Retail has a history of change induced by technology. When the internet became mainstream back in the late 90s, retailers began to see the need for a website. But as online payment technology matures, a “brochure website” is no longer sufficient — retailers need to have an E-Commerce platform to grab a piece of that online pie. Fast forward to today’s “always on” society, retailers are now embracing social media and instant messaging as a channel to reach out and engage customers.

Over the same period of time, retailers’ backend operations are made more efficient with various software solutions, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and more.

As a retailer today, you are already part of this O2O evolution. The next step is to unify all of these components and channel them towards a common goal: selling.

Woo your customers online, sell offline. Or vice versa.

Today’s consumers are more discerning and well-informed. They will research a product online before purchasing it at the local store, or does the exact opposite by checking out a product at the store first before purchasing it online. Hence, retailers shouldn’t see online and offline customers as two separate demographics, but as one single entity.

Your online and offline operations can no longer afford to exist in silos — they must work together to address the same crowd. That’s the essence of O2O, an acronym for Online to Offline to describe the model of using an online presence to drive offline sales. It can also be interpreted the other way round, Offline to Online.

O2O can be realized in multiple ways. In one model, retailers can provide e-coupons for a discount to be redeemed at the store. In another model, retailers can secure a transaction online for a service to be completed at the physical store, like how the cinema reservation system works. The possibilities are endless if you have the right foundation in place to enable them.

Closing the loop with fully-integrated solutions

Selling has always been about relationships, built over time through multiple touchpoints — from online interactions to in-store experiences. Your customers’ shopping experience can begin anywhere in the online to offline spectrum. The key is to have the infrastructures in place to close the loop.

At Cxrus Solutions, we provide an end-to-end solution to help you embrace O2O. Among our services are a fully-integrated E-Commerce solution that supports data exchange with your backend systems, and a video analytics solution that offers comprehensive and actionable analytics for your brick-and-mortar stores.

Contact us at sales@cxrus.com to find out how we can take your retail operations to the next level.