Unified Commerce: What It Is and How Your Business Can Benefit in 2024

Picture this: a customer walks into your store, drawn in by an online ad they saw earlier. They’re looking for a specific item, but your business doesn’t have their size. Instead of losing the sale, the sales associate helps them order it right on a tablet, for delivery to their home. The customer even gets a discount for their next purchase. This seamless integration of online and offline channels is the beauty of unified commerce, a customer-centric approach rapidly reshaping the future of retail.

More than just a buzzword, unified commerce represents a paradigm shift from the traditional, siloed approach of multichannel retail. It’s about connecting every touchpoint – your online store, physical locations, social media, mobile apps – and creating one unified experience for your customers. It goes beyond just offering multiple ways to shop. It’s about unifying every aspect of your business. Think payment processing, inventory management, customer service – all working together in perfect harmony, driven by a single, centralized platform and a unified commerce strategy.

Online, unified commerce entails making the process painless for yourself and customers. You want to protect yourself from sudden merchant cancellations of your account while giving your customers multiple ways to pay? That is an example of unified commerce at play and that’s what Checkout Champ is all about. Making it easy for your customers and you to scale your business. 

What Makes Unified Commerce Different?

Many people use the terms “omnichannel” and “unified commerce” interchangeably, but there are key distinctions. Omnichannel, while offering a multichannel approach, often falls short in integrating those channels behind the scenes. It might mean you’re on social media, marketplaces, and your website – but each one operates independently, with separate commerce solutions.

Unified commerce takes integration further, giving your customers a better shopping experience. It’s about unifying every system, so customer data, inventory, and orders are all in sync, no matter where a customer interacts with your brand. A unified commerce platform gives you a deeper understanding of customer behavior on a single platform.

Think of it this way: with omnichannel retail, you might be able to buy online, pick up in store. But with unified commerce, a customer could start browsing on Instagram, add items to their cart, switch to your website on their laptop, finish the purchase, and choose to pick it up in-store—all with a single, consistent experience.

This technology gives you a complete picture of their journey, providing valuable insights for personalized recommendations, marketing, and customer service in the future. Customers expect a seamless and personalized commerce journey, no matter where they choose to shop. By leveraging the power of a unified commerce platform, you can meet these expectations and deliver superior shopping experiences that foster loyalty and drive growth.

The Real Benefits of Unified Commerce for Your Business

Unified commerce isn’t just beneficial for customers; it’s a game-changer for businesses. Here’s why:

Deeper Customer Insights:

Imagine having a 360-degree view of every customer interaction across all touchpoints. This allows you to gain insights from in-store purchases and online purchases. With data for every customer journey at your fingertips, you can gain valuable insights and use that to build a solid foundation for your business.

A study by Adyen  found that unified commerce retailers saw transactions remain consistent during the pandemic, with online spending by in-store customers increasing by 40%.

Streamlined Operations:

Unified commerce platforms automate processes and keep inventory synced, like an endless aisle. Retailers lost an estimated $1.7 trillion  globally in 2023 due to stockouts and overstocking.

Having all your data in one place simplifies inventory management, reduces errors, and keeps everyone on the same page. With real-time data at their fingertips, imagine how empowered your team, from the retail location to the warehouse staff, would be.

Increased Sales and Loyalty:

Personalization is key in today’s world, and with unified commerce, you can provide customers with what they want, when they want it, making it easy to increase sales with a unified commerce solution. By 2023, Gartner predicted unified commerce would be a key factor for competitive advantage, and they were spot on.

Unified commerce integrates systems to improve operational efficiencies. It allows you to create a loyalty program to keep customers coming back for more. With unified commerce, shoppers are spending more. This omnichannel approach helps you boost those sales.

Future-Proofing Your Business

As technology evolves, so do your customers. Unified commerce helps future-proof your business by keeping your finger on the pulse of emerging technologies like mobile wallets and online payments. Think about AI-driven personalization, and even the metaverse.

By breaking down data silos, a unified platform can adapt and scale as needed. You’ll be ready for whatever comes next in the retail experience. For example, Shopify’s POS allows unified sales both online and in physical stores, unifying commerce for the modern business. This lets your customers make online payments and provides consolidated reporting.

The Future is Unified

There’s no denying unified commerce’s impact on shaping the retail industry’s future. It gives you the ability to manage your supply chain in real time, with benefits for both online channels and brick-and-mortar businesses.

A massive $3.3 trillion global opportunity  exists for those embracing this model. Customers crave seamless experiences and rewarding brand interactions. Unified commerce integrates all of your systems to help your business thrive.

This means increased operational efficiencies from your commerce solution and lets you offer things like endless aisles. This creates happier, loyal customers who drive more revenue. It gives the customer the ability to return in-store even if they made an online purchase, which makes the customer feel taken care of. Are you ready to join the unified commerce revolution? Are you ready to integrate unified commerce into your commerce strategy?

How Checkout Champ Helps You Unify Your Commerce

Do you have different payment processors, service people throughout the world, and work with different vendors? Then Checkout Champ has got you covered. You can easily create different payment experiences with a large number of payment processors covered. You can also easily manage your SKUs and shipping profiles for customers. This helps you minimize YOUR risk as a storeowner, but also serve your customers even better. 

Checkout Champ also has a CRM, funnel builder, and a ton of other features to help you load your e-commerce experience. Checkout Champ is the only platform that works with your existing e-commerce store or lets you easily transition over to our unique platform. There is nothing else like it on the market. 

FAQs about unified commerce

What is unified commerce?

Unified commerce is a business strategy that blends all sales channels, data, and systems into one seamless platform. It offers a consistent customer experience across online and offline touchpoints and unifies commerce across every channel. This differs from omnichannel commerce, which uses multiple providers to improve operational efficiency, rather than one single platform.

What is the difference between unified commerce and omnichannel?

While both aim to serve customers across channels, omnichannel focuses on consistency, while unified commerce emphasizes integration. It means data, inventory, and processes are unified, not just the customer-facing aspects. Instead of managing multiple systems and spreadsheets, unified commerce ensures all data is housed on a single platform, offering a centralized hub.

Work With Checkout Champ As Part of Your Unified Commerce Experience 

Unified commerce is much more than just a trend; it’s the future of retail and customer experience. This isn’t just about keeping up with cross-channel purchases; it’s about thriving in a competitive landscape. With a unified commerce solution, you will wonder how you ever survived when you were wasting resources spent managing multiple systems before.

You will be able to see where every dollar is spent, track your entire inventory in real time, and see data across multiple touchpoints. A unified commerce platform can revolutionize your business.