Among the most used words in recent years there are multichannel and omnichannel, in Italian or, more often, in English, multichannel and omnichannel. The reference is to the distribution and sale of clothing and accessories, but also of any other product that, before the digital revolution, we used to only buy in a physical space: neighborhood or large chain, which were joined by department stores (which in Italy for many years we have called department stores), outlets, hypermarkets, neighborhood markets and, in fashion, single-brand or multi-brand single-brand stores. Until the early 2000s, the physical channel almost absolutely dominated, with a handmaid, in some countries, catalog sales (which – oddities of microeconomic history – are experiencing a new youth: in Italy it is in Postalmarket relaunch phase, for example, but with a digitally revised model). Recall that the birth of Amazon dates back to 1994, but it took a few years for the site to become famous in America and abroad and above all for it to become a large online bazaar from an online bookstore.
The growth of the channels
With the internet, everything has changed and the channels have become two for consumers: physical and digital. For companies and brands, in reality, they have gone from two to three, because the physical channel for many had always been made up of two components: the stores with their own brand and almost always directly managed and those (multi-brand) that sell more than one brand (channel defined wholesale). Hence the need for neologisms omnicanalità: in order to be successful, over the last twenty years each brand has invested in both physical and virtual sales locations (which in turn soon split into single-brand and multi-brand online stores, more frequently defined platforms or marketplaces). Not only that: social networks, from a promotional, marketing and communication tool, are becoming something more and obviously there is a neologism for this too, social shoppingthat is, purchases almost directly from the social network, Instagram in the first place.
Communication also becomes hybrid
In fashion, the osmosis between online and offline also increasingly concerns showroom presentations, fashion shows, communication (in the photo above, the homepage of the Burberry website, one of the brands that have invested most in the “digital transition”). The ecosystem in which brands operate is becoming more and more complex (recently the metaverse has been added – and we will see what future will have), but like any self-respecting ecosystem, nothing inside it can be a sealed compartment.
Towards an interactive omnichannel
The real challenge isn’t having a strong presence in both real and digital universes. This has been understood in particular in recent years, also due to the surge in online purchases during lockdowns and the consequent surge of sales in brick-and-mortar stores as soon as they reopened. Online and offline don’t have to be parallel lines but, let’s say, different twins who somehow attract each other, learn from each other and often meet. In fact There are no longer any pure physical retailers or pure online retailers. The twins are overcoming any mutual distrust and almost every day there are news of agreements, initiatives, events, conceived in a logic of “interactive omnichannel” or proactive, to use another very common term, not beautiful, but effective. All in the name of the business, of course: it is clear that buying online is convenient and fast and that the assortment can be exponentially larger than that of the largest department store. But it is equally clear that nothing – as long as we live in our bodies and do not become holograms or NFTs – can replace a physical shopping experience.
From local (Melidé) to global (Farfetch.com)
In support of the trend towards interactive omnichannel, we cite a local and a global example. Mutatis mutandi, they tell us a similar story: having taken note of the different characteristics of online and offline, it is necessary (and also fun) recalibrate the weights of the two channels or give slightly different priorities, always with a view to extreme flexibility, as the two “black swans” of Covid and the war between Russia and Ukraine have taught us to be ready to do.