Omnichannel in 2026: How to attract and retain the consumer?

For years, the speech was clear: the more presence, the better. be on instagram, whatsapp, and e-commerce, App and in physique was synonymous with modernity. In 2026, however, this speech may make no more sense and even, it will be very dangerous for businesses that want to stand out. A good omnichannel strategy was no longer about mass presence, and became about relevance in the strategic means for each target audience. 

We live in a thriving, accelerated and extremely volatile technological environment. Each year, new tools, interaction formats and possibilities of communication between companies and consumers emerge – which makes many businesses believe that success is directly related to being present in all available channels.  which is not true. 

The market started to assume that modern and digital companies need to be available to their customers on all channels, and this narrative created an internal pressure in companies to adapt to this vision and never have their communication labeled as “outdated”. This vision, in addition to being wrong, pushes companies to decisions that generate serious dangers, such as unnecessary investments in technologies that their customers do not use; and hurried implementations without integration with the consumer journey. 

What the consequences this all? Disconnected experiences, where channels even exist, but do not talk to each other; leading to forgotten customers as to their real need, when the operational structure does not follow the promise of service. In the end, the excess of channels turns into cost, noise and bad experience.   

The new era we live in calls for more mature choices. Instead of responding to market pressures, companies should prioritize the real needs of their consumers. The best strategy in this sense is the one that serves the customer with efficiency and fluidity, keeps the operational cost low, understands the role and particularities of each channel, and connects journeys in a continuous and resolute way. 

Omchanality does not concern breadth, but rather to strategy, coherence and integration. Those who really understand this relationship tend to reap very mature fruits. According to a report by the One Capital Shopping, omnichannel consumers provide a 30% longer return on investment over the product's useful life, compared to those who use only one purchase channel. 

Among the fronts that tend to gain strength this year, capable of opening up great possibilities for companies that want to evolve their communication, the RCS is a great opportunity – even more, with their official arrival at iOS, expanding their global capillarity. The channel has been consolidating itself as a robust alternative to enriched conversational experiences, with ideal resources for acquisition, guidance, sending of multimedia content, even quick and safe transactions. 

With the authentication of calls through the STIR/Shaken, which allows the consumer's device to display the brand of the issuing company, the channel is regaining credibility, taking it out of the category of suspicious calls to faster, more direct and extremely resolving contacts. A powerful opportunity to rehabilitate the use of the voice safely and confidently.   

And, maintaining its pace of innovative technological solutions, is WhatsApp, which remains the most used by Brazilians. Today, in addition to traditional interactions with messages, buttons and automated flows, it brings a relevant advance: the possibility of performing voice calls within the service journey itself – which allows an attendant to raise the conversation when necessary; for the customer to receive support in real time, without leaving the channel; and that the service gains speed and resolution at critical moments. 

Companies that want to lead — not just follow up — the transformation of communication in 2026, must understand that the customer no longer wants a brand “everywhere”, but that solves its problem without friction, repetition or frustration.  Those who insist on the old narrative of excessive presence in the available means will remain in a lethal paradox to the survival of any business: we have never been so available — and it has never been so difficult to deliver a good experience. 

Carlos Feist He is Director of Innovation at Pontaltech.