Guide
Omnichannel shopping
How to use an omnichannel retail strategy to reach relevant audiences
Omnichannel retail unifies physical and digital commerce, enabling customers to move seamlessly between touchpoints—from mobile browsing to streaming engagement to purchase—while brands deliver consistent experiences across every interaction.
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What is omnichannel retail?
Omnichannel retail is an integrated approach to commerce that connects physical and digital shopping channels to create seamless customer experiences. Rather than treating online and in-store as separate entities, omnichannel retail recognizes that modern consumers move fluidly between touchpoints—researching products on mobile devices, engaging with brands through streaming content, and completing purchases wherever is most convenient.
What is omnichannel shopping?
Omnichannel shopping is the modern consumer behavior pattern where people move fluidly between physical and digital touchpoints throughout their shopping journey, expecting consistent experiences regardless of how they engage with brands.
Today’s consumers no longer follow linear paths to purchase, with Amazon Ads Beyond the Buy research finding that 75% of surveyed consumers think about shopping multiple times per week.1 Consumers are weaving discovery and consideration throughout their daily lives rather than during dedicated shopping trips. This constant-shopper mindset means audiences encounter brands across an expanding universe of touchpoints—from scrolling online to creator livestreams to interactive ads during their favorite shows—making integrated omnichannel marketing experiences essential for meeting customers where they are.
What is the difference between omnichannel and multichannel retail?
While both approaches involve multiple channels, omnichannel retail creates fully integrated experiences where all touchpoints work together seamlessly, whereas multichannel retail operates channels independently with separate strategies and systems.
With omnichannel, customers might discover a product through a streaming TV ad, research it on their mobile device, and complete the purchase in-store—with each interaction informed by the previous ones. Multichannel retail, by contrast, treats each channel as a distinct pathway without the interconnected insights and unified customer view that define true omnichannel experiences.
Why is omnichannel shopping important?
Omnichannel shopping reflects a fundamental shift in how consumers engage with brands, making it essential for marketers to understand and adapt their strategies accordingly. With consumers simultaneously considering multiple products at different stages across various channels, brands need omnichannel strategies to deliver relevant, consistent experiences that reflect how people actually shop today.
Key elements of omnichannel retail
Seamless channel transitions
Consumers expect to move effortlessly between physical and digital environments without friction, maintaining their shopping cart, preferences, and progress throughout their journey. Nearly 60% of global respondents from the Beyond the Buy research report feeling like they multitask more than they used to,2 and this always-on culture has fundamentally changed how they approach shopping.
Consistent brand experiences
Messaging and visual identity must remain uniform across all channels, ensuring customers receive cohesive brand experiences whether they're engaging while watching a show, listening to a podcast, browsing for relevant products online, or walking the aisles of a grocery store. When brands maintain consistency across touchpoints while integrating naturally into entertainment experiences, it can help build stronger connections with audiences. Nearly half of consumers noting that they view brands more positively when they appear in their favorite content.3
Integrated customer insights
Successful omnichannel shopping requires unified signals across touchpoints, enabling brands to understand the complete shopping journey and deliver tailored experiences based on comprehensive behavioral insights. According to the Beyond the Buy research, 89% of surveyed consumers rely on tailored recommendations or ads,4 with many citing that relevance as key to improving shopping satisfaction.
Benefits of omnichannel retail
Enhanced customer convenience
Omnichannel retail makes shopping easier by allowing customers to engage on their preferred channels and complete purchases wherever is most convenient, reducing friction throughout the journey.
Increased customer satisfaction
The Beyond the Buy research shows that 44% of consumers find shopping more enjoyable than 3–4 years ago, with improvements in ease of shopping (33%), tailored recommendations (29%), and product discovery (39%),5 which can all be enabled by omnichannel approaches.
Improved brand metrics
An Amazon Ads meta-analysis of over 3,000 Amazon Brand Lift studies revealed that combining Amazon DSP display with video ads—including both streaming TV and online video formats—results in a 2.2x higher brand awareness lift compared to using video ads alone.6 These findings demonstrate that coordinated multi-channel strategies can deliver stronger results than single-channel approaches, reinforcing why brands need integrated omnichannel experiences to maximize their marketing impact.
Omnichannel shopping trends and research
Convergence of entertainment and commerce
Half (50%) of consumers view entertainment as part of their shopping experience, while 72% take consideration actions while engaging with entertainment content7—pausing shows to research products, screenshotting items, or adding products to carts directly from streaming experiences.
Technology adoption acceleration
93% of consumers use modern shopping technologies including tailored recommendations (89%), interactive ads (79%), AI shopping tools (70%), and livestream shopping (58%),8 demonstrating widespread embrace of innovations that make omnichannel experiences more seamless.
How to create an omnichannel marketing strategy
Creating an effective omnichannel strategy requires understanding how consumers move between touchpoints throughout their shopping journey. With 75% of consumers thinking about shopping multiple times per week and 72% taking consideration actions while engaging with entertainment content,9 brands need coordinated approaches that deliver consistent, relevant experiences across all channels. The following steps outline how to build an omnichannel strategy that meets customers where they are.
1. Map the customer journey
Understand the customer journey and how your customers discover, consider, and purchase products across physical and digital touchpoints. Use this insights-driven approach to identify key moments where integrated experiences can reduce friction and drive conversion, recognizing that modern shoppers move fluidly between channels rather than following linear paths.
