why digital identity is key to omnichannel success in retail

As a retailer, you understand how critical it is to provide your customers with a trouble-free, secure, personalised, and time-saving shopping experience. Happy customers are loyal customers who are willing to stick with your brand and expand their purchasing decisions. This is true for both your online shop and your physical locations. And in today’s crowded retail landscape, you need as many loyal customers as possible to keep your revenue flowing and stand out from the competition.

The key to winning over loyal fans for your brand is to give them an omnichannel experience they won’t find anywhere else. That’s where digital identity management comes into play.

A seamless customer experience on all your channels

Customers nowadays don’t choose one retail channel to find what they’re looking for. They prefer to shop through a retailer’s ecosystem. They value speed and one-touch convenience, which translates to a seamless customer experience across online channels and in-store.

Companies, on the other hand, frequently struggle to offer that painless experience now that omnichannel has become the norm in retail. They lack the right technology to create a unified customer view that would help remove friction and add value to every single interaction customers have with their website, app, customer support centre or physical shop – all while ensuring data compliance.

McKinsey, however, notes,“Companies seeking to keep pace with industry leaders must embark on an omnichannel transformation—one that views touch points not in isolation but as part of a seamless customer journey.”

A robust CIAM solution gives customers a convenient, one-touch identification process that works across your channels, ensuring you can connect all moving parts of your customer journey. This way, you can guarantee a seamless customer experience, which will help you stay ahead of the competition.

Creating personalised interactions with your customers

Customers want to be known and recognised for the trust they show to brands. They expect to receive services and products tailored to their specific needs: offering favourite choices when logged in or receiving personalised rewards when they’ve shopped multiple times both in-store and online. And they want that to be done quickly.

Without the right identity management service, your ability to personalise your customers’ shopping experience remains limited. The right CIAM will enable you to create a single customer identity linked to all your retail channels - and store that identity along with your customer preferences in one central location. Thus, you’ll be able to identify your customers’ desires and personalise your communications and offers on the fly.

It will also help your customers access their account information, orders, payment details and other personal settings that can further their shopping with minimal complications.

All they have to do is tap their fingerprint on their mobile device to identify themselves in your app, for example. It is that simple.

Getting personalisation right is not a nice to have, it is a must. The stakes are high. According to PwC, nearly two-thirds of customers will never return to your shop after several bad experiences, and almost one in five will walk away after just one disappointment. Your personalisation efforts should be synchronised, thoughtful and backed up by technology. This is another good reason to explore using CIAM to personalise your customer experience.

Protecting your customers’ privacy

Convenience and personalisation are not the only topics on your omnichannel customers’ minds. Research by McKinsey found that 87% of consumers will not do business with a company if they have concerns about their data security. Plus, in the age of stricter data protection regulations like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), taking risks with your customers’ data protection can also bring serious legal consequences.

The key is offering solid digital identity management that enables your customers to navigate your channels safely. This also allows you to collect valuable data securely and ethically, so that you gain a coherent view of your customers’ preferences and behaviour. That helps you deliver the friction-free shopping experience that customers demand.

A trusted CIAM solution shows customers how much you care

Unlike your digital identity management strategy, no other aspect of your omnichannel business combines all these essential customer drivers—convenience, personalisation and security. In short, CIAM is the glue that holds your customer journey together. And that’s why it’s crucial to get it right.

You can think of digital identity as a kind of loyalty card. All your customer needs to do is show their card and immediately enjoy special treatment, no matter which of your locations they’re shopping out. And every customer loves feeling special and rewarded.

When you implement a trusted CIAM solution, you show how much you care about your customers’ needs. In return, you can expect to gain their trust and brand loyalty. That’s why identity-enabled retail is the future-proof solution for successfully growing your omnichannel business.

To learn more about how Thales OneWelcome’s CIAM platform has helped reputable retailers, like Rituals, develop a successful omnichannel strategy with a frictionless, secure customer experience, connect with us for an in-depth, no-obligation consultation.

about the author

With over 25 years of experience in enterprise software platform solutions, Martin Otten is instrumental in the success of Thales OneWelcome. Martin, a senior leader and an entrepreneur guides businesses in overcoming IT challenges and helps them convert business complexities into commercial value.

martin.otten@onewelcome.com

Martin Otten

VP Sales Domestic, OneWelcome

why digital identity is key to omnichannel success in retail

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