The Future of Retail Part III: Navigating Today’s New Landscape
The Future of Retail Part III: Navigating Today’s New Landscape
We conclude our three part exploration into our future relationship with retail and how do we navigate this “new Normal”.
Stores And Malls Will Need To Rethink Existing Spaces
Before the pandemic the US had the most retail square footage per capita in the world, but now with more people shopping online, retailers don’t need such an abundance of store space. Walmart have created automated fulfilment centers in some of their larger outlets, while in the UK both John Lewis and Marks and Spencer announced plans to downsize their flagship Oxford Street stores and convert entire floors into office space. It’s likely that other large retailers will follow suit, either entering partnerships to share space with other brands or local businesses, selling off space, or finding other uses for it, concentrating on tech-enabled service and online ordering, rather than having huge amounts of stock on site.
As stores like Macy’s and Sephora steer away from new mall openings and test stand-alone stores instead it seems like malls will also have to find new purpose.1 Their future again is likely to be mixed use, with office space, gyms, warehouse space, entertainment venues and more. Who knows, in the future maybe that ugly out-of-town mall will devote some of its space to becoming a market garden.
Local Produce, Digital Fashion and Re-use Goes Mainstream
It’s not just local neighbourhoods that will see an increased focus but local products too, driven by ethical and environmental considerations but also perhaps by practicality. After years of globalization, the world has been experiencing a supply chain crisis caused by an endless list of problems: Covid, trade tensions between the US and China, the Suez Canal blockage, rising shipping costs, a shortage of truck drivers, and in the UK’s case, Brexit.
Some may scoff but digital fashion is another growing area, giving brands an opportunity to interact with customers at home who can show off their items online. Balenciaga have created digital fashion for Fortnite.2 Farfetch are gifting influencers in digital garments from pre-order collections, saving on shipping costs and gauging interest before investing in stock.3
The impact of consumption on the environment is increasingly on consumers’ minds, and It’s likely that resale options will move further into the spotlight. IKEA are already offering a buy-back service, finding new owners for resale goods in their ‘bargain corner’, while the original owner gets an agreed value loaded to a card they can spend in the store.4 FarFetch and Zelando have also added pre-owned sections to their online businesses.
Conclusion: New Opportunities For Retail In A Time Of Change
All the above paints a complex picture. Change is happening in every aspect of the retail landscape. Consumers and retailers will need to get adjust to the ‘new normal’: where online shopping is an efficient way of meeting needs, but physical shopping is a treat, where we shop locally but the big platforms become bigger, where retailers need to build their operations on agile technology platforms that connect every aspect of their business from inventory to marketing.
It’s been a strange and worrying time, but now more than ever there is a chance to make changes that not only keep online and physical retailers afloat, and consumers supplied but that create a low-carbon future that protects the planet. Yesterday and today has brought much turmoil, but there’s no reason we can’t be optimistic about tomorrow.
- Labour To Scrap Business Rates and Replace With A Fairer System, Labour, https://labour.org.uk/press/labour-to-scrap-business-rates-and-replace-with-fairer-system/
- High Digital Fashion Drops Into Fortnite With Balenciaga, Epic Games, https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/news/high-digital-fashion-drops-into-fortnite-with-balenciaga
- Vogue Business, Influencers Are Wearing Digital Versions of Physical Clothes Now, https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/influencers-are-wearing-digital-versions-of-physical-clothes-now
- A Circular Economy Starts With A BILLY Bookcase…Or INGO Table, Or NORRARYD Chair, Ikea, https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/this-is-ikea/sustainable-everyday/buy-back-and-resell-service-pubcc071810
The Future of Retail Part II: Retail as an Experience
The Future of Retail Part II: Retail as an Experience
We continue our exploration of the current and future shape of retail around the globe as brands commence the lengthy road of recovery for some and normality for most.
What will the new retail landscape look like? Now that the wide scale lockdowns are mostly over, supply chain issues and staffing woes still abound, hampering a return to retail as we knew it. How will brands adapt to these new consumer behaviors and are they here to stay? Read on.
Physical Stores Still Have Their Place
Despite the normalization of online shopping and home delivery during lockdown, many consumers were counting the days before they could walk through the doors of physical stores again. Tomorrow’s retailers still need to win hearts and minds in the real world and shouldn’t give up all their store space just yet.
One of the reasons for this might be just how much people love browsing. Shopping online tends to be goal-based and transactional, but people browse in-person not only because they need something, but because they enjoy it. A study by Michael Guiry,1 Associate Professor of Marketing at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, suggests that for some of us shopping forms part of our self-concept, cementing, and playing back, our ideas of who we are. Although customers appreciate the best efforts of online retailers in creating browsing journeys, they are still only a facsimile, lacking in the excitement and sensory details that are so much part of the experience in real life.
