From Stores to Digital Feeds: Shopping Is Being Unified

Marketplaces, social commerce and mobile devices have transformed retail. The frontier today is unified commerce, a unique ecosystem where data and technology create seamless, borderless shopping experiences

by Deborah Raccagni
 

E-commerce is getting a new look. Today, selling online no longer means just having a proprietary website. Marketplaces account for more than 60% of sales online in Europe, while in Italy social commerce is expected to grow by more than 25% in 2025, reaching almost €6 billion in value. Consumers are increasingly discovering new brands on social media, and millions are buying directly from Instagram or TikTok. All this happens mainly via smartphone: mobile is now the dominant channel and has made purchasing behavior more and more "instant." The consumer expects a simple, fast and barrier-free path, where technology is never an obstacle.

In this distributed and competitive scenario, the only real distinguishing factor is the customer experience. Mere presence on several different channels is not enough: a unique and fluid path needs to be offered, allowing customers to perceive the continuity of the brand wherever they encounter it. This is precisely where data comes into play: collecting, interpreting and using it in real time is becoming the lever to personalize every interaction and make technological complexity invisible.

This need has driven an evolution — from the early multichannel approach, to omnichannel, and now to the latest frontier: unified commerce.

The fragmentation of the early stages

In the early 2000s, companies multiplied points of contact: stores, websites, call centers, marketplaces. It was the era of multichannel: more purchasing opportunities, but disconnected systems. It featured different online and offline promotions, misaligned stocks, inconsistent experiences. This model has paved the way for greater accessibility, but with obvious limitations.

The search for consistency

With the spread of smartphones and social media, omnichannel arrived in around 2010. The goal: to merge online and offline in a smoother experience. Phenomena such as showrooming (try in store and buy online) and webrooming (get information online and buy in store) revealed new habits. Meanwhile, companies began to collect and use customer data to personalize communications and services, though these systems still remained partially separate.

Convergence

Today’s focus is on unified commerce, a total integration in which a single platform manages inventory, orders, payments, CRM and logistics in real time. It is no longer the customer who has to adapt to silos and internal procedures: it is the company that ensures consistency across every channel. The advantages are twofold. For the consumer, it means frictionless shopping journeys, greater confidence in product availability, fast delivery times and a closer relationship with the brand thanks to tailored offers and recommendations. For the company, it means overcoming the challenge of integrating physical and digital stores into a single ecosystem, reducing inefficiencies and building a stronger relationship with customers, based on shared and consistent data. Here artificial intelligence really makes a difference. In a fragmented system it can only work on partial data, with limited results. In a unified context, however, it has access to complete and updated information in real time, thus being able to offer more accurate demand forecasts, more effective automation and truly relevant suggestions for each customer.

Unity is strength... but how much does it take to get there

Integrating management systems, POSs, platforms and payment systems requires investment and a focus on data and training. But the benefits are greater: fewer mistakes, greater satisfaction, loyalty and the ability to adapt to emerging trends with agility. In the end, what is truly at stake is the bond between customer and brand — strengthened by the consistency between physical and digital experiences — and the inclusiveness made possible by technologies that communicate with one another.

Today, however, the journey is still in its infancy: only 5% of retailers have already achieved the status of leader in unified commerce, with fully integrated experiences between online and brick-and-mortar, while almost half are still in the early stages. However, those who have already made the leap see real benefits: reduced fulfillment costs by around 30%, faster sales growth and increased customer loyalty. The direction is clear, but there is still a long way to go.

How purchases will be made tomorrow

Unified commerce is not a goal, but an evolving process. The challenge for companies will be to make complexity invisible and reveal only what matters: a fluid, consistent and valuable experience. This is the phygital direction we are moving toward: retail becoming increasingly digital, and e-commerce becoming increasingly similar to the physical, for commerce without an "on and off" switch and without borders.