From O2O to OMO Omni-channel business model allows retailers to painlessly transform digitally!

O2O (Online to Offline) business model refers to online marketing or purchase, and then to offline operation or consumption. This view was put forward by TrialPay CEO Alex RamPell in a guest article post on "TechCrunch" in August 2010 proposed "O2O is to find consumers on the Internet, and then guide them to physical stores, which is a way to create passenger flow." Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers have become more popular, extending the O2O model to both online and offline to drive customer traffic. For example, consumers can try out products or services in physical stores, and then buy them on online e-commerce platforms after the trial.

Although O2O's cross-online and offline consumption model can lead to both ends, the online and offline data is not integrated, causing consumers to have a fragmented shopping experience. Merchants also failed to obtain customer information in order to implement more precise and customized marketing strategies.

Therefore, the O2O business model is constantly evolving with the changes in the market environment. The evolution to the OMO (Online Merge Offline / Offline Merge Online) business model will better meet the needs of today's new retail!

 

What is OMO (Online Merge Offline / Offline Merge Online) business model?

The popularity of mobile devices and the integration of humans and machines into the network age have subverted the entire retail consumption pattern. The concept of OMO integration of virtual and reality was first proposed by Dr. Kaifu Li, founder and CEO of Innovation Works. He published a column in The World in the 2018 special issue of The Economist magazine. For future retail, it must cover Online Merge Offline and Offline Merge Online, pointing out that the overall retail environment in the future will be further improved with the advent of the 5G generation. The addition of AI will make real-world digitization, automation, and sales forecast easier, and electronic payments will become the norm, making transactions more real-time and convenient.

What is the difference between O2O and OMO?

Whether the O2O model is from online to offline, or from offline to online, the boundaries between the two ends are still clear, forming online and offline data disconnection. While OMO pays more attention to data integration, regardless of whether consumers online or offline consumption can be integrated and synchronized update member information. Collecting consumer behavior footprints with people as the core can achieve more accurate analysis and formulate more effective marketing strategies.

 

Covid-19 fuels the rise of omni-channel e-commerce platforms and sets off a new scene of retail consumption

The development of retail business is often closely related to changes in the social and economic climate, technological innovation, and market trends at the time, which affect consumption patterns.

Until the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, the traffic of physical stores fell sharply, and everyone was forced to stay at home. It became a catalyst for online shopping, electronic consumption, and express delivery services. In addition, in the age when mobile phones are indispensable, almost no one can completely detach from social media networks. During the epidemic, people try to avoid contacting shop assistants or products in physical stores, which may accelerate the development of social e-commerce.

It can be seen that in recent years, the speed of commercial retail model changes has been very rapid, and industry competition has become increasingly fierce. Traditional physical stores were impacted by online shops, and when it comes to social e-commerce sales channels, consumers’ shopping footprints have become diversified and timeless. The new retail era has also arisen at the historic moment, and it is imperative for retailers to carry out digital transformation.

 

STOREBERRY Omni-channel Retail Platform helps you to develop OMO (Online-Merge-Offline) business with painless digital transformation

Now is the opportunity for merchants to move into the new retail era, and mastering the integration of OMO virtual and reality is an important key to the current retail digital transformation. Although seeing the changes in the retail business environment and wanting to accelerate the pace of OMO digital transformation for the business, yet you don’t have the support of the IT technical team and the huge capital to execute, feel distressed and unable to start?

In fact, with the popularization of cloud services nowadays, even without any computer programming knowledge, you can rent the system at a low threshold price, and you can digitally transform your business in a short time. STOREBERRY omni-channel retail platform is a cloud based e-commerce store opening platform (SaaS) built on cloud provider AWS (Amazon Web Services), which helps you create online store, manage social e-commerce, and physical stores. One-stop management and integration of all sales channel information, collecting huge consumer behavior data behind consumers, making it easier for you to formulate accurate business strategies!

STOREBERRY omni-channel retail platform allows you to manage online stores, social e-commerce, and physical stores in one-stop, and review the sales performance of each channel and customer consumption behaviors with one click, allowing you to easily develop a three-in-one OMO business model:

1) STOREBERRY allows you to quickly build an exclusive online store in a few steps

The platform system provides a variety of online shop theme design templates. No computer and design knowledge are required. You only need to drag and drop product pictures or videos in the selected templates. Then set up a connected third-party payment system and logistics method, and finally create a classification for your uploaded products and enter inventory data. You can simply build your online store and start operating your business with these steps.

And the website has preset responsive web design (RWD), so that your customers can browse the content of your online store comfortably and smoothly at any time on different electronic mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablets or desktop computers.

The online store has been equipped with complete functions such as payment and logistics settings, order and inventory management, CRM member management settings, and social media management posts, etc., to help you easily embark on the road of online business.

2) STOREBERRY supports Facebook comment and live selling function which helps you operate social e-Commerce

Social e-commerce can be said to be the most prevalent e-commerce model in recent years. Merchants can introduce product discounts through Facebook posts or broadcast on Facebook Live, allowing customers to leave messages and place orders at any time. Interactive promotion with all audience fans, giving the audience a sense of reliability that seeing is believing, and achieving a stronger promotion boost!

However, this kind of social media platform business does not provide any operational support. It relies on manual response to customer messages, and then manually records orders which makes the transaction process time-consuming and easy to make mistakes. The point is that it is difficult to cultivate long-term loyal members without properly recording customer information.

The STOREBERRY platform system has been connected to Facebook, allowing you to directly manage and publish posts on a single platform, and utilize Chatbot David to reply to post messages or instant messages 24 hours a day. At the same time, you can set the Facebook live broadcast content so that your customers can leave messages, place orders, and payment. All customer information updates on a real time basis to help you operate social e-commerce more smoothly.

3) STOREBERRY’s cloud based POS system is your perfect partner for managing stores

With the changes in the retail market and the development of technology, the cloud based POS system was born during the evolution process. The actual data of the system is accessed in the cloud. You can use your computer, tablet, or smartphone wherever you are. You can manage the business by opening the web browser, making the operation more flexible and efficient. Therefore, in addition to physical stores, it is also suitable for short-term pop-up stores and flea markets, which is better than traditional POS systems.

STOREBERRY's cloud based POS system can systematize the operation process. Whether your customers are shopping in physical stores, online shops, or social media platforms, the inventory of each sales channel, and even all customer information can be updated simultaneously, and you can view customer transactions and various interactions in different channels on a single platform. This allows you to set membership levels and discounts more accurately, such as establishing e-gift certificates to promote sales, or guiding customers to shop through different sales channels, so that your business can develop more effectively and sustainably.

Whether you want to open an online store or expand your business with digital transformation, STOREBERRY has different system subscription plans, which is extremely cost-effective! Register now to contact STOREBERRY service consultant to make an appointment for a demonstration and explanation of the system, or register for a 30-day free trial to experience how useful it is!