Ecommerce is thriving, but the brick-and-mortar store isn’t going anywhere just yet. Even if you started your business online or have a physical store, creating an omnichannel retail strategy is the key to success.
As of 2025, 81% of U.S. consumers shop online, with 34–41% making purchases weekly, and 71% of global shoppers believe they get better deals online. That said, physical stores still dominate, generating 84% of U.S. retail sales in Q1 2025—equal to $1.46 trillion. Globally, brick-and-mortar still accounts for over 80% of retail revenue.
The data is clear: retailers need to meet consumers where they are—both online and in-store to stay competitive and capture the full spectrum of demand.
The future of retail isn’t about choosing between online and offline—it’s about integrating both. Consumers are active across channels, expecting convenience, value, and flexibility. By combining the strengths of brick-and-mortar with the reach and accessibility of ecommerce, businesses can build a truly resilient and scalable retail strategy. In today’s landscape, a unified approach isn’t just an advantage—it’s a necessity.
This article will explore creative ways to build a seamless connection between your online and brick-and-mortar presence. Whether you’re taking your physical store online or bringing your ecommerce brand into the real world, these unconventional strategies will spark curiosity, boost engagement, and help your business stand out in a crowded market.
Unified Commerce vs. Omnichannel: What is the difference?
Omnichannel retail focuses on delivering a consistent customer experience across all channels, while unified commerce brings those channels together on a single platform. At the end of the day, it’s less about the terminology and more about how you operate. Focus on having accurate, real-time data—like stock levels, pricing, and customer info—and let that guide your strategy.
Step One: Set the Stage for Omnichannel Retail Success
Before you launch creative strategies to blend online and offline retail, you need to get the basics right. Whether you’re expanding from online to offline or vice versa, building solid infrastructure on both sides is essential.
How to Take Your Store Online for Omnichannel Retail Success
Even if your business is already thriving, taking it online helps expand your reach and meet customer expectations. Here’s what every online store needs:
Domain name – Your website’s name and URL (e.g. yourbrand.com). Keep it short, relevant, and easy to remember.
Web host – A service that makes your site accessible online.
Website builder – Helps you design your site. Options range from beginner-friendly tools to more advanced platforms.
Shopping cart software – Enables customers to add items to their cart and check out.
Payment gateway – Lets you securely process credit card payments online.
You don’t need to buy all of these separately. Platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento offer all-in-one solutions with inventory, order, and return management built in.
Once the fundamentals are in place, you can move toward creative strategies that set your brand apart.
How to Expand into a Physical Store for Omnichannel Retail Success
If you’re starting online and looking to build a brick-and-mortar presence, here’s how to set up a store that complements your digital business:
Choose the right location – Look for areas with high foot traffic and easy access to your target audience.
Take care of legal requirements – Register your business, get licenses and permits, and comply with local regulations.
Design a functional, on-brand layout – Create a physical space that’s not just shoppable, but also consistent with your online brand experience.
Set up POS and inventory systems – Utilize tools like Shopify POS to synchronize online and offline sales and stock in real-time.
Hire and train the right people – Staff should understand your products, your digital experience, and how to assist customers across channels.
Promote locally – Utilize local SEO, host events, and collaborate with nearby businesses to increase awareness and drive traffic.
Step Two: Unify Your Customer Experience Online and Offline
Creative strategies for expanding your reach and strengthening your customer connection—no matter where your brand started.
1. Turn Your Brick & Mortar Store into a Multipurpose Place
Nowadays, many shoppers engage in webrooming when it comes to brick-and-mortar shopping. Webrooming refers to researching products online before purchasing them in a physical store, while showrooming is the opposite—exploring items in-store and buying them online.
Both behaviors are now common, and your retail strategy should take each into account. Online shopping offers convenience, while physical stores allow customers to touch, test, and experience products. To meet expectations, you can use your brick-and-mortar location as a showroom while enabling purchases online, or offer in-store pickup for online orders—ensuring your business supports customers however they choose to shop.
This concept presents numerous opportunities that can drive sales. Instead of having shelves occupy space, you can dedicate certain areas for interactive experiences. For example, you can set up a spot in your store where customers can test power tools, take selfies, or even play games.
Also, the Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store (BOPIS) method is now a baseline customer expectation. Offering in-store pickup—or even curbside pickup—bridges the gap between ecommerce convenience and local immediacy. It drives foot traffic to brick-and-mortar locations, reduces shipping costs, and shortens fulfillment time.
Your store sells experience instead of products, and the transactions happen seamlessly online.
2. Use Dynamic Pricing to increase Omnichannel Retail Success
Omnichannel retailers have a unique advantage: they operate in multiple environments with diverse customer behaviors and expectations. To stay competitive and maximize profit margins, applying dynamic pricing across both online and in-store channels is essential.
Dynamic pricing involves adjusting prices in real-time based on demand, inventory levels, competitor pricing, customer segments, and even location. While it’s commonly used in ecommerce, brick-and-mortar retailers can also benefit from it—especially when combined with digital tools.
