Point-of-Sale Resellers Can Thrive by Driving Merchants to Become Omnichannel

In this digital age, it is essential for merchants and resellers to not only market their services with a brick-and-mortar operation but also online and across many platforms. According to a survey by Aspect Software, businesses that adopt omnichannel strategies achieve 91% greater year-over-year customer retention rates than businesses that don’t. With this in mind, it’s vital to understand what omnichannel solutions can do for your merchants and how best to implement them for long-term success.

As payment preferences evolve among consumers, omnichannel options will likely become vital to meeting customers’ expectations. Now that contactless and mobile payments are gaining widespread traction across the country and people continue to move away from carrying cash in their everyday lives, merchants that aren’t ready to accept these emerging payment types could fall behind their local competitors. Omnichannel solutions can help because it allows your merchants to accept many different kinds of payments – from swiped credit cards to mobile purchases and even online transactions – through a single processor. Connecting with customers across multiple platforms is what omnichannel is all about.

Where to Begin?

What merchants often have to do, then, is take a look at both their current payment processing needs and those they think they might want to adopt for future capabilities. The more channels through which a business accepts payments, the more likely it will benefit from modern solutions both now and in the future. Finding a provider that will help meet these goals is expected to be reasonably straightforward, mainly because working with a reseller can become a one-stop shop for support and service on an ongoing basis.

Loyalty Can Grow Quickly

The inherent value of omnichannel solutions is increasingly clear to merchants of all shapes and sizes. However, payment processing is just the beginning for companies that want to get a little more involved. For example, merchants that want to start loyalty rewards programs must integrate with a solution that allows them to manage customer data. Keep in mind that “omni” means “all,” so it’s important to remember to select a solution that reaches all customers across various platforms.

For instance, some larger businesses with truly advanced approaches to omnichannel use their smartphone apps to directly target customers with deals based on their location, giving them more power to make purchases in-person and online. This direct interactivity may help to nurture customer loyalty on an ongoing basis because it provides those people with occasional reminders that their merchant is keeping their specific preferences in mind.

Bringing Greater Vision

In addition to the fact that omnichannel makes it easier to process a wider variety of payments on multiple platforms and can even be used to help consumers feel more connected to a business, it also provides another benefit to merchants. Omnichannel solutions offer a great bird’s eye view of many aspects of an operation related to sales and inventory. For example, suppose companies can effectively monitor how much stock they have through their payment platform. In that case, they better understand what they need to order regularly.

Moreover, merchants can use this inventory information to track returning customers – which goes back to the growing loyalty – and even potentially monitor customer satisfaction simultaneously. While this can certainly lead to more revenue overall, the importance of building loyalty is clear. Repeat business is reliable when your merchants can build good relationships, and having the ability to strengthen those bonds even further is just another benefit omnichannel solutions provide.

More Shopping Options

For companies now expanding their offerings into online stores, another way omnichannel solutions can be helpful for customers and companies alike is by giving those people the option to buy online and pick up the item in stores. This feature might help consumers feel like they’re getting a good deal – people love to bargain hunt online, after all – while still supporting local businesses and saving on shipping at the same time.

Generally speaking, the more options your merchants can provide for people looking to make a purchase, the better off they’re going to be when it comes to meeting the diverse needs and expectations different generations of shoppers are likely to have. This is why omnichannel is so important and often seen as the future of online shopping while continuing to keep brick-and-mortar stores popular.

The Technological Edge

Omnichannel is freshly emerging as an option for your merchants, which means it is also essential to keep in mind that the choices they get from resellers for new POS devices are also an integral piece of the puzzle. That trend is only likely to continue. The more they can continually adapt to evolving consumer preferences and leverage available technology to meet those demands, the better off they and their customers will be.

According to Google, “Omni-channel shoppers have a 30% higher lifetime value than those who shop using only one channel.” That’s encouraging news for both merchants and resellers. The ability to market your and your merchants’ businesses in-store, online, through mobile, and social media, helps to create customer loyalty, bring a greater vision, and give our customers more shopping options.

Gen Z and Millennials own the digital age, and prior generations aren’t far behind in adapting and growing with the times. So give your business the technological edge and additional revenue that being omnichannel brings.

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With business activities in 50 markets and 150+ currencies around the world, EVO is among the largest fully integrated merchant acquirers and payment processors in the world.