Retail vs E-Commerce - Future of e-commerce - Part 2

Retail and online stores, are they really that different. I dare you to say no. You have visitors and customers you have products and you have supporting solutions to get your visitors to become customers. To get them to convert (if you have not you should click here to first read my article about conversion to understand this in detail...).

As you probably seen I have been composing a number of article series, all with the intention to educate you and help you outsmart competitors or just look good in the next meeting, where I write about the problem about the problems that e-commerce are struggling with, the future of e-commerce and what e-commerce is all about.

I love feedback and look forward to hearing what you think about any or all of the articles.

But now it’s time for us to look into the future again.

I have already explained and debated some about the various challenges and opportunities with online commerce. The possibilities are many compared to running a physical store, especially if you sell products or have the possibility to ship products worldwide. Internet give us the opportunity to work with a global customer base rather than the local customer base that you normally attract with a physical store.

Larger companies incorporate multiple channels of purchase, for example, H&M used to have mail order and their physical stores, the evolvement has been rapid since and today there are far more channels to operate in and to meet customers through.

After the launch of the worlds, first e-commerce site back in 1984 when CompuServe launched their “Electronic mall” things has evolved into multi-channel.

Multi-channel retailing is where e-commerce stores target customers on various channels beyond the company's webshop. Multichannel retailing has evolved beyond the multi-channel marketing which was first about trying to reach the customer through all media like, TV, Radio, and print ads, expanding to all corners of the internet as paid banner ads, text ads and more. Where multi-channel retailing is more about selling directly to consumers on social media, marketplaces, and other mediums.

Today we are moving fast into Omni Channel where a retail company integrates with all of the commonly used channels of shopping available to consumers, for example, but not limited to physical stores, e-commerce, over the phone and more. But more importantly, OmniChannel is about synchronizing all channels making sure that whatever happens in one channel affects all other channels too.

Let me explain it in a simplified way, imagine that you browse a website and find some products of interest, you add them to the cart and chose to pick up the items over the counter in a store nearby. You go to the store but one of the items are in the wrong color so you change the color of that item and chose to have it shipped to your home instead as it's too heavy to carry. On the way home, you realize that you want to change that items size also and you call the customer support instead of calling to the retail store, they pick up the order and make the modifications of that order for you. Making sure that you as a consumer can interact with your order and your profile in any channel without you having to repeat information or get the different price or product information between the different channels.

Now let's jump into the future, what are the next channel of purchase

The other day I was discussing what the next channel will be.

Let me explain at first so that I know you can follow my lead, a sales channel can be a retail store or an e-commerce site, but you can also buy using many other channels for example over the phone, in apps, mail order, kiosks, franchise, malls and more like virtual malls (Amazon and Alibaba group to name two of the largest ones).

Those are the more conventional ones but what do we see as the possible or potential new sales channels.

This is an incredibly interesting subject as we already see a massive amount of energy being put into these areas by large corporations as for example Apple, Google, Amazon, and Alibaba group.

Some are:

Augmented reality

VR

Chat

Chatbot

Voice control

Integrating with home automation

Eye tracking

Behavior-based

Usage-based

Social media platforms as stores

This leads me to the way we still divide things into channels.

Channels are a pipe, a controlled area where we communicate with a consumer to make them become a paying customer.

But channels are a thing of the past, we will no longer have customers that want to work with you in that way, consumers expect to be able to communicate with you in the method easiest used by them where they are right here right now.

This means that the customer expects a similar experience throughout the contact with the store.

The customer wants to be able to in the currently used channel, modify decisions previously made in other channels but also expect to be given the same presentation/information in all channels. And one of the worst things we get to do as consumers is to repeat our personal information and previously made decisions, your channels must have one data store for all the information that the consumer gives you so that you never ask again for details that have been given in any other channel previously.

This means that stores have to enable their systems to work with one data source of all product information. One customer database for all channels so that each channel read and write to the same source. One order (active, inactive and completed) database for all channels enabling each stream to modify and interact with orders placed in any other channel which also create a security question and you need to manage the access rights for everyone working in all channels.

Last but not least the customer will want to “feel at home”, if you go to a DHL office you for sure don’t want to get the feeling that you’re in a UPS office so in all channels you will have to work with the same tone of voice, look and feel.

You need to make the customer feel that they are in the same store independent of the channel they communicate through.

I hope this article gave you the insight to help you get started on improving your store for the future, and that you found some of the answers you were looking for. I am here to help you so don't be shy just reach out to me and we can have a chat about your current situation.

If you found interest in this article I believe that you also will be interested in reading the other article series that I'm writing about the future of e-commerce, you can find it here --> https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/future-e-commerce-part-1-consumer-relationship-karl-lillrud

I'm flattered that you have read this far and as I'm sure you can see I have put a lot of effort into making this as valuable and as educational as possible for you.

Since I started writing these articles I have been overwhelmed with positive comments when I meet with readers in person, but perhaps I won't meet you for a long time, so I like to ask you for two things:

1. I love feedback, just hit the like button or write your feedback either in a personal message or in the comment field. It could simply be that you agree with me, or you can point out things that you like me to elaborate on or perhaps what you hope to read about in the next article.

These articles are meant to help and educate you but if you think I'm shooting too high or too low I need to know so that I can finetune the aim for the next article a little so that it fits you perfectly.

2. I want your help to spread the word, I have been working in this business for many years already but I rarely see these type of articles, and to me, that's an alarm bell going off. The things I talk about are to a large extent things that almost everyone in the e-commerce business should know about but most people don't. So help me help your friends, help me spread this article so that we start solving these major problems and if you're interested in talking about it more I am here, just give me a call +46733133600 or send me an email [email protected]

If you like me to come and speak at an event, a seminar, a school, or in your office just reach out to me.

About the author:

Karl Lillrud is a serial entrepreneur with 21 years of experience from this segment.

Founder of one of the first interior design e-commerce sites in the Nordic countries where he back in early 2000 learned about the many challenges that e-commerce struggle with even today.

That's why Karl decided to help companies overcome these hurdles and focus on what matters most, keeping customers happy and helping the companies improve their market position. Being a public speaker and entrepreneurial mentor Karl love to share his experience and knowledge with the one goal to help others reach their success easier and faster.

Karl Lillrud

CEO of Lizer Group

[email protected]

www.lizergroup.com

+46733133600