Modern customers can pay online, in-store, on different devices and through different platforms. This isn’t nice to have, as we all know, consumers demand this.
While being able to offer this convenience to the customer, retailers are increasingly finding the management of this multichannel payments world becoming cumbersome and expensive. Because of this, more and more retailers are seeking one vendor for everything payments related, leading to more synergy across in-person retail and ecommerce platforms.
Different vendors mean different SLAs and technology stacks, yet somehow all these things need to talk to each other in a way that not only enhances customer and employee experience, but supports the business’s objective of driving growth and profitability. You achieve this with simplicity and not unnecessary complexity.
Now, multichannel and omnichannel are not the same thing. Want an example? Picture this scenario: A customer walks into a brick and mortar store and asks for two pens, a blue one and a red one. There is only a blue pen in the store. The customer pays once, at a single point of sale (POS), and the red pen is automatically scheduled to be delivered to the customer the next day.
Here’s the nuance: The subtlety in this scenario lies in the fact that the customer wasn’t instructed to go onto another channel, online, nor was the customer expected to make a second purchase. That would have been a typical multichannel environment. This example was an omnichannel scenario.
This type of scenario, more often than not, requires a terminal agnostic, interoperable solution architecture, which is why, certainly from our perspective, it is achieved with home-grown, in-house technology that can speak to the array of devices and platforms being used in the country.
Achieving a true omnichannel payments environment requires removing the complexity between POS and payments – not only from a technical perspective but also from a compliance point of view. Every retailer will understand the regulatory obstacles, which is one of the major contributors to them seeking a single point of contact that removes complexity.
Beyond that, interoperability is crucial. When integrating, each cog needs to be friendly with the next or the machine won’t turn efficiently. In addition to this, retailers should seek out partners who can enable the experience they are after. Setting up a flagship store is very different from doing pop-up stores, yet the experience and efficacy of payments should be consistent in order to maintain the same customer experience and brand promise.
Simplifying the customer and employee experience, and reducing retailer headaches by removing complexity in the payments landscape, should be a priority. The technology and expertise to achieve this state effectively already exists. It is entirely possible to run online payment accepting and processing, in-store accepting and processing, the software and recon for both, and backend switching with a single vendor.
Battling in the old complex paradigm is well and truly a thing of the past for retailers of the future. Omnichannel is here. Our recent Black Friday Index (link) shows clearly that retailers who wish to be the most competitive have little choice but to invest in a genuine omnichannel ecosystem.
Contact us today to find out more about how a retailer makes the journey from a complex multichannel environment to a seamless and efficient omnichannel ecosystem.
