In the digital era, a retail strategy integrating physical and online channels is not a trend but a necessity. According to SHOPLINE data, over a quarter of its Hong Kong merchants are practicing O2O (online-to-offline) business models; as consumer behaviors have changed, O2O merchants have enjoyed up to 15 times higher average monthly order volume, and up to 8 times higher average monthly GMV than merchants deploying basic online store or advanced ecommerce solutions (Source: SHOPLINE data from 1 January to 11 August 2022), proving this integration is a winning element of a successful ecommerce business.
To empower even more merchants to seize the growing opportunities, global smart ecommerce enabler SHOPLINE today announced its latest OMO (Online-merge-Offline) solution. Utilising the upgrade to SHOPLINE’s O2O plan, merchants of all sizes are now able to effectively collect widespread data from business operations, logistics and transactions for more accurate processing, at the same time creating a more integrated shopping experience for customers, physically and digitally.
Stepping into the OMO era: an optimised omnichannel retail
According to the latest retail sales figures released by the Census and Statistics Department, the provisional estimate of online retail sales in the first half of 2022 increased by 24.0% YOY. SHOPLINE’s Hong Kong eCommerce Whitepaper 2022 also revealed that 86% of surveyed merchants believed an integrated O2O model provides a significant advantage for their retail business. Moreover, multiple releases of the electronic consumption vouchers have encouraged consumers to shop conveniently online or offline – making omnichannel retail an irreversible norm. SHOPLINE’s latest OMO solution is the last piece of the puzzle to merge data from various sources, allowing shoppers to discover, select, pay, and collect in whatever way they prefer, creating a customer-centred shopping experience and boosting purchases. Meanwhile, merchants are able to comprehensively analyse data from multiple channels to grasp the full picture of their business, helping them to optimise operations and marketing strategies and unleash the full potential of omnichannel retail.
Nick Gao, General Manager at SHOPLINE Hong Kong, said: “The number of O2O merchants in Hong Kong doubled YoY in Q1 2022 2 and we’ve seen steady growth MoM in the first half of this year, reflecting a high demand for diversified online and offline sales models. O2O is proven to be successful, as merchants who have upgraded to the SHOPLINE O2O plan have experienced a 230% growth in average monthly sales. Through an integration of sales and data analytics across multiple platforms, merchants are able to make more accurate business decisions and boost their competitiveness. With this in mind, SHOPLINE is leading merchants to the next generation of omnichannel commerce by advancing our O2O solution into OMO, empowering them to succeed with true integration of data from all channels.”
Gao continued: “With the newly launched solution, SHOPLINE is on a mission to democratise omnichannel commerce as we lower the threshold for data technology in the OMO model, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes – no matter if it’s a small business or a mature corporation, it can receive full support from the SHOPLINE platform to truly reap the benefits of OMO.”
The new Omnichannel Commerce solution entails 6 key features for merchants to bring the best experience to customers in the OMO era:
- Multi-channel Inventory Management: Customers can check stock availability in physical stores when they order online, so that they can choose to buy online and pick up offline.
- Membership records synchronised across online and offline sales points: Earned membership points and store credits are updated real-time online and in store, so that customers can choose to redeem wherever they make their purchases.
- One-stop Payment Management with SHOPLINE Payments: New SHOPLINE Payments POS for physical stores is compatible with credit card terminals, streamlining the payment process for customers; all transactions are automatically updated on a single back-end data platform, minimising human errors.
- Smart OMO: Merchants can recommend products to customers when they are in physical stores based on their purchase history online. If the customers can’t make a decision at the store, store staff can send them a product recommendation link via SMS so that they can make the purchase online at their convenience.
- All-in-one Message Centre: Popular social media channels including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and LINE are combined in one place, so that merchants can easily respond to customer enquiries via their smartphones or desktops. WhatsApp Application Programming Interface (API) integration supporting automated responses will also be launched soon.
- Social Commerce & Chat Commerce: Beyond responding to customer enquiries; merchants can send a link to check out via the chat box so that customers can leapfrog the multi-step purchase process and complete the transaction.
Subscribe now to the All-in-one solution for less than HKD 2,000 per month to enjoy the OMO experience; existing users of the All-in-one solution will also enjoy the new features without having to pay extra.
Visit SHOPLINE’s official website for more information about the OMO as well as other online business solutions, or contact a SHOPLINE consultant for a 30-minute store opening consultation for free.
- Official website: https://shopline.hk/en/
- Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShopLineApp/
