When a global lifestyle brand launched its latest store in the Capital, it featured a very different kind of aisle, an ‘endless’ aisle whose technology aims to optimise a customer’s experience. Now, imagine that you can research hundreds of products, browse and pick up even the items that are out of stock (which can be delivered later). And imagine that you can do all this in one store. Further, retailers can service orders received from the brand’s web store.Today, India’s hyper-connected consumers expect businesses to provide unparalleled and consistent communication and service across all touchpoints. The lines between social selling, online retail, and brick and mortar stores are blurring. The mobile revolution, increasing digitisation and e-commerce have together played a significant role in changing the face of retail as we know it. The result? Omnichannel is growing in popularity and redefining the retail experience.The multi-channel approach has been around for a while but Omnichannel is a more recent phenomenon, which goes a step further. Although omnichannel experiences incorporate multiple channels, not all multi-channel experiences are omnichannel. For instance, you can have a great website and retail store, social media campaigns and mobile marketing that engages, but for them to function as an omnichannel, they must deliver a seamless customer experience.Imagine a bike’s wheel with rubber around the rim, and spokes that link to the internal hub. Every other part rotates, and is supported by, the central hub. Now, let’s relate this to multi-channel marketing. As a multi-channel retailer, you may view your brand as the centre of the wheel, around which everything else revolves. The spokes are channels through which you communicate your message to clients on the outside of the wheel. However, each spoke only attaches to a specific part of the wheel. Hence, your marketing initiatives often fail to reach your whole audience.Omnichannel communication, on the other hand, connects better with customers by positioning them at the core of the marketing hub. Such an approach delivers personalised conversations via any of the interconnected channels (spokes) along the base of the ‘wheel’. It enables you to create an experience that is consistent and unified, is made up of seamless interactions, and also synchronises naturally with the consumer’s journey. And because this steady flow of information can help you build a relationship with your customer base, it can also lead to improved customer retention.But Omnichannel leaves the door open for inconsistencies across touchpoints. These inconsistencies can easily become gaps that could frustrate the customer’s experience. For instance, disparity between a store’s website and its mobile app can lead to dissatisfaction with the brand as a whole, resulting in consumer flight.Looking ahead, we are moving into an age in which content is adaptive and will complement the omnichannel experiences that brands create. Content will have a common, consistent thread but will change and adapt based on multiple factors. Besides, content can be personalised at every stage, presenting an opportunity to build a personal connection between brand and consumer.There is, though, no single blueprint that can be applied. Every brand must develop its own unique omnichannel content strategy while carefully considering the following stakeholders: Product, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service and Customer Support.Ultimately, the success of any strategy would depend on creating an experience that is consistent, coherent and aligned across multiple platforms.(Author is Chetan Asher, founder and CEO, Tonic Worldwide)

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