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It’s no secret that customers want to shop whenever, wherever. Whether it’s in a brick-and-mortar store, on an online website, or through a social media channel, customers crave more shopping channels throughout their shopping journey. But adding more channels doesn’t necessarily mean more work. With the right tools and solutions, it can be an intuitive process that ultimately leads to more sales for your retail business. According to the 2023 Square Future of Commerce report, 79% of consumers are making purchases directly from their mobile devices, and retailers are seeing 27% of revenue come from mobile sales.
For home decor stores, creating more shopping channels and options — key components to an omnichannel strategy — can help make shopping for big purchases like beds or dressers seamless for customers, solve for issues such as shipping costs, and open your store up to an entirely new audience.
Powerful POS systems such as Square for Retail allow you to build an omnichannel retail strategy by selling online, in-store, and on social media, with the ability to offer in-store pickup and shipping.
What is an omnichannel retail strategy?
An omnichannel retail strategy combines sales and customer service, online and in person, to give customers an integrated shopping experience wherever they are, whenever they want to shop.
For home decor stores, shipping can be a challenge when it comes to online sales. While it is vital to get items to customers in a timely fashion, the logistics can sometimes be a little daunting. For example, you have to consider how to price and ship large items (from weight to size to distance), find boxes and shipping materials, and have a plan for returns or exchanges. Then there are all kinds of other considerations with items specific to home decor. Natural floral decor, for example, can be very light but fragile to transport. Furniture items might require transit shipping rather than traditional carriers. As you sort through shipping logistics, you may find that the sales ratio works for higher-dollar items, but not for lower-priced ones.
However you decide to manage your shipping logistics, an omnichannel strategy creates a unified link with your inventory across sales channels creating a positive customer experience — online, in-store, or both. So whether your customers decide to have their purchases delivered or pick them up in-store, they’ll always know what’s available.
Benefits of an omnichannel strategy for your home decor store
An omnichannel strategy creates more opportunities for customers — new and old — to find and interact with your business, hopefully leading to an increase in sales and revenue.
With sales happening across a range of channels, it becomes easier to understand exactly who your customers are based on their shopping habits. For example, an omnichannel strategy might show you that your customers prefer to shop on the app or they tend to spend more money shopping on the website. Findings like these can help you make better business decisions, such as how to manage your loyalty program, to keep customers engaged with your store.
Finally, you can create greater customer satisfaction by stocking trending or popular items, allowing customers to browse and shop online and pick up items in person, creating the opportunity to cross-sell. All of this can help you generate more sales of products that people want to buy that are available, from furniture to lighting to artwork.
Actionable tips to implement an effective omnichannel strategy for your home decor store
If you haven’t considered an omnichannel retail strategy before, now is the time. Tools such as Square for Retail make connecting store and online sales easier than ever with a single system to manage sales from start to finish, with a unified customer and employee experience.
Make the most of your omnichannel strategy with these actionable tips to ensure your online sales channel is designed to sell:
1. Get social. Expand your capabilities across social and online channels. Square for Retail integrations with Meta makes selling on these platforms part of your system, connecting with inventory and reports. For platforms like Twitter and TikTok, place your website link in your bio and promote the available shopping channels so your messaging is consistent. Remember to also expand your online sales channels beyond your website on marketplaces specific for home decor, such as specialized Facebook Marketplace groups and niche sites like 1stdibs and Bonanza.
2. Revisit your website. Ensure your website is user-friendly and optimized for mobile shopping to make the experience seamless for customers. Square Online has several dynamic styling and editing tools — all featuring a mobile-first design that does a lot of the work for you. It also syncs your Instagram feed to your homepage so that you have more than one way to hook a customer on a new product.
3. Create flexibility. Consider curbside pickup or local delivery. Set up in-house delivery with Square Online and use available delivery windows and include the charges that apply. Consider shipping smaller items that are easier to manage, and use integrated shipping labels to make it faster to fulfill your orders. To make fulfilling orders for pickup, delivery, or shipping easier, assign these tasks to your staff with an order manager in the POS. Train staff to use Orders and customer history in the POS — his can present a great opportunity to upsell a customer when they come in to pick up an online order.
4. Prepare your team. Educate your staff on how to interact with customers online to answer product questions. From an Instagram direct message to a message via email, be sure your staff covers all of the available bases in a timely manner with the correct information. Square Messages allows team members to chat with customers straight from the Square for Retail app, and they can even send payment links to shorten the sales cycle.
5. Rethink the store experience. In the same way that you would prepare staff to answer questions online, ensure that your staff is knowledgeable about your products in-store and can walk customers through the shopping channels available to them. Consider offering in-store Wi-Fi for customers so they can learn more about your products while in your location. This can help instill trust in you as a seller. If you do this, make sure to include a lot more specifics about your products on the website, such as dimensions, style descriptions, and stock levels.
6. Don’t skimp on the photos. For customers shopping online or on social channels, images are gold and can often be the deciding factor in a sale. The Square Photo Studio App can help you take high-quality photos and remove the background to help your items stand out to customers. Quality photos can also make a difference for tools such as Google Product Listings. When a customer searches an item and scrolls through a list of options, put your best foot forward from the moment they discover you with pictures that make your products shine.
If you’re considering an omnichannel strategy for your home decor business, Square for Retail is packed with features to manage all of your sales needs in person and online. The point-of-sale system syncs with your online store, counts stock and manages inventory, and integrates with marketing for a smooth selling experience. Get started for free.