For all the news headlines on the rise and rise of online shopping, most retail is still taking place in physical spaces. In the US, by February 2021 it had settled at around 15% of sales.2 And although many retailers have closed branches and reduced shoppable space they’re unlikely to get rid of it completely. The digital and physical stores of the future will have a symbiotic relationship, with digital driving footfall to physical stores that support online sales.
A Future Of Experiential Retail
Real-life shopping at its best isn’t just about making a transaction, it’s about entertainment, about entering a different space and socializing with friends, family, and community. Physical retailers can offer many of the things we’ve all missed during the pandemic: the excitement of new discoveries, human connections, personal service, sensory moments. These experiential retail experiences, powered by new technologies, will be center stage in the next couple of years as retailers try to tempt consumers back, and with footfall likely to be reduced, they will be looking to squeeze every drop of value out of the customers who come through the door.
For example, Nike, always ahead in experiential experiences, have launched Nike Rise in Guangzhou, China and in Seoul, South Korea: technology-driven retail hubs that work with the Nike App to create experiences powered by customer data.3 Dick’s Sporting Goods in the US opened its biggest-ever store in the spring of 2021 in a bid to drive deeper engagement with customers. The ‘House of Sport’ site in Victor, New York includes an indoor rock-climbing wall, golf driving bays and a putting green, as well as a health and wellness shop and a track and turf field.4
In London, with the pandemic still on everyone’s minds, Lush’s redesign of its Oxford Street store includes tech innovations imported from its Shinjuku store, with QR codes and video displays creating an interactive experience that doesn’t have to be hands-on – no mean feat for a cosmetics retailer.5 Meanwhile, shopping mall Westfield London is launching Situ Live, a ‘discovery playhouse’ where customers can try out new products.6
In the post-Covid world, retailers will be looking to use technology to examine footfall, drive sales and create new customer experiences. LiDAR technology uses infrared light to sense movement, meaning that retailers can measure footfall and dwell time as well as analyzing the success of visual merchandising and customer engagement, tracking individuals with no loss of privacy as only an outline is ever recorded. Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) technology can help anyone with a smartphone navigate around a mall, but it can also be utilized by furniture retailers. IKEA’s newly revamped IKEA Studio app not only enables the user to see a chosen piece of furniture in situ in their home, it allows them to redesign the entire room.7 In-store QR codes can provide product information, special deals or an easy way to buy online in a bid to lessen the practice of ‘showrooming’, i.e. looking at goods in physical stores before buying them at a lower price from an online competitor.
Local Shopping For Local People
Repeated lockdowns and the shift towards home working has meant a new focus on shopping locally. In the UK the number of independent stores grew in the first half of 2021 for the first time since 2017,8 able to take advantage of government support measures, such as business rates relief and furlough schemes, as well as deals on rent offered by landlords keen to fill spaces vacated by failing chain stores.
There’s an opportunity for local main streets to evolve to serve new needs: a return to the times before out-of-town malls and retail parks. Even before the pandemic, city planners across the world including Paris, Barcelona, Portland, and Melbourne were responding to climate change by encouraging ‘15-minute cities’, creating blocks where people can access all their everyday services within a short walk or bike ride, reducing traffic and pollution and creating more space for trees.9
Larger chain retailers are already responding to new patterns of hybrid working. In the UK Sainsbury’s has recently announced a new partnership with Itsu, Leon and Wasabi, trialling ‘lunch stands’ across 300 stores, aimed at consumers working from home or in the office. Sainsbury’s Food for Later category planner Frances Hughes said: “As a hybrid style of working becomes more normal, we’ve been working hard to analyze customer needs when it comes to their lunchtime meals…the introduction of the in-aisle lunch stand makes it easily accessible for anyone to pick up an affordable and balanced meal, no matter what your daily ritual is.”10
Downtown Areas Need New Purpose
Downtown areas that were once busy with office workers are significantly quieter since the pandemic. In the future they will need to find new reasons to attract visitors and fill space, with shops, grocery stores and restaurants alongside medical centers, community, leisure, housing and workspace.
There needs to be a greater emphasis on flexibility and sharing, finding purpose for underused spaces, and providing the amenities that communities need, supporting small businesses, creatives and social enterprises who might otherwise find it impossible to have a physical presence. And it’s the perfect time for experimentation, finding out what works as we move into our post-pandemic future. In some ways the lasting effects of Covid could give a new lease of life to physical retail locations that had been declining over the years.
