On July 25th, several members of AMP’s Integrated Media team attended the MITX eCommerce Summit at Google’s Cambridge offices. The event featured speakers from different companies and firms sharing their research and first-hand experience in ecommerce. There were many important points of view and even a great demonstration of Wayfair’s augmented reality app WayfairView which allows users to visualize furniture and décor in their homes before buying online, but the one overarching theme of the summit was the intersection of online and offline moments on the customer’s journey to a sale. From the summit, they three defining takeaways where:
1.Digital Sales Should Not Be Treated As Separate
One practice that some retailers still follow is that sales via online channels are different and separate from in-store sales. The reality of today’s customer is that these two types of sales are interconnected and should be managed that way. If retailers track and measure their sales channel in silos, they are missing the larger consumer trends. A survey result revealed that 76% of consumers use digital devices to shop prior to their store trip. Before they step into a store, they have made multiple digitally influenced decisions that led them there. The new approach for retailers should be to view these channels holistically.
- Inspiration
- Research
- Selection
- Purchase
- Return/Service
Each of these moments should have offline and online initiatives to influence the consumer to sales. It is up to the marketing teams to define how to best reach the consumer when they enter each of these moments with a holistic approach. These moments can also be seen as points of friction, which could lead to the consumer ending their journey before the sales, or points of leverage, which could lead to opportunities to upsell or gain brand loyalty.
2. Deciding on the Path to Differentiation
For retailers to find their path to business growth, they need to find their path to differentiation. Understanding how and when they reach consumers will enable the organization to map their interactions with their target audience. The first step on this path is to reduce the friction that consumer may encounter when they interact with the retailer. From there, the retailer can work on uniform cross-channel experiences for all consumer interactions no matter where they happen. The final step on the path to differentiation from the rest of the retailer pack is the drive omni-channel results, which is ultimate goal to secure big sales growth.
Our team learned a great deal from the Summit. Regardless of whether you attended or not, if you would like to discuss the topic outlined below, please reach out to us- we’d love to chat.
Dive deeper into optimizing your online product pages and customer journey. Learn more about what our E-commerce Agency can do for your brand.
