Omnichannel commerce benefits businesses, but the next retail evolution promises even greater results. Unified commerce is an integrated approach to retail that consolidates all sales channels—both online and offline—into a single, cohesive system.
What is unified commerce?
At its core, unified commerce is a connection between the front-end systems customers interact with and the back-end operations that drive the business. This approach makes it possible for today’s retail organizations to put their customers in charge. Rather than the retailer pushing customers through defined shopping channels, customers can drive their own experiences according to their preferences. In addition to elevating the customer experience, a unified commerce strategy can provide business leaders with more robust data that helps provide a fuller view of the customer, including product views, cart additions, inventory placement and more. This stronger connection between front-end and back-end systems can drive greater satisfaction for all participants in a transaction.
Unified commerce vs. omnichannel commerce: What’s the difference?
Omnichannel commerce
Brand centricity: Omnichannel commerce can help provide a more cohesive experience from the consumer's perspective, ensuring consistent brand presence across various digital touchpoints linked to a particular brand.
Data gathering: Retail organizations can collect consumer data across channels to offer personalized experiences and recommendations with omnichannel commerce platforms.
Potential gaps: In an omnichannel setting, there may still be gaps in the customer experience. One example is inconsistencies in cart contents from one platform to another within the same retailer, which can introduce friction and frustration to the customer journey.
Unified commerce
Customer centricity: Where omnichannel is built around the brand, unified commerce puts the customer at the center, focusing on delivering a cohesive front-end experience that easily integrates with back-end operations.
Consistent information: Product information, content, and experiences are more likely to remain consistent across all touchpoints of the customer journey.
An integrated platform: With unified commerce, a single, interconnected platform can coordinate inventory management, order management, and merchandise planning, which can help to reduce the risk of items going out of stock and inconsistencies in the customer experience.
Key advantages of unified commerce
Front-end cohesion
Unified commerce delivers consistent data across physical and digital touchpoints, providing the same product information and content regardless of setting. It also delivers better inventory accuracy. In a unified commerce environment, customers can trust that if the products they want are shown to be in stock, they will be—which can reduce frustration and cut down on abandoned sales.
Back-end harmony
What customers can’t see still influences their experiences with a retail organization. Because unified commerce clarifies cross-channel insights into demand and behavior, organizations can bring more informed decision-making to inventory management. This allows them to plan future offerings and promotions with more precision. The reduced friction in a unified system also allows inventory and sales data to flow between systems and channels more efficiently, leading to more timely, accurate offers and more personalized experiences for consumers.
Looking ahead
To learn more about how unified commerce is quickly becoming the future of retail—and how you can implement it effectively for your retail organization—download our latest unified commerce perspective, “Unified commerce: Transforming the retail landscape.”
Unified commerce is more than catching up—it’s a step ahead. The ability to integrate customer needs with retail operations in a comprehensive way is transforming the retail landscape, and businesses that embrace it can find themselves transformed as well. Explore our full perspective and reach out anytime to kick off a conversation with our leaders about how Deloitte Digital can bring unified commerce to your retail organization.
About the authors
Kelly Moran is a managing director at Deloitte Digital. She is a senior technology executive with over 17 years experience working in traditional consultancies and digital agencies. Quick to build strong relationships with clients, Kelly is a trusted advisor to business, marketing, and technology executives looking to leverage technology platforms to build and manage engaging relationships with customers through digital channels. Her experience spans many industries including CPG, retail, B2B, travel and hospitality, manufacturing, financial services, and publishing. Her current focus is on enterprise content management and e-commerce.
Pooja Warudkar is a senior manager at Deloitte Digital, focusing on the consumer industry. With over a decade of experience driving digital transformation across global retail, consumer, and industrial organizations, she has established a reputation for delivering innovative technology solutions that enable business growth, operational efficiency, and superior customer experiences. Her career spans a diverse set of industries—including retail, consumer packaged goods, hospitality, automotive, and energy—where she has successfully led complex, high-impact projects from strategy through execution.