But it’s not just down to stores and other businesses to create the successful downtown shopping areas and main streets of the future. Governments and landlords will need to work with them to create areas suited to local communities and their changing needs. They also need to relook at rates and rent models that have decimated businesses unable to operate during lockdown. The alternative is yet more businesses going under, boarded-up shops and the hollowing out of retail areas. Some landlords have already offered their retail tenants turnover-based rents in a bid to save main streets. In the UK, the government are under pressure from within their own party to reform business rates, and the opposition Labour party has already announced their wish to scrap them in favor of a new system that increases the digital services tax on tech giants.11
Footnotes
- Defining And Measuring Recreational Shopper Identity, SpringerLink, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1177/0092070305282042
- State Of Retail, National Retail Federation, https://nrf.com/topics/economy/state-retail
- Nike’s Latest Retail Concept Powered By The Pulse Of Sport, Nike News, https://news.nike.com/news/nike-rise-retail-concept
- Dick’s Sporting Goods Just Opened A Massive Store With A Virtual Driving Range And Outdoor Track. Here’s A Look Inside, CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/09/dicks-sporting-goods-new-store-has-a-driving-range-and-outdoor-track.html
- In Pictures: Lush Oxford Street Reopens With Innovative Global Concepts, The Industry.Fashion, https://www.theindustry.fashion/in-pictures-lush-oxford-street-re-opens-with-innovative-global-concepts/
- “It’s Not A Store, It’s A Venue”: How Situ Live is Transforming The Way We Shop, Charged Retail Tech News, https://www.chargedretail.co.uk/2021/05/19/its-not-a-store-its-a-venue-how-situ-live-is-transforming-the-way-we-shop/
- IKEA’s Fancy New App Lets You Design Entire Rooms, Wired, https://www.wired.co.uk/article/ikea-studio-ar-app
- Independent Retail Sector Returns To Growth, Drapers, https://www.drapersonline.com/news/independent-stores-benefit-from-chain-closures
- The 15-Minute City – No Cars Required – Is Urban Planning’s New Utopia, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-11-12/paris-s-15-minute-city-could-be-coming-to-an-urban-area-near-you
- Sainsbury’s Launches News In-Aisle Concept With Over 20 Lunch Meals, The Grocer, https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/sainsburys/sainsburys-launches-new-in-aisle-concept-with-over-20-lunch-meals/660142.article
- As Macy’s and Sephora Flee the Mall, Will Other Retailers Follow?, The Motley Fool, https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/02/13/as-macys-and-sephora-flee-the-mall-will-other-reta.aspx
The Future of Retail Part I: Navigating Today’s Landscape
The Future of Retail Part I: Navigating Today’s Landscape
Nothing could have prepared retailers for Covid. Since the pandemic forced the first widespread lockdowns in living memory, some have collapsed, the pandemic hastening their demise after a lackluster few years. Others survived but are changing their business models and spaces, looking for new ways to maintain sales and profits. A third set are buoyant, having seen online sales rocket. All have been deeply affected by the events of the last couple of years and are no doubt wondering what the future will bring.
Whether 2022 sees the last of the lockdowns or not, Covid has changed the way we live and shop for good. The pandemic has not only accelerated digital transformation, it has also necessitated a total rethink of the future of retail in all its aspects: online and in-store, local, downtown or mall, delivered to your door or click-and-collect. Retailers now need to carve out a successful future in this new normal, with agility baked into their operations so they are well placed to respond to changing situations. But what will the new retail landscape look like? Now that the widescale lockdowns are over, what new consumer behaviors are here to stay?
Competition Heats Up Among The Giants: Amazon And Walmart
Apple, Facebook, (Google) Alphabet, Microsoft Amazon and Walmart all saw huge increases in sales and profits since the start of the pandemic. Amazon saw almost every aspect of their business rise, from web services to streaming to home delivery, accounting for 41% of all US online retail sales in 2021.1 The company has opened Amazon Fresh grocery and convenience stores and is now moving into its own branded FMCG products with Aplenty. Expansion is inevitable, but the brand is keeping quiet about its plans.
Meanwhile Walmart’s ecommerce sales grew 74%, leading them to hire more than 235,000 store associates2. Having largely left the Marketplace part of the business dormant for some years, it spruced up its offering, undercut Amazon for commission on some items and reached 70,000 sellers, projected to increase 146% by the end of 2022.3 Amazon’s marketplace is still far bigger, expected to have more than 3 million sellers in the US by the end of 2022 and 7.5 million globally according to Marketplace Pulse. But Walmart has physical stores, which means successful online vendors could find opportunities to sell offline too. The company also apparently has plans beyond retail and is aiming to develop its services in advertising sales and healthcare, where it will be jostling for position once more with main rival Amazon.
