Frank Lord, VP EMEA at ATG describes a new way of shopping that puts consumers directly in the driving seat and explains why technology is the real game-changer
The retail sector is one of the most dynamic, creative and lucrative markets the industry has to offer but like every other sector, retail has had to cope with the insurmountable rise of the internet. How retailers address the age of the internet is now a deal-breaker in determining success in the future and it is against this backdrop that we have witnessed the birth of ‘Commerce Anywhere’ – a trend which is set to fundamentally change the retail experience forever.
Growing channels to market
The days of simply visiting a shop to make a purchase are far behind us. In this world of Commerce Anywhere, consumers can access a variety of tricks and tools to access the goods and services they desire. Whether it’s visiting a price comparison site to find the best price on a new digital camera, to reading customer reviews on a social media site using a mobile phone browser or even contacting a customer care centre to check for your nearest stockist, the world of shopping suddenly becomes a much more complex and big place.
This challenge for retailers centres around ensuing they are providing a consistent brand experience across each of the different channels to market. How can retailers cross- and up-sell and increase loyalty, when the customer is changing their habits and preferences so frequently? Understandably, these are all tough questions that have to be posed and in today’s competitive market, the solution lies in technology to help enable these changes and allow us to benefit from them.
The Commerce Anywhere opportunity
In the new world of Commerce Anywhere, customer interactions need to be managed across any channel, any site, and any device. The most effective way of doing this is to have one single engine driving the whole cross-channel commerce experience. This could be through personalisation options to ensure a joined-up customer experience or even the sharing of basic information from carts to catalogues and promotions across each channel.
Commerce Anywhere creates an enormous opportunity for brands to enter new markets and create new offerings, without necessarily having to have a physical store. Organisations can use software to quickly and cost-effectively launch multiple customer engagement points including brand sites, mobile sites, social sites, affiliate sites, international web stores and in-store applications. Organisations can also quickly grow and expand the business in a variety of innovative ways, by creating deal-of-the-day offers, members-only shopping clubs, and marketing microsites for new brands from one central hub.
The importance of a centralised solution
A central platform is an excellent way for retailers to seize the opportunities presented by the Commerce Anywhere market. For example, by choosing a solution with a simple user interface it is possible to streamline common tasks, freeing up staff time to respond to market shifts, innovating, and creating competitive advantages for their brands via personalisation and other powerful merchandising strategies. Retailers can also quickly launch and cost-effectively manage promotions across a variety channels, allowing businesses to offer more targeted promotions and drive conversions all while maintaining margins.
This platform can also introduce greater cost savings for the business, reducing implementation and resource needs as well as project timelines, making the management of commerce applications much more streamlined. Systems that follow best practices in user experience, personalisation, merchandising, multi-site management, multi-language, technical architecture, and code structure, can also significantly decrease operational costs while vastly increasing the chances of success. Similarly by using software to manage search administration, search indexing, data caching, and catalogue load performance, it is possible to dramatically improve web page response and data load times.
A new era of shopping
Commerce Anywhere has arrived and with it consumers and retailers are changing the way they shop, sell and interact. The task at hand for businesses lies in delivering a truly personalised shopping experience that satisfies the customer and the revenues of the business and is something that retailers of every shape and size should address. Technology has the answers the industry is looking for and it is through the deployment of innovative, yet easy to use software resources that will set the winners from the losers in the months to come.
By Frank Lord
VP EMEA
ATG
www.atg.com