Here’s how omnichannel businesses can use dynamic pricing effectively:
- Sync online and offline prices—but not always: While pricing consistency builds trust, it’s okay to offer channel-specific promotions. For example, exclusive in-store discounts can boost foot traffic, while flash sales online can help move excess stock.
- Leverage real-time competitor data: Utilize pricing tools like Prisync to track market changes and dynamically adjust prices across your channels.
- Integrate with your POS system: Ensure your point-of-sale software is connected to your pricing engine. This enables staff to offer real-time discounts or price matches in-store based on the same data your website uses.
Dynamic pricing isn’t just about making more money—it’s about staying responsive. In a highly competitive retail landscape, being able to react in real-time to changes in supply, demand, and competitor actions gives omnichannel businesses a strategic edge.
3. Accept Custom Orders Online and Offline
Around 4 in 10 shoppers are interested in personalized products, so enabling customers to place personalized orders can help you generate more sales. One way to achieve this is to sell all your merchandise in-store, while dedicating your website and store to custom orders.
Retailers such as Nike offer custom-made products online. Source: Calio.org
This strategy can be particularly effective during the holiday season, when there’s a surge in demand for personalized items for gift-giving.
Offer the following to help customers create their own custom products:
- A blank canvas (e.g. shirt, shoes, etc) that customers can personalize
- An assortment of colors and/or size options
- Materials to build the product around
- Images or designs to put on the product
Your customers can mix and match designs, materials, and colors to create an item that suits their preferences. NikeiD is a popular website where sneakerheads can create custom shoes. Build-A-Bear allows kids to build a personalized stuffed toy.
4. Launch A Make-Your-Own-Offer Site
You might be losing countless sales every day in your brick-and-mortar store if your shoppers think your prices are too high or can’t afford what you are charging. While prices posted in-store are final, you can be more flexible with online pricing. Have a website where customers can name their own price on certain merchandise. This can be instrumental in expanding your customer base.
Enable shoppers to bid on items like eBay. If the bid falls within a certain margin, the item is sold. Otherwise, the bid is sent to an administrator for approval, and those shoppers are notified if their offer is accepted. Many retailers attest that this strategy drives sales, especially if shoppers order multiple items. Websites like Greentoe and Heaven’s Gate Home and Garden have found success using this strategy.
To make a bid, sites require customers to provide their email addresses. That way, you can send follow-up updates and promotions as needed. Even if the strategy doesn’t generate tons of revenue, it turns your website into a lead-capturing machine.
5. Create A Sale Alert
Ninety-seven percent of shoppers try to find deals when they shop. Therefore, a landing page dedicated to alerting customers when their chosen item goes on sale is likely to attract a large number of visitors. Instead of selling directly, you can feature your products online. Shoppers can click on a product they like and receive a notification when the price drops. Then, they can find the nearest store location to purchase the item.
Create a landing page exclusive for sale alerts Source: ShopStyle.com
For this strategy to be effective, customers should not have to wait so long that they forget that they’ve signed up for a sale notification. Consider waiting for 10 – 20 people to sign up for an alert on a product, and then put it on sale. From there, you can conduct further testing to determine the optimal waiting time.
6. Run a Pre-Order Campaign
As a retailer, you place orders in advance with your suppliers, which means you already know what you’ll be selling weeks or months in advance. You can leverage this information by creating a page that allows customers to pre-order items you plan to sell in the future. Many customers enjoy the treasure hunt experience, and you can satisfy this by featuring products that are not yet available in-store.
The tech and gaming industries have been employing this strategy for years, and it appears to be effective.
To encourage customers to commit, consider offering incentives such as discount coupons that can be redeemed on their next visit. You can also offer a lower price for pre-orders, a strategy used and advertised by large ecommerce stores, including Amazon. Furthermore, you can add a feature that displays the number of users who have pre-ordered the same item. Demand creates a sense of urgency, encouraging shoppers to complete their purchases.
To top it all off, implementing a pre-order website is a relatively simple process. You only need a landing page or a one-page website for each product that goes on pre-order.
Bonus: Utilize Social Media for Unified Experience
In 2025, unifying your online and offline presence isn’t just important—it’s essential for delivering the seamless experiences customers now expect. While tools like Facebook Pages and blogs still matter, platforms like Instagram, TikTok Shop, and Pinterest have taken center stage with native checkout features, turning social media into true sales channels.
QR codes, consistent branding, and Google Business Profiles remain relevant, but today’s strategies also involve AI-powered personalization, geo-fencing to drive nearby shoppers into stores, and connected return systems that let customers start or complete purchases anywhere.
Conclusion
Whether your business started online or offline, the goal remains the same: to reach your customers wherever they are. A successful omnichannel retail strategy isn’t just about availability—it’s about consistency, convenience, and experience across every channel.
Don’t think of it as online vs. offline. Instead, aim to blur the line between them. Build a customer-first strategy. That’s how you win in today’s retail world—and tomorrow’s.
