2016 saw a significant shift in the way online and offline retailers were reaching consumers, marking on the changes observed in consumer behaviour. As per the omni-channel report, it showed a comparison between single and multi-channel shoppers, where the latter reflected more progress by 50-300% for retailers.

The increasing desire for indulgence in shopping has forced retailers to adopt a more integrated, hybrid approach by using personalisation, with a consistent experience across in-store and online, along with quick responses to trends and consumer preferences.

Omni channel in retail is predicted as the future and the fuel for the industry. With foreign entrants in the Indian retail circuit, enterprises are accelerated to equip for meeting the consumer demands through the Omni channel platforms.

The following platforms are plugged into existing retail ecosystems for a constant enhancement of the retail segment.

Shopify –serves large retailers, small and mid-sized retailers offering cloud solutions for ecommerce and point of sale operations. Its native integrations allow retailers to operate online stores, Facebook stores, buyable Pinterest items and Twitter twits that have “buy buttons” enabled, all in the same place. Its offline sales solution, Shopify POS, enables merchants to integrate online and offline sales within one platform. The platform works on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets so a point of sale operation is extremely easy to setup and very easy to reorganize, which gives Shopify users flexibility.

Shopatron- founded in September 2000 by Ed Stevens and Sean Collier. Since then, it has evolved into an integrated SaaS platform that connects offline and online orders management, making it easier for customers to purchase from retailers.

Capillary Technologies- Capillary provides OmniChannel Engagement and Commerce solutions that help consumer brands increase customer reach, engagement, sales and loyalty. The solution suite includes CRM & Loyalty, MartJack E-Commerce Platform, Marketing Cloud, Customer Analytics, and O2O Commerce. Capillary connects 200 million consumers, enables 25,000+ stores and 2000+ enterprise e-commerce implementations across 30 countries. Leading brands such as Unilever, Walmart, Landmark Group, Madura Fashion, Arvind Brands, Redtag, Calvin Klein, Gap, Courts, Clarks, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and Puma work with Capillary to drive retail excellence.

The organisations as listed above are shaping the retail scenario for the future aiming to be among the top 6 categories as per the RAI report.

NetSuite- The company, among the first to bet on SaaS platforms, is now one of the fastest growing companies in the field, closing 2013 with $414 million in revenue. The revenue is up 34%, which is a big win for the company initially backed by Larry Ellison. They started as NetLedger, envisioned as an online accounting tool, that later turned to an wider array of company management tools. In 2013 it acquired Retail Anywhere, a POS solutions company. In 2014 it acquired both Venda, an ecommerce SaaS company, and eBizNet Solutions, a company focused on WMS (warehouse management system) solutions.