This requires major investments in the back office: an integrated customer view must ensure that the consumer does not have to re-introduce himself in every channel. If the consumer adds a product to his wishlist on his mobile, it must also appear on the website from his desktop. Customers who buy products online want to return or exchange them offline. When he calls the call center, he wants to know what he bought via the internet, and so on. For many companies, this will also mean that really implementing a cross-channel strategy will be a long and very challenging journey.
Pure e-tailers are in a comfortable position (or so they think…)
Pure e-tailers often wrongly think that they are therefore in a comfortable position. After all, brick-and-mortars carry a huge legacy from the past: an infrastructure that is designed to deliver via branches. Systems, distribution, customer service must be redesigned. This gives pure e-tailers a comfortable starting position. They have the direct channel as a starting point and can switch faster and easier. However, they forget the power of offline presence. A well-known store in the street is a beacon of trust and convenience. After all, the consumer knows that you can go there if you have a problem with your product. If you are not sure about your purchase, you first go and have a look in the store.
Bricks and mortars: persistence pays off
In the airline industry, we saw that in the first wave, the low-cost carriers took a big hit. Mologs like KLM were unable to respond adequately and lost significant market share. They are now just as competitive as the low-cost carriers and may even be able to play the game better than the small ones. It is possible that Hema, Bijenkorf and V&D will have made the same catch-up in a few years and will be ready to compete with competitors like Asos.com . H&M is already well on its way. They can offer their customers the complete journey for all products, in which they have reinvented every link in the chain.
Embedding in the digital eco-system necessary
In addition to the integration of our own channels, we also have to deal with the embedding in the digital eco-system. This means the system of social networks, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Google, Bolplaza, price comparison sites, etc., which are all connected to each other. Depending on the product and the phase in the purchasing process, customers will switch between the channels of the company and the eco-system. This means that a multi-channel company must set up its digital expressions in such a way that they form an integral part of it. Make sure you are where your customer is.
This also means that you have to participate in the eco-system, but also have to let the eco-system participate costa rica phone number list in your own digital platform. And that is not limited to just offering Facebook 'likes' on your product page. You can facilitate conversations about your products in the social networks, but also within your own environment. We are no longer talking about a social media strategy, but about the social strategy.
Integration into the eco-system
2012: The breakthrough of mobile
Until 2010, mobile commerce grew steadily thanks to the growing use of smartphones. However, the arrival of the iPad ensured the definitive breakthrough of mobile commerce. For many e-tailers, mobile turnover already amounts to 5% of the total. This also means that the time for experimenting is over and every self-respecting cross-channel provider will have to get their mobile web shop in order in 2012. The big discussion of 2012 will therefore be whether it should be an app or a mobile site . Thanks to HTML5, companies can go in all directions. We expect that for the shop function, the mobile site is usually the best solution and for a branded utility, an app will be better.