2. Unify insights and create consistent experiences
Implement systems that connect customer interactions across all touchpoints, creating a single view that enables tailored experiences and consistent messaging. Ensure your brand identity and overarching messaging remain uniform whether customers engage through streaming ads, mobile apps, or in-store interactions, while leveraging technology to make shopping easier, faster, and more discoverable.
Omnichannel examples with Amazon Ads
Case Study
Tinuiti helped Poppi, a US-based prebiotic soda brand, leverage Amazon Marketing Cloud to explore audience insights and conduct omnichannel analysis measuring the impact of Amazon Ads across brand consideration, conversion, and customer loyalty. AMC analysis revealed that combining streaming TV ads, online video ads, display ads, and Sponsored Products drove the highest engagement rates, with a full-funnel approach achieving the best conversion rates. Within six months, Poppi achieved a 16x increase in new-to-brand customers (with 34% of Q1 2022 ad-attributed sales from new buyers), a 54% increase in Subscribe & Save subscriptions, and a 12x increase in conversions at Whole Foods Market month-over-month.
Case Study
NESCAFÉ launched a full-funnel campaign during Amazon Prime Day 2025 that seamlessly connected streaming entertainment with interactive shopping capabilities, leveraging Prime Video streaming ads with QR codes directing customers to an interactive NESCAFÉ Espresso Concentrate Brand Store featuring recipe "hacks." The campaign was amplified through the Amazon Influence Program with creators and supported by Amazon Marketing Cloud and Amazon DSP for tailored reach across multiple touchpoints. Results included reaching 3.2 million unique viewers and a 20.7% increase in brand consideration among coffee shoppers.
Case Study
Fizz Mobile, a Canadian telecom challenger brand, collaborated with Amazon Ads to build brand awareness among millennial and Gen Z gamers through an omnichannel campaign advertising alongside the Canadian premiere of Fallout on Prime Video, complemented by IMDb and Twitch placements. The five-week campaign included pre-roll, bumper, and flex ads, followed by display remarketing to engaged audiences, creating a seamless experience across entertainment and advertising touchpoints. The campaign achieved 37 million impressions with a reach of 3.5 million viewers, a 21% lift in brand awareness, and a 25% lift in ad recall.
Case Study
Church & Dwight and their agency Wavemaker launched a full-funnel "couch-to-cart" campaign for TheraBreath that utilized Prime Video, online video, display, and search ads combined with Amazon Marketing Cloud to identify and reach custom audiences. Sequential messaging blended upper-funnel awareness tactics with lower-funnel conversion strategies, creating seamless transitions from discovery to purchase across multiple touchpoints. The campaign delivered a 30% increase in brand awareness versus non-exposed audiences, 37% increase in new-to-brand customers year-over-year, 32% growth in new-to-brand sales, 38% increase in units sold, 50% growth in customer base, and 44% increase in dollar sales.
Solutions from Amazon Ads
Amazon Ads provides comprehensive solutions that help brands create effective omnichannel shopping experiences. Our ad solutions can help you reach shoppers at key moments with engaging campaigns for businesses of any size and budget.
Amazon Marketing Cloud is a secure, privacy-safe, and cloud-based clean room solution in which advertisers can easily perform analytics and build audiences across pseudonymized signals, including Amazon Ads signals as well as their own inputs.
Show up alongside the content your audiences love with full-screen, non-skippable video ads appear before, during, or after video content on channels like Prime Video, Twitch, live sports, Fire TV Channels, and top third-party TV publishers and broadcasters.
Amazon sponsored ads help advertisers of all sizes create brand affinity, increase sales, and stand out to shoppers both on and off Amazon. Featured solutions include Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and sponsored products across retailers (powered by Amazon Retail Ad Service).
Omnichannel Metrics (OCM) help create a unified view of your campaigns to measure impact across upper-, mid-, and lower-funnel strategies and tactics, while campaigns are still mid-flight.
FAQs
An omnichannel experience is the seamless, integrated interaction consumers have with a brand across touchpoints. Rather than treating each channel separately, an omnichannel experience ensures customers can move effortlessly between touchpoints while maintaining their preferences, shopping cart, and progress throughout their journey.
The four C's of omnichannel are consistency (uniform brand experiences across all channels), convenience (seamless transitions between touchpoints), customization (tailored experiences based on signals), and connection (integrated systems that create a unified view of the customer journey). These principles ensure brands deliver cohesive experiences that meet the expectations of modern consumers.
An omnichannel goal is to create seamless, integrated shopping experiences that meet customers wherever they are in their journey, whether discovering products through streaming content, researching on mobile devices, or purchasing in physical stores. The ultimate objective is to remove friction between channels while delivering consistent experiences that help drive engagement, satisfaction, and conversion across all touchpoints.
If you have limited experience, contact us to request services managed by Amazon Ads. Budget minimums apply.
Additional resources
Sources
1-5 Amazon Ads custom research with Strat7 Crowd.DNA. Beyond the Buy. Fielded March 2025 to July 2025. Data reflects AU, BR, CA, DE, ES, FR, IT, JP, MX, U.K., and U.S. aggregated. N=14,000.
6 Amazon internal, US, CA, UK, FR, DE, 2022-2024.
7-9 Amazon Ads custom research with Strat7 Crowd.DNA. Beyond the Buy. Fielded March 2025 to July 2025. Data reflects AU, BR, CA, DE, ES, FR, IT, JP, MX, U.K., and U.S. aggregated. N=14,000.