If you're selling both online and in physical stores, it can feel nearly impossible to understand which marketing channels truly drive conversions. Did that Instagram ad lead to an online sale—or an in-store visit? Is your email campaign influencing store traffic?
Omnichannel attribution solves this by merging your in-store and online data into one clear picture. In this guide, we’ll break down how to track attribution across all your channels—so you can make smarter decisions, allocate budget effectively, and finally understand your full customer journey.
For single-channel stores, attribution is straightforward: someone clicks, they buy, you track it. But omnichannel brands deal with:
Customers who browse online but buy in-store
Buyers who see a store display, then purchase later online
Marketing campaigns that influence both behaviors at once
Traditional analytics tools often miss this nuance, leading to incomplete or misleading data.
Lack of unified customer identity (same person online vs. in store)
POS systems not connected to online tools
Marketing touchpoints split across platforms (Meta, Google, Email)
Offline sales untagged or untracked
Without bridging this gap, you're underreporting the value of campaigns that influence offline sales—and possibly over-crediting others.
Here’s what you need to connect the dots:
Unified customer profiles: Encourage account creation, loyalty program signups, or email capture in-store.
Connected POS & ecommerce: Use tools like Shopify POS that sync data across both.
Use of attribution tools: Tools like Attribuly, Triple Whale, or GA4 with enhanced measurement can handle multi-source data.
Add custom fields, loyalty IDs, or promo codes in-store that link back to marketing campaigns.
Here are a few tactical ways to capture attribution across channels:
| Tactic | Goal | Tool |
|---|---|---|
| In-store QR codes linked to UTM URLs | Attribute offline traffic | Google Analytics / Attribuly |
| Email signups at checkout | Match in-store buyers to online profiles | Klaviyo / Shopify |
| Promo codes by channel | Track source of in-store redemptions | Shopify POS |
| POS event tracking | Log store events as conversions | GA4 / GTM |
| Customer tagging by store | Understand location impact | Shopify Admin or Flow |
Once connected, analyze performance by:
Campaign influence (not just last click)
Channel contribution to offline sales
Repeat purchase behavior across channels
Customer LTV by acquisition source
Create dashboards that include both store sales and online metrics, broken down by source, geography, and behavior segment.
If you’re only tracking online sales, you’re only seeing part of the story. Omnichannel customers move fluidly between digital and physical touchpoints—and your attribution strategy should too.
With the right tools and integrations, you can finally get a clear view of what’s working—and optimize your spend across all channels.