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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteOmnichannel marketing connects the customer-facing channels a retailer uses with the information and operations behind them, so shoppers can move between online and in-store touchpoints without losing context. The practical way to build it is to map the journey, prioritize the channels customers use, fix important data gaps, and integrate the handoffs that cause the most friction—then measure the whole experience.
What omnichannel marketing means—and how it differs from multichannel
A retailer is multichannel when it sells or communicates through more than one channel, such as a website, store, app, or social platform. It is omnichannel when those channels work together around a shopper’s journey. A customer might discover an item on a phone, check availability at a nearby store, buy online, collect the order in person, and contact support later. The defining feature is continuity, not the number of channels.
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That continuity depends on operational information as well as marketing. Product details, customer context, inventory, orders, fulfillment, and service records need to be sufficiently connected for the retailer to make the next step work. Omnichannel is not an all-or-nothing switch: integration can be built incrementally, starting with the handoffs that matter most to customers. Shopify’s overview of omnichannel retailing and Salesforce’s explanation of omnichannel retail describe practical examples, though both are vendor-authored guides.
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Why connect channels instead of adding more?
Shoppers may use different channels for different parts of one purchase. In Think with Google’s summary of the Google/Kantar Australia Consumer Behavior Pulse, the survey found that 52% of surveyed purchases were omnichannel, 18% were click-and-collect, 18% ecommerce-only, and 12% offline-only. The survey covered Australia in September 2024; these figures illustrate that market and are not a universal benchmark. The article also notes that “Shoppers are rarely purely offline or purely online shoppers, even within a single purchase journey.”
The same Australian survey reported that 70% of respondents used a phone for a purchase-related activity while still in a store. It found different channel strengths across the journey: online channels were easier for awareness and consideration, while stores were more useful for quick access to products, customer help, and returns. These findings are a reminder to design around customer needs rather than assume every channel performs the same job. Read Think with Google’s Australia Consumer Behavior Pulse summary.
Integration can also affect business outcomes in different ways. A 2022 review in the Journal of Retailing examined 50 empirical retail papers published over the preceding 20 years. It notes that adding an online channel can cannibalize offline sales, while better cross-channel integration is associated with improved retailer performance. That association does not establish that every implementation increases profit. Track total results as well as channel-specific results. See the Journal of Retailing review.
How to create a connected shopping experience in seven steps
1. Map the customer journey
Trace how customers discover, compare, buy, receive, return, and get help with your products. Include the channels they may use at each stage: for example, an ad or social post, a product page, a store visit, delivery or pickup, and customer service.
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Mark the handoffs. Look for moments when someone must repeat information, rebuild a cart, re-enter an order number, or start the process again in another channel. Those moments are practical candidates for improvement. Start with real customer questions, service contacts, order flows, and sales patterns rather than an idealized journey that assumes every shopper follows the same path.
2. Find where your customers actually are
Prioritize channels and devices using your own customer and sales evidence. Consider where customers discover products, research options, complete purchases, and seek assistance. Do not add a channel simply because competitors use it: every additional channel creates work to keep information, service, and operations coherent.
Use channel roles as a hypothesis to test, not a universal rule. A store may be important for advice or immediate access; a website may be more useful for browsing a broad range. Your customer base, product category, and geography determine which roles matter in your business.
3. Audit your data and systems
List where the information needed to complete a purchase or resolve a question lives. Check the customer profiles, product information, inventory, orders, fulfillment status, and service records used by each channel. Then identify where the information is missing, delayed, duplicated, or inconsistent.
- Customer context: Can an employee or service representative see the relevant purchase or interaction history?
- Product information: Do descriptions, options, and availability match across the channels customers use?
- Inventory and orders: Can the retailer give a reliable availability answer and track an order through its actual fulfillment path?
- Service records: Can support staff understand what has already happened when a customer switches channels?
This audit reveals whether a desired experience is primarily a process problem, an information-quality problem, or a systems-integration problem. Avoid promising real-time continuity if the underlying data cannot support it.
4. Choose the integration priorities
Rank possible improvements by customer friction, frequency, operational feasibility, and the value of getting the handoff right. A narrow, dependable connection can be more useful than launching many channels whose information conflicts.
- Show whether an item is available at a specific store, using inventory data reliable enough to support the promise.
- Let customers carry a cart or relevant loyalty context from one channel to another where the systems and permissions allow it.
- Support pickup or cross-channel returns when store processes, order records, and staff procedures can handle them.
- Make an order’s status and next step visible to both the customer and the team responsible for helping them.
These are options, not a required feature checklist. Choose the handoffs that address problems found in your journey map and data audit.
5. Coordinate the customer experience
For the journeys you choose to connect, align product details, prices, promotions, service expectations, and customer context. A shopper should not encounter avoidable contradictions—such as an offer that appears online but cannot be honored in the channel where the purchase is completed.
Personalize only when the information is appropriate to use and the customer’s permissions support it. A consistent experience does not require using every available data point; it requires using relevant information responsibly and making the next step understandable.
6. Equip store, service, and operations teams
Connected systems help only if people can act on what they show. Make sure store staff and service teams can access current, relevant order and inventory information, understand cross-channel policies, and know how to resolve requests that began elsewhere.
Define who handles common exceptions: an order that is delayed, an item that is not where the system says it is, or a return that falls outside the usual channel. Give employees a clear escalation path and keep procedures aligned with what the customer-facing channels promise.
7. Measure and improve across the journey
Measure customer effort and conversion alongside operational performance. Review results by channel, but also ask whether the connected journey is working as a whole.
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- Commercial outcomes: How do conversion and sales change by channel and across the business?
- Operations: Are pickup, delivery, inventory accuracy, returns, and service handling improving or creating additional cost?
- Cross-channel effects: Did a new option add demand, shift a purchase from another channel, or do both?
Test changes before treating them as proven improvements. A new channel or fulfillment option can shift sales between channels or add operating costs instead of automatically increasing total performance. Use the results to decide what to refine, expand, or stop.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to choose what to connect first
There is no single integration level that fits every retailer. Compare candidate projects against the customer journey and the systems you already operate. A useful assessment includes:
- Journey coverage: Which customer handoff does the change improve, and how many people encounter it?
- Context continuity: Can customer, cart, and order information move where it is genuinely needed?
- Inventory and fulfillment: Can your systems support accurate availability, pickup, delivery, and returns?
- System fit: Can the change work with existing platforms and operating processes, or does it depend on replacing them?
- Privacy and governance: Is the data use appropriate, permissioned, and managed consistently?
- Effort and measurement: What implementation and ongoing work will it require, and how will you evaluate channel-level and total outcomes?
Prioritize a limited set of high-friction handoffs, establish reliable data and staff processes, and expand only when the experience and operating results justify it. This treats omnichannel as a progression rather than a choice between disconnected channels and a complete system rebuild.
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