online to offline (O2O)

O2O or O-to-O stands for online-to-offline and refers to an IT strategy for persuading prospective customers to visit astore via an online presence, mobile devices or social media.

In the 1990s, e-commerce began predominantly as a pure mail order business. Since around 2010, more and more consumers have been able to use their smartphones to order goods or services at any time and from any location. The special feature of O2O here is that customers pick up the ordered goods at a real point of sale.

Examples of O2O are provided by retail chains whose online store does not ship the ordered goods but has the customer pick them up at a store. O2O also includes the websites of car manufacturers, which provide online information about their vehicles, enable customized configuration and arrange for the prospective customer to visit a car dealer.

Acquisition technologies used include Global Positioning System ( GPS ) to locate potential customers and Quick Response ( QR) code to quickly access a website from mobile devices, as well as Near Field Communication( NFC).

The advantages for providers are lower costs compared to other forms of advertising and a global reach. Customer behavior can be precisely recorded and evaluated and the provider can communicate directly with potential customers. These benefit from price competition on the web as well as feedback from other customers and their user-generated content( UGC).