Embracing new retail technologies to enhance both your in-store and online experiences can feel overwhelming, but the reality is that relying on outdated tech can hinder your growth. To stay ahead of the curve and meet the ever-changing demands of today’s consumers, adopting new solutions are essential.

The concept of unified commerce is at the heart of this transformation, enabling businesses to seamlessly integrate and optimise their operations across all channels. To gain a deeper understanding, we spoke with industry leaders such as Aaron Chidley, Co-founder and Managing Director of Make Retail, Lee Hardham, CEO & Founder of Brauz, and Kara Sahota, Head of Partnerships at Yotpo, who shared their invaluable insights. Whether you’re just starting to explore physical retail alongside your online presence or seeking to enhance your current systems, these expert tips and real-world examples will empower you to make informed decisions, ensuring your business stays competitive in an increasingly tech-driven world.

True unified commerce seamlessly integrates every facet of a retail business – ecommerce, point of sale, inventory management, order fulfilment, and customer data, into a single, cohesive system. This creates a unified source of truth, enabling all operations to work together in perfect harmony.

The benefits:

• Enhanced Customer Experience: Customers receive a more personalised and consistent experience across all channels.

• Real-Time Data Insights: Retailers are able to gain instant access to critical data, such as inventory levels and customer preferences, allowing for smarter decision-making.

• Advanced Features: Including purchase history tracking, segmentation, reserve-in-store capabilities, and loyalty program integration. 

Let's explore how platforms like Shopify POS can bring these systems together, enhancing the experience for both customers and retailers.

Shopify POS is a great solution for businesses looking to merge online and in-store experiences. It ensures a personalised, consistent customer journey across all channels, which is crucial for building brand loyalty and customer retention. Shopify POS is also user-friendly, benefiting in-store staff and improving overall retail operations.

Take Canadian born fashion and apparel brand, Oak+Fort for example. By unifying its commerce operations with Shopify, the retailer turned what used to be a three-step order management process into a single step. This change has reduced 50 hours per week in headquartered staff time, 40 hours per week with customer experience teams, and 10 hours per week from IT support, according to Shopify's latest report on Retail Operational Efficiency. Across the 42 retail locations, they're also saving 80 hours/week of shop floor employee time.

Key benefits:

• Unified Customer Insights: Consolidate customer data across all channels to create a comprehensive profile for a more personalised experience. 

• Flexibility: Enable customers to shop online and pick up in-store, reserve products for in-store visits, schedule appointments, or purchase in-store and have items shipped, all thanks to the Brauz extension on Shopify POS.

Using the Brauz extension, retailers can offer best-in-class services like click-and-collect, ship-from-store, on-demand delivery, in-store reservations, and clienteling.

• Speed & Efficiency: Accelerate the checkout process with secure, fast payment processing and real-time inventory tracking, delivering a hassle-free, efficient experience.

Traditional sales processes no longer meet modern expectations. Standard checkout counters often create delays between customers trying on items and finalising their purchases. This is where mobile point of sale (mPOS) systems come in.

An mPOS system turns any tablet or smartphone into a mobile checkout station, allowing you to process transactions anywhere in the store. This enables faster checkout, especially in high-traffic areas like fitting rooms, where customers are often most excited to complete their purchase. With mPOS, staff can serve multiple customers simultaneously, saving their carts and easily retrieving them later. This flexibility allows staff to move seamlessly between interactions without losing track of customer details.

If there are reservations due to operational transformation and training, our partner, Make Retail, specialises in end-to-end integration solutions that streamline retail systems. From POS and inventory management to loyalty programs, they ensure every part of your operation works in harmony, both online and offline. By unifying operations, they give you a 360-degree view of your customers across all sales channels.

Unified commerce allows retailers to gather data from every touchpoint, and this is where loyalty and personalisation come in. By using these insights, retailers can offer customers tailored experiences that drive repeat business and foster long-term brand loyalty. 

Consider this: 73% of shoppers switch between online and in-store purchases. By using tools that consolidate data across all channels, brands can create a cohesive, personalised customer journey that meets the rising consumer expectations.

According to our partner Yotpo, loyalty members spend 80% more than non-members, and 60% of them actively recommend their friends to their favourite brands. Personalisation takes this even further, boosting repeat purchases by 47%. Leading brands are not just viewing loyalty and personalisation as marketing tactics, they’re integrating them into the very core of their customer experience. This approach leads to more engagement, longer customer retention, and a future-proofed brand that thrives in today’s competitive digital landscape.

Consider Australian fashion label Henne, which has achieved remarkable retention stats since implementing their bespoke loyalty program, The Collector. Their participation rate of 10% is double the industry benchmark, leading to a 70% average revenue increase for members redeeming rewards. A key callout on their program is the exclusive Tier 4, which remains locked and only becomes visible to customers who have attained this elite status as Henne’s most loyal customers. 

Visually, The Collector program showcases an 'explore your collector benefits' section on Henne's loyalty page. This dynamic feature deviates from the conventional static table format, offering an interactive menu revealing tier specific benefits. This approach has shown increased user engagement by making exploring rewards a more interactive and personalised experience. Read more about The Collector and Henne's growth journey here.

At the heart of unified commerce lies an exceptional customer experience, which is what truly matters, and we hope the insights we've shared inspire confidence as you explore ways to enhance your current systems and deliver a seamless, personalised journey for your customers. Feel free to reach out to us at hello@convertdigital.com.au if you'd like to explore your unified commerce strategy further.