Omnichannel distribution: the rise of shopper centric strategies
Stanislas Dallest
That may sound very obvious but success in distribution starts by being on shelf. If your top products don’t make it to the aisles of supermarkets, all your innovation, production and sales efforts will be worthless and you can tell goodbye to the beloved “moment of truth“. Making it to the shelf, preferably at eyesight level, is the primary mission of sales teams and the literal application of your placement P. Nowadays that also means paying a lot of attention to one concept that is coming in fast and quickly sending us all back to the drawing board of distribution strategies: omnichannel distribution.
To us professionals of the FMCG world that may sound like an overheard concept, yet if you ask the oxford dictionary you are still being redirected to “no exact match found” page.
Well then, what is omnichannel?
At POS Potential we feel good about the following definition (take a deep breath before reading):
Omnichannel: a customer-centric distribution strategy that puts emphasis in a deep understanding and definition of a brand’s target market/buyer persona by which a brand makes its products available where its customers are shopping, delivering a unified and personalized experience across the channels where it is present.
Wow…raise your hand if you read that twice…raise both hands if you read that thrice!
Let’s take a detailed look at this definition:
- Customer-centric: that is the start of well-oiled omnichannel strategy. You want to define extensively your buyer persona: who is buying you? what benefits are they looking for? what other categories are they buying into? and most importantly, where are they shopping?
- Availability of the product: omnichannel does not mean you have to be distributed in every gas station of the country. If your shopper doesn’t want you to be there, don’t be! A well-executed buyer persona analysis will tell you exactly in which channels your products have to be distributed.
- Unified and personalized experience: from trial in-store to online purchase, your message has to remain the same and feel like the conversation is flowing seamlessly with your shopper. And yes, omnichannel often means you are going to be selling online as well and that social media will become the link to this unified and seamless experience.
Omnichannel is an earthquake in the world of distribution. We are going away from push strategies where products where made available in a single channel backed by “unique-message” communication strategies. The balance of power is shifting towards customers and their expectations in terms of product availability is rising as well as their need for a more personal interaction with your brand.
Let me give you a practical example:
- It’s Saturday night 10pm and I (30-sthg DINK) am about to start watching a movie on Netflix with my girlfriend.
- *Add pops up on Instagram*: try our new vegan flavor 6€ ice-cream tub
- *My brain* sounds great, I want it NOW!
- That’s where your capability to be there for your client comes in:
-
- In-Store: show me (literally take me there on google maps) the nearest convenient store where I can find it!
- Home delivery: redirect me to home delivery options: Deliveroo, Glovo, Uber Eats…you name it
- Click & collect: collaboration with nearby restaurants that can distribute the product
- eCommerce/QCommerce: also prompt me to add it to my next shopping list or offer QCommerce options
Yes, omnichannel distribution is a huge challenge and implies a great deal of changes at all levels of the organization and especially how and when your different department will interact with each other. We will cover more topics on omnichannel distribution including specifics about new business channels on our blog and POScast.
If you’re reading this, you’re one step away from selling more and better! Did you enjoy the read? Please, tell us more!
ThinkBI SLU processes personal data in order to address your request or enquiry with your consent. To learn more about how we manage your personal data and to exercise your rights, please refer to our privacy policy.
