Overcoming Global Omnichannel Challenges With Technology And Culture

By Branden Jenkins, General Manager of Retail at NetSuite

Customers are indifferent to the complexities of establishing an omnichannel business. They expect and demand equal service across all touchpoints and channels such as in-store, web, mobile, tablet and call center regardless of how difficult that may be on a retailer. Indeed, only few retailers claim they have a consistent, seamless experience across all channels. The challenges of building an omnichannel business only multiply when applied to a global organization—when multiple languages, currencies, and taxation standards come into play. Fortunately, the best practices for modernizing a domestic business based on omnichannel principles also provide the most friction-free path to global harmony.

Visibility is the essential building block for omnichannel success, and requires seamless alignment of inventory, customer relationship management (CRM), and order management. The painful lessons learned by companies that tried to build multinational strategies with years-long data integration projects costing millions of dollars still resonate. Successful brands are those that are able to complete global omnichannel rollouts in a matter of months and at a fraction of the cost by adopting business practices designed around a single, unified business solution.

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