The pandemic flipped retail on its head with many brands turning 100% eCommerce within a matter of weeks. But as we are now finding our feet again, retail has become an incredibly exciting space. You could argue it is filled with uncertainty, but it is a time to capture this new demand in online to offline commerce with the help of live video shopping.
By the end of this article, you’ll understand what O2O commerce is and what a customer journey looks like with the integration of live video shopping.
What is O2O commerce?
O2O (online to offline) is a strategy that converts potential online customers to purchase inside physical stores. In the past, the two channels were kept separate.
If an online customer interacted with digital touchpoints, then any campaign would be tailored to convert the online customer through its online channels. For example, converting traffic from social media channels to purchase on your eCommerce store.
For physical, any instore shoppers would receive instore customer service to increase brick-and-mortar sales.
Think of it as online and offline being siblings rather than long-distance cousins – it is a fantastic partnership to unify sales channels to deliver great shopping experiences.
For a more comprehensive guide on O2O – we wrote an awesome guide on o2o strategy. Otherwise, if you are strictly eCommerce, then our article on video commerce will be much more helpful
What O2O commerce looks like with live video shopping
Live video shopping replicates in-store interactions, virtually.. It happens online and calls initiate when customers interact with digital touchpoints. It’s an effective tool to capture customers who are researching and having a nose around a product. After all 87% of shoppers research products online before making a purchase.
Many brands are now bringing their retail experts to the front of digital touchpoints to help navigate through the website. It is also an opportunity to deliver personable experiences online too. This is achieved through live video shopping and can successfully begin the customer journey.
To visualise the customer journey, here is an overview of live video shopping supporting O2O commerce.
Local Matching
Online experience
Do you have multiple stores across different locations? Confer With uses geographical based routing which connects customers to experts closest to them. This means, once a relationship starts to form, the customer can enter its local store to meet the trusted advisor.
Offline experience
The expert is empowered with valuable insights from the live video calls and can tailor the in-store experience. This is carefully managed using appointment booking software such as Calendly, Appointedd and Quidini. This ensures the expert has full control over the customer journey and there is clear communication throughout.
Engage
Online experience
From the moment a customer connects with a virtual expert, either through walk-ins or appointments, the engagement starts. With the power of video, it creates a natural dialogue as it would instore, where needs are understood. It’s from there the expert can begin to tailor the experience unique to the customer.
Offline experience
Perhaps the customer wants to know what you have in-store or needs to know the tech specs before visiting. Regardless of the outcome, your brand can seamlessly arrange follow up appointments in a local branch.
Immerse
Online experience
By facilitating Confer With calls, the expert can immerse the customer in a number of ways. Sharing product specs, images and videos. This is also geared up by our powerful search function. Wave goodbye to awkward silences and search in a matter of seconds to find a suitable product.
Offline experience
Similar to engage, customers can engage with the expert and products via a video call. And for obvious reasons, the customer may want to touch and feel the product in-store. The power of engage means instead of a customer entering your store in the dark, they are well informed on the decisions they are about to make.
Convert
Online experience
In a strictly eCommerce setting, we encourage conversions by the use of our virtual shared basket. The customer and expert can add and remove items. The customer makes the final move by pushing all items to the checkout on your page.
Offline experience
But of course, O2O is about unifying the channels, where the conversions happen in-store. Instead, the online experience acts as an attribute to the conversion. To ensure the expert is well equipped before the customer purchases. The basket overview can be sent via email to the expert. From there, the customer can enter and the expert can readily be prepared.
Final word
It’s an incredibly exciting time for retail. eCommerce sales are growing and although uncertain, physical retail has an opportunity to capture this new demand for meaningful shopping experiences.
If you wish to find out more on how O2O can work for you – let’s chat today.
Book a time in our calendar that suits you best, right here.