A Permanent Shift Towards Online Shopping
Consumers have grown to rely on online shopping, not only for essentials like groceries and toiletries, but also for goods and services to keep them entertained at home. During lockdown the winners were those businesses who, like Amazon and Walmart, were able to meet the surge in demand while maintaining a high level of customer service, as well as those who could quickly pivot their offering in response to changing customer needs.
All the surveys and statistics agree that the shift towards online shopping is likely to be permanent. According to IBM’s U.S. Retail Index, the pandemic has accelerated the shift away from physical stores to digital shopping by roughly five years.4 A Qubit survey polling 1,500 US and UK customers in July 2021 found that nearly 86% planned to continue shopping as they had over the last 12 months5, despite physical retailers re-opening, and the intent was clear in all age groups. McKinsey reports that ecommerce remains at around 35% above pre-Covid levels.6 But online shopping brings slimmer margins and moving forward retailers will need to find ways of increasing basket spend and keeping warehousing and delivery costs down, as well as creating experiences that keep customers coming back for more.
Creating experiences fit for the future
BORN has worked with several leading retailers to ensure their online customer experiences are optimized for this new environment. Brooks Brothers, America’s oldest retailer needed to become ‘far more than a store’. Now they have reimagined the online experience, removing friction and telling the brand story more effectively. It’s easier for users to discover new products, educate themselves on the options available and become part of the loyalty scheme to reap future benefits.
Meanwhile, world-leading luxury watch brand Rado needed to create a better experience for mobile. The BORN team redesigned the mobile interface, enhancing the content and navigation to provide a better showcase for products and tackling content management and eCommerce functionality. These retailers are future proofing their online experiences, ensuring that they measure up to customers’ ever-growing expectations.
Delivering For Customers, And The Environment
Efficient delivery comes at a cost, to customers, the retailer and to the environment. But it’s also key to the convenience of online shopping. What could it look like in the future?
Click-and-collect has solid advantages for retailers, driving footfall to physical stores where customers may make additional purchases as well as being a low-carbon option. Businesses finding themselves with an abundance of space are dedicating an increasing proportion to fulfilling click-and-collect orders.
Speedy home deliveries are more of an issue. The problem with next-day deliveries is that it means half-empty vans are doing the same trips, sometimes multiple times a day. That ‘last mile’ comes at a high carbon cost. There’s a commonly held view that people will insist on speed, but a study for a major retailer in Mexico found that slower shipping was acceptable to 71% of customers if they were told it meant saving a certain number of trees, calculated to be equivalent to carbon emissions caused by faster shipping.7 The author of the study is hoping that giants like Amazon or Walmart might take note for the future; in the UK ASOS are already offering reduced shipping rates and a discount code for ‘no hurry’ delivery.8 Perhaps consumers who expect super-fast delivery, can be weaned off it in the interests of the environment, at least for the most part.
Amazon are beginning to invest in electric vehicles for the ‘last mile’, with their robot delivery system Amazon Scout operating in four US states and the business further developing the technology in the UK.9 For an even more futuristic, if rather terrifying option, ANYbotics and Continental’s concept combining driverless shuttle vehicles with robot delivery dogs looks uncomfortably like something from dystopian TV series Black Mirror.10
Footnotes
- Amazon Clobbers Competition, Accounting for Over 40% of US Retail Eccomerce Sales In 2021, eMarketer, https://www.emarketer.com/content/amazon-clobbers-competition-us-retail-ecommerce-sales-2021
- How Walmart is Responding to Covid-Related Challenges, Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2021/09/01/how-covid-repeatedly-put-walmart-to-the-test/?sh=4b190a6617bd
- How The Pandemic Helped Walmart Battle Amazon Marketplace For Sellers, Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/how-pandemic-helped-walmart-battle-amazon-marketplace-sellers-2021-04-14/
- COVID-19 Pandemic Accelerated Shift To E-commerce By 5 Years, New Report Says, TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/24/covid-19-pandemic-accelerated-shift-to-e-commerce-by-5-years-new-report-says/
- Consumers Plan To Keep Shopping Online, Despite Stores Reopening, Fashionunited, https://fashionunited.uk/news/retail/consumers-plan-to-keep-shopping-online-despite-stores-reopening/2021081257089
- US Consumer Sentiment and Behaviors During The Coronavirus Crisis, McKinsey & Company, https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/survey-us-consumer-sentiment-during-the-coronavirus-crisis
- How To Shop Online More Sustainably, NY Times Wirecutter, https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/shop-online-sustainably/
- How Does Your ASOS No Hurry Delivery Service Work?, ASOS, https://www.asos.com/customer-care/delivery/how-does-your-asos-no-hurry-delivery-service-work/
- Is Amazon’s Scout Delivery Robot Coming to the UK and Europe Soon?, Pocket-lint, https://www.pocket-lint.com/gadgets/news/amazon/153671-is-amazon-s-scout-delivery-robot-coming-to-the-uk-and-europe-soon
- This Robot Delivery Dog Can Bring Your Parcel Right To Your Doorstep, Mashable, https://mashable.com/video/driverless-vehicle-deploys-robot-delivery-dogs
The Rise of B2B eCommerce: Why Traditional Business Retailers Are Headed Online
The Rise of B2B eCommerce: Why Traditional Business Retailers Are Headed Online
Business-to-business (B2B) is a commercial transaction that is conducted between businesses, as opposed to B2C which is a transaction between a company and its customers. B2B transactions might take place between, say, a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer.
