"DARKER TIMES AHEAD" FOR DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER BRANDS, AS THEY LOSE ￡340K IN 2020 DUE TO POOR eCOMMERCE PLANNING AND EXECUTION

It is widely predicted that eCommerce will grow significantly due to the coronavirus pandemic, as more consumers are moving towards online shopping.

In a recent interview, Vice President of emerging technology research, IDC, Zhong Zhenshan recently claimed: “People are gradually moving from offline shopping to online, and this won’t change when the epidemic is over. This will have a positive impact on the whole eCommerce industry”.

Whilst this is true, it is vital to remember that eCommerce businesses will only thrive in-light of this global health crisis, if they plan and execute accordingly. A new study commissioned by digital experts, Greenlight Commerce and BigCommerce stated that “2020 could be an ever darker year for direct-to-consumer brands, if they don’t fix their eCommerce planning and execution”.

What does this ultimately mean? Well, these experts claim that poor eCommerce planning and execution will cost D2C brands a catastrophic ￡304K in 2020.

HARD-HITTING STATISTICS FROM THE STUDY

The study carried out by BigCommerce, questioned 100 UK-based eCommerce decision makers within the D2C sector. It found that brands are expected to waste ￡146,000 on poor eCommerce planning and ￡158,000 on poor eCommerce execution next year (2021).

A whopping ￡1.198m will be allocated on eCommerce projects by D2C retailers, but almost a third (31%) are expected to miss some key objectives, thanks to haphazard planning, or a negligence in planning altogether.

Shockingly, more than half (59%) of D2C businesses admit that their organisation will miss out on key objectives in 2020, if their existing planning is not improved. 49% of these respondents identify “better planning” as a means to improve the success of eCommerce projects, with 46% highlighting better budget management, and 42% highlighting better communication between departments.

To add to this, the vast majority of D2C brands are failing with the “measurement” of eCommerce projects and not keeping-track with key metrics:

• 75% are failing to measure abandoned carts
• 74% are not measuring the ROI of a project
• 71% are not measuring loading times

During a time where cash reserve for businesses is key, it is absolutely critical that we take heeds of these survey results. Rather than simply accepting that over ￡300k is to be wasted on eCommerce projects this year, businesses need to ensure that they are planning ahead and working with partners who understand their organisations and respective industries.

eCommerce projects require leadership; they need to be planned, executed, and measured correctly. Senior management teams need to therefore “take the reins” for their organisation(s), to decrease the chances of failed eCommerce projects.

As experts in eCommerce, Wow Group offers a range of solutions to address this market need. We understand the variability of eCommerce, as well as the importance of being able to adapt (and evolve) with it accordingly. For advice on how you can stop your organisation from losing thousands of pounds as a result of failed eCommerce projects, get in touch at:

https://wow-group.co.uk/what-we-do/strategy/#section_contact_us