5 Omnichannel Experiences: Examples From Awesome Brands

December 16, 2022

5 Top Omnichannel Experience omnichannel experience

Today’s path to purchase is anything but linear. Online channels or touch points blend; and shoppers interact with more than a single channel throughout their journey.

A seamless omnichannel retail strategy allows shoppers to hop from channel to channel smoothly. For example: your shopper might view a product on TikTok, visit your website, receive a coupon over email, and get a push notification on their mobile device via your store’s dedicated mobile app when the purchase is ready for pickup in store.

Your preferences as a shopper are anticipated and integrated into that journey in a way that reduces the friction.

Customer journey aside, here you can browse five of the best omnichannel experience examples we could find from top brands.

In each, we focus on what makes the omnichannel customer experience particularly remarkable for the shopper from a “pick up where you left off” perspective—no matter the channel.

The top omnichannel retailers we’ll explore include:

  1. Neiman Marcus
  2. Apple
  3. MOSH
  4. Warby Parker
  5. Magnolia Bakery

Let’s look at what each is doing that you might replicate with your own scaling brand.

1. Neiman Marcus

Channels used:

  • Geolocation on owned ecommerce channel
  • Brick-and-mortar stores
  • Mobile app

Neiman Marcus, the designer clothing retailer, won the IRT Retailer Innovation Award after spending $200 billion perfecting its omnichannel strategy.

The brand captures customer data and feeds it through to several channels to provide personalized product recommendations that encourage shoppers to continue buying.

  • Neiman Marcus’ website uses geographic information to track where a customer is browsing from. Shoppers are routed towards their nearest store and prompted local events happening in their area.
  • Plus, Neiman Marcus’ online store, importantly, remembers a customer’s preferences. Be it the clothing size or previous search, the brand consistently collects real-time data to build accurate personas and profiles. The information is used to showcase available products in their nearest store, taking shoppers from online to offline.

This 360 degree view of the customer via data is particularly useful to this omnichannel example:

“All areas of the business are analytics-based—it’s part of our DNA.” —Hongpei Zhan, Vice President of Customer Insights and Advanced Analytics at Neiman Marcus (via Business of Fashion)

Neiman Marcus Omnichannel Experience 1 omnichannel experience

  • Once shoppers visit a Neiman store, they have the opportunity to charge their mobile device using a complementary ChargeItSpot charging station. According to IRT, the offering has doubled customer dwell time, allowed Neiman Marcus to collect customer email addresses, and lifted consumer spend by 29%.
  • And, to top it off: while customers are interacting with their phones pre- or post-charging, they can download the brand’s mobile app. Shoppers can see product recommendations inspired by previous purchases, shop for new items that complement the items they already have.

As the final piece to its omnichannel experience, Neiman Marcus introduced “Memory Mirrors” into its stores. Shoppers can record a 360-view of themselves wearing the clothes they’ve found in-store, and save it to the Neiman Marcus app to purchase later.

Overall, a terrific omnichannel retailing example you can work to incorporate elements of—especially insofar as how the brand employs both data and mobile-app technology in integrated ways. They’ve inspected the buyer journey (like how customers use in-store try-ons) to find ways to inspire subsequent, at-home online purchases, for example.

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2. Apple

Channels used:

  • Ecommerce geotargeting
  • Buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS)
  • Mobile app

Apple is a mega-retailer paving the way in omnichannel experiences—starting with its ecommerce channel.

When shoppers look for a nearby store online, Apple uses geotargeting to automatically populate photos, addresses, and opening times of its closest stores. A great way to facilitate seamless shopping between channels and keep the journey smooth:

Apple Store Omnichannel omnichannel experience

This same geotargeting functionality follows site visitors through to product pages. Regardless of the item they’re interested in, shoppers have two delivery options:

  1. Buy online, pick up in-store or curbside delivery (which, again, shows a customer their closest Apple store)
  2. Home delivery, with a predicted delivery date based on the shopper’s estimated zip code
Apple AirPods Omnichannel omnichannel experience
The added contextual information on this product page elevates the experience and facilitates that hop to in-store experience as needed.

If someone isn’t ready to purchase yet, Apple prompts adding the item to your virtual wishlist to return to it later. This link directs shoppers to sign in using Apple ID, where customers have already given Apple information about their previous purchases, subscriptions, and devices.

Shoppers who’ve chosen the in-person collection don’t have to queue on arrival at their closest Apple store. And, once here, customers can choose from a variety of in-store services, such as:

  • Trading in old devices for credit on their next order
  • Genius Bar appointments to repair an existing device
  • Classes that teach how to make the most out of your new product

If you offer buy online pick up in store options, how might you incorporate these add-on style services into the journey?

The best part? Apple continues to engage with shoppers through its dedicated mobile app, Apple Store. Customers see the status of their shipment, the devices they own, and personalized product recommendations based on their previous purchases—including the Apple devices they use.

Apple App Store Omnichannel omnichannel experience

Overall, Apple is a great omni channel retailer example that shows the recommendations possible once you have customer profiles setup, and the benefits of more sophisticated ways of using collected data for future product discovery.