Multiple B2B transactions take place in a supply chain where a manufacturer might buy raw material or components that can be used in the manufacturing process. The end-result is the finished product. Much of the purchase process occurs through electronic data interchange (EDI) currently. EDI is well suited for large, recurring orders. B2B eCommerce can also include electronic products such as websites as well as software to increase business efficiencies.
Learning from B2C
Spurred by the success of eCommerce in the B2C space, many organizations are gradually moving to the Internet and applying some principles and practices from that sphere to that of their supplier or wholesaler and retailer relationships. In 2019, global B2B eCommerce gross merchandise volume (GMV) amounted to 12.2 trillion U.S. dollars, up from approximately 5.83 trillion U.S. dollars in 20131.
Just as an eCommerce shop uses the power of the Internet to allow people to find out more about the company’s products or services and purchase them, online product or supply exchange sites allow other businesses to find out about the products and initiate procurement via an interface. B2B eCommerce sites also allow for more information, images and product descriptions that allow for cross-sell and upsell opportunities.
B2B vs B2C
While B2C involves more impulse buying, B2B solutions purchasing is more thoughtful and planned. B2B relationships are long-term and ongoing and purchases are usually recurring, and for this, the customers expect reliable deliveries along with attractive and dynamic prices and terms.
It is no wonder then that B2B purchasing has become even more complex with more stakeholders involved and deliberating in the purchase process2. These developments have become imperative to make the process itself easier. A smooth customer experience is paramount, even in a seemingly standardized B2B purchase journey3.
B2B eCommerce Marketplaces
Leveraging an eCommerce platform, companies can set up marketplaces and online directories specializing in certain industries or products that facilitate B2B transactions. Besides Amazon Business which uses very similar principles to its B2C business, some of the most well-known B2B marketplaces include:
- Horizontal marketplaces: An early pioneer of a horizontal B2B marketplace was Alibaba. Launched in Guangzhou by Jack Ma in 1998, Alibaba filled a need – to connect Chinese small and medium-sized businesses and wholesalers with clients overseas. Like Amazon, it charged a subscription to sellers who wanted to customize their shop. Unlike Amazon which leveraged its logistics network, Alibaba remains a platform player. Similar generalist marketplaces such as ThomasNet in the US and Tradenet India also exist. The other elephant in the room is Amazon Business. Like Alibaba, an Amazon Business account is a one-stop shop that enables a company which purchases corporate items and supplies to save costs and makes the process efficient. Amazon Business is set to top US$31 billion in revenue and US$52 billion in gross merchandise volume by 2023, including sales by third-party sellers on the marketplace, according to RBC Capital Markets4.
- Vertical marketplaces: Vertical marketplaces have been around in industries such as automotive and healthcare for a couple of decades but new ones such as Makers Row for fashion, GoDirect Trade in aerospace, CheMondis in chemicals, FastMetals in iron and steel, and Farmers Business Network in agriculture are proliferating. Today, there are more than 70 B2B marketplaces in more than 13 diverse industries, according to research compiled by Digital Commerce 360 B2B5.
- Service marketplaces: Service marketplaces such as Upwork (for freelancers) and Fiverr (micro-services), where the buying process is different from that of physical goods. One does not choose a supplier or offer but instead sends a request for quotation through the system, and receive offers from all the service providers. Buyers generally can’t browse seller profiles.
B2B eCommerce Trends
- Mobile: Mobile transactions for B2B eCommerce are becoming increasingly popular as more millennials drive the purchasing process. Given the 90% increase in B2B executives using mobile devices to research business purchases, mobile sites are now an essential business tool6. Mobile B2B eCommerce requires dynamic pricing and stock indications as well as real-time discount calculation.
