Can your ecommerce solution keep pace with digital transformation services?
4 min read
According to Statista, about 2.14 billion people across the globe are expected to shop for products and services online in 2021 – an increase of almost 30% since 2016. Along with this enormous global ecommerce expansion, digital innovations are taking ecommerce solutions – and the customer experiences they deliver – to the next level.
For instance, through the power of augmented reality it's possible to show customers (virtually) what a piece of furniture will look like in their home – or a pair of glasses on their face. It only takes a few creative businesses to deliver such experiences before tech-savvy consumers start to expect them, forcing other businesses to keep up or lose out.
To adapt to this new reality – to stay relevant and competitive – ecommerce enterprises and retailers with both physical and ecommerce outlets are focusing on new expectations in the customer journey, and responding with what is often called experience-driven commerce. So what exactly is experience-driven commerce? And how can modern ecommerce solutions help you step up to deliver it?
Experience-driven commerce: definition and benefits
Experience-driven commerce provides customers with immersive, personalized and connected experiences through their buying journey. It delivers a seamless, coherent experience across different channels and touchpoints, both physical and digital. It does so by:
- Using real-time data insights to deliver relevant messages, offers and experiences at the right time, in the right place and in the right way – giving customers stronger reasons to purchase and do so repeatedly
- Using hyper-personalization to create a stronger emotional bond and memorable shopping experiences
- Using cutting-edge technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, automation and AI to meet new digital expectations and deliver experiences – such as digital equivalents of physical interactions – that convert browsers to buyers
All of this plays a major role as a differentiator in a world where customers can connect and shop on their own terms, any time of the day or night, at home or on the go. Brands are using experience-driven commerce to stand out to customers and delight them. As a result they're able to sell more to their existing customers, grow their customer base, and turn more of their customers into happy and loyal brand advocates.
Examples of experience-driven commerce
Nike started with limited product personalization as long ago as 1999, but took it to the next level much more recently with a more engaging, interactive 3D customization platform that not only lets customers build their own products but makes it easy for them to share snapshots of their creations.
And Foot Locker has used customer insight to create experiences such as an augmented reality-based scavenger hunt in Los Angeles in partnership with Nike. The sneaker-obsessed people who completed the scavenger hunt (using geotargeted clues) were able to unlock access to a limited-edition offering from Nike. Events such as these give Foot Locker even more insight into its customers, setting the company up for the next stage of its journey: AI-supported personalization.
When it comes to experience-driven commerce, each brand needs to find out what works for them and develop a creative strategy to outperform the competition.
Getting started with experience-driven commerce
It can take time to develop an experience-driven commerce strategy and put your own creative stamp on it. But there are fundamentals that always apply, and here are three of them to guide your first steps.
- It's all about omnichannel. It's not just that bricks-and-mortar retailers are increasingly integrating ecommerce into their business models (especially following the pandemic), but also that many ecommerce-only businesses have found that providing the right kind of physical interface or experience is a powerful way to grow. Even when customers are online-only, they're typically not restricted to a single channel. They move between the browser on their PC and the app on their phone to make a single purchase, they ask brands questions on social media and share feedback on other apps and websites. They use an increasing variety of devices, not just smartphones and computers but wearables, smart TVs and game consoles – and everything is connected. Experience-driven commerce is very much about integrating the touchpoints that matter to your customers, so that they have a seamless experience irrespective of the channel.
- Don't assume you know your customers; get the data. Simply knowing that you need to deliver a coherent cross-channel experience doesn't tell you which channels matter for your business. So start by collecting and analysing data on how your customers interact with your brand and products, what their engagement channels are and what their buying journey looks like. Use this data to define audience personas and plot typical journeys specific to your business, which can then inform your choices when building coherent omnichannel experiences.
- Personalize the customer journey. According to a study by SmarterHQ, 72% of consumers say they engage only with brands providing personalized messages tailored to their interests. There are many ways for you to meet this expectation. Recommendation engines, for example, allow you to suggest relevant products in response to customer searches. Artificial intelligence applications can uncover deeper insights about customers to inform the offers you make – and help you respond to customer activity in real time. In-store beacons can help you bridge the physical/digital divide in a highly targeted way. There is no shortage of ways to create more personalized experiences for your customers.
Putting the right ecommerce solution in place
To manage the fundamentals of experience-driven commerce, you've got to have the right technologies in place. Here we’re focusing on your ecommerce platform, but it's not all you'll need. You'll want a platform that integrates with a customer relationship management (CRM) tool and possibly also an advanced data analytics solution. These should work together to help you build a 360-degree view of your customers.
Whether your best strategy is to make the most of existing systems or to invest in new technologies, make sure you create an ecommerce environment that is both agile and cost-effective. Cloud-based solutions are an increasingly common route to take for this reason.
There are many must-have features for a modern ecommerce solution – not all related to experience-driven commerce. But with that as our focus, the key capabilities you should look for include:
- A mobile-first focus, enabling you to respond to the increased use of mobile phones and their strength in encouraging immediate purchase and sharing of reviews
- Ecommerce analytics that let you track visitor behaviour on your site and learn what's working and what isn't, where they're from, when they buy, how and what they buy, and much more
- A recommendation engine to help you personalize the buying experience
- Support for augmented or virtual reality applications that will help you close the gap between physical and digital experiences and elevate the ecommerce experience you deliver to customers
To learn more about your options for building an ecommerce solution that can keep pace with customer expectations, explore our 'Essential guide to going global with ecommerce.'
Baljeet Singh
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