In today’s competitive landscape, franchise executives must stay ahead of the curve, delivering exceptional, yet familiar customer experiences and ensuring seamless operations across all locations. For those looking to further streamline and elevate operations, unified commerce is a game changer.
With a unified commerce solution, gaining visibility across all business systems, such as POS, eCommerce, order fulfilment, inventory management, CRM, ERP and – perhaps most importantly – payments. This interconnected network allows real-time communication across all channels, sites and touchpoints, creating a cohesive and seamless operation.
Chris Hicks, chief revenue officer at Till Payments – a Nuvei company, acutely understands the challenges that presented to franchise business leaders by fragmented data.
“Fragmented customer data can hinder personalised experiences. Unified commerce helps businesses simplify multi-site operations by consolidating all customer interactions into a single resource, providing a complete, up-to-date view of your customers that is accessible from any touchpoint.”
Seven reasons why unified commerce relieves pain points
For Chris, there are seven fundamental reasons why unified commerce is the answer to many of the franchise industries pain points.
1. Achieving a unified view of your customers
Franchise retailers often struggle with fragmented customer data across different systems and points of customer interaction, making it challenging to deliver personalised experiences. Unified commerce solves this issue by consolidating all customer interactions into a single, comprehensive database. This database is accessible from any touchpoint, ensuring a complete and up-to-date view of your customers.
“Today’s customers expect tailored experiences,” Hicks explains. “Unified commerce empowers businesses to offer personalised interactions, seamless cross-channel purchases, refunds and loyalty programs, and a consistent customer journey from online research to in-store purchases.”
2. Confident decisions informed by a single source of truth
Unified commerce provides a single, trusted database across all systems, enhancing franchisors’ ability to make informed decisions quickly. Reliable data from warehouses, stores, and online channels allow for accurate financial reporting and KPI tracking, driving strategic business decisions.
“With unified commerce, you can trust the numbers,” says Hicks. “It ensures your financial reporting, KPI tracking, and daily business tasks are based on reliable data, allowing for faster and more confident decision-making.”
3. Enhancing efficiency
Unified commerce enables real-time tracking and management of sales across all channels from a single platform. By deploying a unified commerce solution, franchise operators can facilitate process automation, such as reordering and inventory management, reducing manual effort and increasing operational efficiency.
4. Reducing costly errors and chargebacks
Disparate systems can lead to costly errors like mispricing or incorrect stock information. Unified commerce synchronises all data, ensuring consistency across platforms, reducing errors, and minimising disputes and& customer complaints.
“Errors and chargebacks can be a significant drain on resources,” Hicks notes. “Unified commerce helps synchronise all data, reducing mistakes and ensuring that your operations run smoothly.”
5. Reducing training costs and boosting customer services
A unified platform simplifies training, as staff only need to learn one system. It also empowers employees to provide better customer service by accessing comprehensive customer data and managing orders directly from any location, enhancing the overall customer experience.
“Unified commerce not only cuts down on training costs but also enhances customer service,” says Hicks. “Employees can access customer data and manage orders from anywhere, providing a seamless experience for customers.”
6. Accelerating innovation & future proofing your systems
Unified commerce sets franchises up for rapid innovation and scalability. With a modern technology architecture, new technologies and payment methods can be quickly integrated, ensuring businesses stay ahead of the curve while reducing costs and risks.
7. Saving time and money on integrations
Many franchises struggle with a patchwork of disconnected business applications. Unified commerce reduces the need for multiple integrations, providing most functionalities within a single platform.
“Managing multiple systems and vendors can be a real headache,” Hicks explains. “Unified c
commerce simplifies this by providing most functionalities in a single platform, reducing the need for complex integrations.”
One provider for every site, channel and payment
With Unified commerce solutions from a payment provider like Till, you can access over 750 integrations, 300 payment methods, class- leading fraud mitigation tools and unlock a powerful data insights tool, like the Till Portal, from a single payments partner, providing a robust foundation to bring you closer to a full suite unified commerce stack.
With a data insight tool, like the Till Portal, users are empowered with a central hub that enables them to manage transactions, track sales, and access key payments insights. It integratesd seamlessly with various business systems, offering a key element of a unified commerce stack, enabling businesses to connect iInstore, oOnline, sSubscriptions and mobile payment systems to offer a more cohesive operation.
“With Till, you get a flexible, integrated solution that brings together key aspects of your business,” says Hicks. “Our Till Portal helps you streamline operations and improve customer experiences, setting you on the path towards a bright unified commerce future.”