Multiple channels. One solution. Unlimited possibilities. GoECart 360 is the only integrated software suite designed to unify every step of multi-channel commerce for any sized business.

Many retailers fancy themselves true omni-channel retailers, but many lack some of the crucial components necessary to claim omni-channel. During his podcast with Innovative Retail Technologies’ Chief Editor, Erin Harris, Manish Chowdhary, founder and CEO of GoECart, lists the 4 necessary components of omni-channel retailing. And, he explains the technologies necessary to achieve it.

Given how difficult and expensive it is to acquire a customer, merchants should make retaining those buyers and fostering a relationship with them a priority. The good news is that technology has made it easier to take steps to dramatically increase customer retention, loyalty and lifetime value. Here are five tactics to consider.

A robust order and inventory management system is essential for omni-channel commerce today. Without a powerful system, one that supports “the buy anywhere, fulfill from anywhere and return anywhere” strategy, your business isn’t going to succeed.

Social sharing is now a major driver of online commerce, thanks to widgets that let customers share, like, and tweet content across their own networks. Enabling social sharing provides your business with free branding and endorsements, customer engagement opportunities and most important, increased sales.

GoECart, the leading unified commerce platform provider, announced recently that several features of its all-in-one commerce suite are an ideal fit for the Food and Beverage industry.

Here’s our take on what the SMB should consider when choosing their new Ecommerce platform or re-platforming to replace legacy systems.

To be successful in omni-channel commerce, companies of all sizes can no longer rely on legacy siloed or homegrown business applications. With the unprecedented amount of data gathered at different points in the organization that needs to be shared across functions, efficient workflows are simply not possible when operating a patchwork of siloed point solutions and legacy applications. No matter what a systems integrator may tell you, these siloed bits of technology will never communicate as effectively as one unified platform does.

Founded in 2004, SoccerPro sells soccer performance gear and licensed apparel throughout the U.S and abroad. The soccerpro.com and soccermaster.com websites collectively serve as the ecommerce arm for their six brick and mortar locations, and the call center (which manages bulk and B2B orders). The company needed a fully integrated omni-channel commerce suite, with advanced capabilities, live in short order, to capitalize on anticipated growth in sales for the World Cup Soccer in the summer of 2014.

Goode Company, a Houston TX-based restaurant chain and online retailer sells the finest line of prepared food, apparel, books, gifts and “cookin’ tools.” The company needed an end-to-end ecommerce platform that could meet its unique industry requirements. Goode Company also wanted a quick and risk-free implementation ahead of the holiday season. Additionally, the company didn’t want to invest in an expensive on-premise system that required constant re-programming or IT involvement but one that could scale as the business grew.

Founded in 2000, family-owned Wholesale Accessory Market (eWam) started in a one-car garage and has become one of the nation’s largest fashion accessory wholesaler and retailers. It now offers over 50,000 products and continues to grow its SKUs. Their primary customer base is fashion boutiques and salons, as well as self-employed independent distributors. With a holiday season that begins in September, eWam needed to improve its ecommerce capabilities and shore up its back- end processes to keep pace with growth rates.