- Personalization, user personas and user journeys: According to Salesforce, almost 75% of business buyers expect vendors to personalize engagements to their needs and 8 in 10 say that the experience is as important as the products and services themselves7. These are high-level decision-makers with complex priorities and speaking to them about their pain-points, roles, goals, and objectives cuts through the noise.
- AI-driven features: Tools powered by machine learning such as search enable the customer to find what they are looking for faster, with features like auto-suggestions, as well as fuzzy, partial and faceted searches, only added to the utility of the site.
- Content marketing: The General Electric (GE) B2B experience is held as the gold standard of how to communicate with customers in a B2B environment. Using innovative videos, blogs, user-generated content and collaborations with influencers, GE uses content marketing to demystify its business products and build its brand8.
B2B at BORN
For a North American machine tool manufacturer, BORN implemented a sophisticated solution whereby when a part of a client’s machine goes down, an automated email is sent and the unit is reordered and replaced. This was a vast improvement from the previous system that consisted of multiple steps executed manually.
In another use case, BORN developed an innovative and efficient eCommerce and service experience for client Nestlé Starbucks and its Starbucks Branded Solutions by delivering a best-practice, extensible, global eCommerce framework leveraging an enterprise-grade platform and other key systems to amplify the growth of the online channel.
Over the years, BORN has worked with leading enterprise eCommerce platforms with a focus on B2B commerce, as well as associated applications such as order (OMS), content (CMS) and product management systems (PIM). Powering many of BORN’s solutions are B2B accelerators such as the first-ever SAP-certified accelerator for SAP Commerce Cloud, Eagle. Eagle is our eCommerce framework built exclusively by BORN for SAP Commerce Cloud (B2B, B2C & Custom C2C). In addition, Bulldog is BORN’s Adobe Commerce accelerator which includes pre-built extensions, B2B custom UX & UI features, and special B2B enhancements to essential functionalities.
For more information surrounding BORN’s B2B offerings and case studies, please visit here.
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1. Global B2B e-commerce gross merchandise volume (GMV) 2013-2019, Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/705606/global-b2b-e-commerce-gmv/
2. The New Sales Imperative, Harvard Business Review, March-April 2017, https://hbr.org/2017/03/the-new-sales-imperative
3. New B2B Buying Journey & its Implication for Sales, Gartner, https://www.gartner.com/en/sales/insights/b2b-buying-journey
4. There’s a unit inside Amazon that will be a $31 billion business in four years, RBC says, CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/06/amazon-business-a-b2b-unit-to-reach-31-billion-revenue-by-2023-rbc.html
5. Why marketplaces occupy center stage in B2B ecommerce, DigitalCommerce360, https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2020/03/05/why-marketplaces-occupy-center-stage-in-b2b-ecommerce/
6. The Changing Face of B2B Marketing, ThinkwithGoogle.com, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/the-changing-face-b2b-marketing/
7. Young Buyers Are Driving B2B Expectations of B2C-Like Experiences, Marketingcharts.com, https://www.marketingcharts.com/industries/business-to-business-83757
8. GE Raises the Bar for B2B Content Marketing, enveritasgroup.com, https://enveritasgroup.com/campfire/ge-raises-the-bar-for-b2b-content-marketing/
Personalization: The Key to Creating an Exceptional Customer Experience
Personalization: The Key to Creating an Exceptional
Customer Experience
Customer Experience
Personalization has come a long way from only addressing the customer by name in a direct marketing email that arrives in your inbox – of all the digital strategies being talked about in the race to better customer experience, and thereby setting your brand apart from the competitors, personalization has now grown to be the most paramount.
It has been shown time and again that personalization drives engagement and builds relationships with the customer, making it one of the most important tools in a marketer’s toolbox. A whopping 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands who recognize them by name, remember their preferences, and provide them with relevant offers and recommendations1. A customer that is seen and heard and feels special is one that will return.
As opposed to the customization of products or services to suit a particular individual, personalization is the tailoring of an experience based on the customer’s previous buying behavior and preferences. The holy grail is to offer the customer an intelligent and contextual, and therefore superior customer experience, which in effect creates more value for the business.
In the past, marketing communications was mostly one-way. The new approach using data to ground insights begins a conversation with the customer.
The underpinning of personalization is data. Most of this data already exists within an organization in the form of the technology that enables every sale – sales and support information can be folded into customer data platforms (CDPs) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, unstructured data in the form of positive or negative feedback, reviews and social commentary consolidated into reputation management systems – all that data just needs to be harnessed, analyzed and put to work not just as the end of the shopping funnel but throughout the customer journey.