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3. MOSH

Channels used:

  • Ecommerce website
  • Amazon
  • Social media
  • Email

MOSH is a consumer packaged goods (CPG) brand that sells protein bars online. Maria Shriver, Co-founder and CEO, says it focuses on omnichannel because with these types of experiences, “businesses [have] the opportunity to forgo the hard sell.”

“Instead, [brands] can focus on a seamless online sales channel, active social media engagement, brand experiences, and gathering customer feedback. And emphasizing your brand’s mission at each touchpoint enables people to engage with your brand on any device and channel without seeing a difference.” — Maria Shriver, Co-founder and CEO, MOSH

MOSH puts this into practice first on its website, where they explain the “brain-boosting benefits” of consuming its protein products. Customers also get exposed to the brand ethos: the brand donates a portion of profits to fund gender-based Alzheimer’s research.

mosh mission omnichannel experience

Alongside its DTC web channel, MOSH employs marketplace selling; distributing products on Amazon with the overarching goal of making it easier for shoppers to buy wherever they usually shop.

Note that:

  • The brand’s Amazon product descriptions match the site and contain detail. Like this one which reads, “Expertly crafted with nutritious, delicious clean-label ingredients, MOSH’S signature brain fuel blend was formulated by top doctors and functional nutritionists to support optimal brain health and features 7 vital brain nutrients and superfoods.”

mosh amazon omnichannel experience

MOSH promotes its Amazon storefront on social media channels like Facebook/Meta. This repurposed Reel, for example, encourages followers to gift a MOSH protein bar during the festive season, while nudging viewers to Amazon.

This here is what pushes this example into omnichannel experience vs. multi-channel territory: The Reel isn’t intended to be where the purchase is isolated to. It relies on or spurs interaction with the other channel, re: “just get it on Amazon.”

Top omnichannel retailers know that it’s this facilitation between channels—or how seamless you make the hop—is what separates the best omnichannel retailers.

mosh instagram reel omnichannel experience

As the final piece to this omnichannel experience example, MOSH uses email to encourage channel hopping. It has three calls to action—shop MOSH, SMS signup, and get in touch—to demonstrate how MOSH is accessible to anyone, anywhere.

mosh email footer omnichannel experience

As Maria summarizes on offering so many channels (including a marketplace):

“…With so many novelty brands popping up overnight, consumers crave the familiarity of a known experience. It helps people feel confident about what to expect when interacting with you. Familiarity breeds trust. And people turn to the brands they trust when making their purchasing decisions.”

4. Warby Parker

Channels used:

  • Mobile app
  • Brick-and-mortar stores
  • Online store

Warby Parker is one of the biggest DTC success stories out there. The eyewear retailer processes upwards of $534 million in consumer sales each year. Part of this success can be attributed to its omnichannel experience.

Its online store is the foundation for all online interactions. However, in an interview with PYMNTS, its Co-founder and CEO Neil Blumenthal shared:

“Our surveys show that the biggest barriers to purchase from Warby Parker include not having a store nearby, not being able to get an eye exam and not being viewed as a place that serves all of their vision care needs.”

To solve these challenges across every touchpoint the brand:

  • Once shoppers find the right prescription and a frame that suits their face, there are two options to continue a purchase journey: Warby Parker’s online store or one of 170+ physical retail locations across North America.

warby parker online store omnichannel experience

In this omnichannel example, Warby Parker solves its customers’ biggest challenges using multiple channels that bleed into one another (the intent isn’t to isolate your purchase to just the site or only the app).

You can sign in to your Warby Parker account and shop for your prescription, whether that’s on the app, on the site, and when taking the vision test.

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5. Magnolia Bakery

Channels used:

  • Ecommerce website
  • Physical retail
  • Social media storefronts

Magnolia Bakery is a shining example of how to blend online and offline customer experiences with omnichannel retail. The confectionary brand operates an owned web channel alongside a handful of physical retail locations across the US.

The bakery uses social storefronts to drive website traffic from social media. It operates Facebook and Instagram Shops, as well as rich Pins on Pinterest, to drive traffic to the website regardless of where a potential customer is browsing.

magnolia bakery facebook shop omnichannel experience

Site visitors are then prompted with two calls to action on product pages: nationwide delivery or local pickup. There’s even a navigation tab that filters products for their preferred omnichannel fulfillment option, such as:

  • Pickup in-store the same (or next) day
  • Advanced pickup
  • Home delivery

magnolia bakery bopis omnichannel experience

This seamless hop the brand facilitates from online to offline is on point.

Draw on these omnichannel experiences as inspo

As these omnichannel ecommerce examples demonstrate, providing seamless online to offline shopping to your customers is no longer a nice to have.

With mega brands and DTC operators leading the way, you need to be present in the shopping channels your potential customers are already using—be that an online store, physical retail location, live commerce platform, mobile app, or social media storefront. Moreover, the sophisticated data behind the channels and what you do with it is key for the omnichannel customer experience to feel especially worthwhile.

Above all, the channels need to jive together. That’s where the magic happens. One seamless message as you jump from touchpoint to touchpoint. Where you’re recognized as a shopper already, and your details or preferences follow you as you shop.

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Elise Dopson

Elise Dopson is a freelance writer for B2B commerce and martech companies. When she's not writing, you'll find her in the Peak Freelance community or on Twitter.

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