brands across verticals are joining the phygital retail revolution. 

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A European Telecom provider is one prime example. As part of a program to digitize the customer experience in its stores, the Telecom provider equips each of its salespeople with a tablet. This practice allows salespeople, or ‘customer advisers’ to be informed of new products and promotions, as well as access marketing content like PDF documents, product images, and videos so that they can support customers with personalized recommendations at the physical point of sale. 

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Automotive brands are also integrating their physical dealerships into their omnichannel strategies. A large manufacturer of commercial trucks, introduced an online truck configurator in its dealerships to allow customers to virtually design, build and customize the exterior and interior of their ideal truck. As a customer makes changes to their trucks, a 3D rotatable model updates along with the associated pricing information. 

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Thanks to a cloud-based single source of truth, Digital Asset Management and Media Delivery and Digital Experience are strategically placed to support companies across all sales channels. By centralizing a wide variety of validated content, from photos and videos to 360 and 3D images, you can count on DAM to orchestrate your omnichannel marketing, to offer consistent and personalized experiences and get closer to your omnichannel customers.