Here are a few paths to personalization of the customer experience:
- Personalized home page, navigation, and copy: New visitors need to be targeted with tailored messages, pages, and navigation compared to returning visitors or regular customers because they aren’t very familiar with the brand or the website. Personalized pop-ups and greetings are one way to do this. Encouraging social sign-ins are another. By understanding target customers’ pain points, interests, and problems, you can also target relevant copy for different segments, thereby increasing conversion. Knowing device types also means mobile users can be offered a different experience compared to those using a tablet or laptop.
- Location targeting/geofencing: Visitors from different countries are segmented and these segments to allow for personalized pages and experiences. A US apparel brand could have different sizes, not to mention currencies, compared to the UK site. Geolocation targeting also enables daily or seasonal weather-related personalization. One new development is geofencing which puts a ‘virtual fence’ around a physical location. Geofencing triggers a command to the mobile phone when an individual enters or leaves a geofence. Whole Foods launched geofences around their competitors’ locations. When a customer using the Whole Foods app came into or left the geofence, they would receive ads with store-specific offers2. The campaign is said to have had a post-click conversion rate which is more than 3x the industry average.
- Predictive personalization: Amazon, followed by Youtube and Netflix, made the ‘Recommended for you’ feature famous. These days, many brands suggest options while the customer is buying or even at checkout to upsell their products and increase average order value. Uniqlo measures neurotransmitters in their UMood kiosks to gauge customers’ reactions as they are shown different clothing items in kiosks. The AI algorithm then uses that data to recommend products3.
- Retargeting: Google Ads offers brands the ability to remarket their product to visitors who visit their website in other locations. Since they have already shown interest in the brand, retargeting offers another avenue to complete the sale. Conversely, personalization also means that the transition from clicking from an ad to get to your website is seamless and the text matches to suit.
- Category specific offers: Just as with initial contact, segmentation offers a chance to target specific offers to specific customers. One effective example is how Sephora used to announce all their products to all their customers, but now they send only relevant information with their behavioral-based email program4.
- Gamification: Using gamification in your brand marketing strategy helps brands know their customers better through features such as quizzes or creating user profiles and avatars. Awarding points is another method can keep consumers loyal. Makeups and skincare brands such Sephora’s skincare quiz or Roadrunner Sports’ “Which Nike shoe fits your personality” are great examples of gamifying your commerce experience to drive return traffic5.
- Video tutorials and inspiration: Offering how-to videos and tutorials post-sale turns customers into repeat customers. Technology has made it easy to offer personalization even in video and editing techniques mean that text in a video can be customized for easy consumption. Inspiration areas are used by many brands’ websites to guide customers through their product line.
- Lead generators: Displaying offers free trials or discounts tactically are a useful feature to generate customer leads and keep them on your page. An exit discount pop-up box is one way to do this.
- Omnichannel delivery: Features such as ‘Continue watching’ and ‘Watch from the beginning’ made popular by Netflix are also being used by retail brands that have a presence on different channels. Headless CMSes can enable shoppers to switch between devices for a seamless experience while also remembering their preferences. Neiman Marcus, for example, remembers your size when you return6.
- Chat and customer support: AI and machine learning is being used especially with chatbots which can gather data and segment customers, especially if you don’t have the resources to offer round-the-clock support. Information and predictive analysis can be pulled up for customer-facing employees for an enhanced customer service experience.
More brands are offering hyper-personalized experiences at every customer touchpoint. With enough data, customers can be shoehorned into each segment of one. However, personalization can make the marketing mix more complex and such complexity is both time and resource intensive. Therefore, A/B testing is a key factor to check efficacy before embarking on individual personalization strategies.
Furthermore, using customer data for the purposes of curation and interaction is treading a fine line – brands would reap the benefits if they were to make their processes transparent, respect data privacy, and safeguard customers’ data while doing so. In the end, personalization is as much about customer behavior and their needs as it is about their data.
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Footnotes
1. Accenture 2018 Personalization Pulse Check. https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-83/Accenture-Pulse-Check-Infographic.pdf
2. Thinknear Location Score Index, Q4 2017. http://info.thinknear.com/rs/835-JWB-681/images/Thinknear_Location_Score_Index_Q4_2017.pdf?utm_source=&utm_medium=&utm_campaign=&utm_term=&utm_content=
3. AI In Retail: How Tech Is Changing The Customer Experience, Forbes.com, March 26, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/03/26/ai-in-retail-how-tech-is-changing-the-customer-experience/?sh=47f31dc1958a
4. Accelerating Agility: eCommerce Marketing Lessons from Sephora, Bluecore.com, https://www.bluecore.com/blog/accelerating-agility-ecommerce-marketing-sephora/
5. Roadrunnersports.com, https://www.roadrunnersports.com/blog/quiz-which-nike-shoe-best-fits-your-personality-free-rn-or-free-rn-flyknit/
6. 5 Outstanding Omnichannel Retail Examples In Fashion, Intelistyle.com, https://www.intelistyle.com/omnichannel-retail-best-examples-fashion/
Insights, Trends, and Predictions for 2021
Insights, Trends, and Predictions for 2021
The next few months should see us at the cusp of a post-pandemic economy – with multiple vaccines looming over the horizon, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for another tumultuous year globally – a new US President and people adjusting to a post pandemic world. There’s a few trends born out of the disruptions over the year to note when considering the state of eCommerce moving into 2021, and I’ve decided to highlight what we believe are the five most important trends. Of course, I hasten to add, every single one of my predictions could be wrong. I have learned at a very young age that I have no orbuculum at my disposal and my scrying is a game of dice!
Each trend connects with a greater cluster of users, from the consumer all the way to the integrity of the digital economy, so understanding each pillar of these predictions can go a long way in preparing for future disruptions and innovations ahead.
Hyper-personalizations: Considering the Consumer Alone
As buyer profiles grow more and more distinct with the aggregation of big data and the development of machine learning, hyper-personalization is a vital component of building modern customer experience. The world will move from broad segmentation to one to one marketing as the technology to further target content to the individual advances. We’ve begun to see this already to great effect in social media eCommerce as platforms like TikTok and Instagram have mastered the endless scroll via tailoring content specific to the individual, and now we see clear opportunities for early adopters in both B2B and B2C spaces to capture significant growth. Marketing to broad segments like Millennials or Baby Boomers won’t do. Everyone in these segments is unique so think about how you deliver 1:1 personalization.
The Elastic Enterprise: Reevaluating Business Models
With demand and supply becoming global, business models will change. We will see more Direct to Consumer (DTC) and composite hybrids – B2B, B2C and B2B2C power the digital economy. Both DTC and B2B2C are now proven business models that have challenged conventional wisdoms in eCommerce and thrived in the wake of their disruption. Throughout the pandemic, DTC models have transformed household essentials into subscription based services that are tailored to one’s needs and personalized to their wants. B2B2C models on the other hand have allowed businesses to specialize in providing services to other smaller businesses who you may engage – like an air conditioning supplier (B) who works with the small business contractor (b) you (c) trust.
The Longitudinal Book of Record: Understanding Connected Data Science
So I know your name and email. Over time I get to know your preferences.I keep building the small stub of information I have on you- like building a longitudinal book of record. Omnichannel has long been an established pillar of the digital economy, but going into the next decade, connected channels and the data science behind them will only skyrocket in significance. Companies will rely on building an infinitely extendable longitudinal book of record by collecting and compiling data from various channels – connected channels will be the next big thing. Efficient and effective CRMs, OMS’, and ERP solutions will help ensure that a business has that central node by which all customer interactions can connect towards. Building that book of record is the key piece in accumulating and executing the data to accomplish the sort of CX transformations like hyper-personalization that distinguish one commerce practice from another.
The Speed of the Human Mind: Powering Mass Consumption Instantly via 5G
Infrastructure across nations, cities, homes and businesses will upgrade to 5G to cater to mass consumption of information, instantly, everywhere, and as a result, the consequences to the digital economy will be staggering. Already we’ve seen brick and mortar rapidly erode from its conventional use-case as the nexus of shopping into a portal of customer experiences and tailored moments to match robust eCommerce solutions. 5G and the ensuing wave of digital infrastructure will only accelerate those trends further as it becomes even easier to search, engage, and purchase via any electronic device. Furthermore, that digital infrastructure can capture new consumer markets globally, putting more emphasis on useful technologies that can ensure fulfillment and tax liability across the world. So are you ready to deliver rich media. Chips, computers, phones, infra and 5G are ready to deliver it.
Resilience: Safeguarding Your Business and the Digital Economy
All it took is one pandemic to change the nature of business irrevocably. Companies will seek to protect themselves from such events – a mindset to be battle ready in all circumstances has emerged. Both digital security protocols and multiple routes of fulfillment will be top of mind for businesses as the world moves closer to a pandemic vaccine. Tools to ensure credit monitoring and ID theft protection will find more and more value as we tilt even further into a digital first economy.
All in all, these insights reveal a commanding trend towards leveraging new technologies to heighten CX in the space. Between personalization, distribution, speed, and safety, disruption comes in many waves that each elevate a business towards the most efficient and effective commerce experience. We’re excited to implement these insights and heighten the brands we work with over the next years, and capture our onwards and upwards sentiment with the changing digital economy. In short: is your business capable of change. Rapidly.
