Multi-Channel Commerce & Retailing

In one of my earlier blogs on rediff i had discussed this concept of a socially networked marketplace. I had discussed the concept of a market-place like Amazon or Ebay with an embedded functionality of social networking. Therefore, sellers and customers end up socially networking - Sellers to promote their services and products and customers would network with other customers and sellers. Also there was another idea envisaged there - A scocial networking site with the functionality of an e-commerce website (e.g what happens if Orkut / facebook / Myspace - enable their users to list products and services with a basket checkout functionality). There are other nuances to be considered as well, when we talk of a socially networked marketplace - Would an ecommerce retailer ever want such a functionality to be built into their website, where customers can network amongst each other? 

I happened to come across this artice http://www.storefrontbacktalk.com/securityfraud/setting-limits-on-customers-talking-with-each-other-in-e-commerce/ last week. Amazon has made its first move against customers and sellers getting in touch with each other directly. This only means that Amazon is now moving into a phase where they want customers and sellers to network through the amazon network and not through personal email, as before. Once the communication between users of the marketplace goes out of the network, Amazon looses all control. Having said this, we may assume that amazon would want to enable the feature of social networking on its own network - rather than customers joining the sellers personal twitter, myspace or linkedin networks and letting amazon loose all control over its customers.

This is probably the first move of its kind and in the days to come other retailers would take cue and follow.  

Posted by Sanjeev Kulkarni at 05:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As social commerce becomes more and more widespread, companies are starting to realise the ‘power of the people’. By this I mean more and more shoppers are speaking to each other about their purchases. What they liked about the product, what they disliked, and how their expectations were different from what they actually received.

Continue reading "There is nothing average about my star rating!" »

Posted by Jonathan Nobbs at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Previously shoppers in major cities such as New York, London, Paris and Los Angeles were the only ones privy to one of the best kept secrets - the designer sample sale!  Shoppers typically line up for hours on end and rush to get designer outfits at stellar prices.  Some sample sales require exclusive invitations and set up allocated appointment times in secret locations all over the city.  Traditionally sample sales include a narrow selection of high end merchandise with limited inventory at ridiculously reduced prices for a very short amount of time.  Now shoppers all over the country are getting access to sample sales that were previously only accessible to the fortunate few to be at the right time and right place.

Over the recent year, there has been a rise in the phenomenon of online sample sale websites. While the retail industry has seen a decline in sales this past year, online sample sale sites are doing relatively well in this recessionary climate as shopaholic women (and men!) with a taste for high end fashion are drawn to this online guilty pleasure. 

While there are a few top contenders that have taken the market by storm, the market is starting to see more and more e-tailers attempting to grab a piece of the pie.  Some of my favorite sites are:

Continue reading "Online Sample Sales - E-tailers Beware!" »

Posted by Behnaz Ghahramani at 07:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

By now, you’ve probably heard about the incident where two Dominos employees decided to enhance food intended for customers with their own special recipe of additives.  If not, you can read about it here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/business/media/16dominos.html?_r=2&ref=business

The internet is dense with examples of how web 2.0 communications, e.g. blogs, gripe sites, social networks have created havoc and damage to corporate brands and images.  There is no question that these new media will persist and likely proliferate.  Just pick a company name and insert it into the URLs www.IHATE(companyname).com or www.(companyname)SUCKS.com.  There’s a good chance the site already exists.  The internet is a double edged sword that can buy you desired awareness and public praise or place a giant e-spotlight on your least proud moments faster than child actor gossip travels to TMZ.  Some of the most compelling sources of information are employees, current or past, publicly praising or covertly condemning.

So from a governance and management perspective, how do you wield this potentially awesome yet dangerous tool to your advantage?  How do you exert control over the effect of your employees on your image and brand while still respecting them and respecting their rights?

• Is it ethical, moral, and/or legal to disparage your employer online?  Does it matter whether you do it during work hours versus during time off?
• How do you differentiate between an employee stating an opinion versus disparaging their employer and possibly sharing sensitive information?
• What are the implications of posting trade secrets?  How do you define a trade secret?
• What policies should be instituted to protect against these damaging information?  What policies and enforcements can be instituted?
• Are there consequences for posting false information?

Some ideas about developing your corporate position on participating in web 2.0 communications related to the company:

• Do you have goals/ guidelines for what you want to accomplish using social media (e.g. raise awareness and visibility, supplement the traditional channels of communication like help lines)?
• Do you have relevant guidelines for this area for proper business conduct?
• Are employees explicitly informed as to whether they are allowed to participate in social media during company time?
• Do you have/ want/ need an oversight or review function?
• Do you have explicit guidelines on what can be posted on internal social media platforms?
• Are employees allowed to identify their company affiliations on their public messages and postings?
• Do you have guidelines for how your employees discuss the competition?

Some thoughts for employees thinking about sharing their thoughts indiscreetly:

• Are you really anonymous on the web?
• Can the company find you?
• Can the company monitor your web activity?
• If the company does find you, can it fire you?

Yes, plenty of questions and not many answers at this stage of the game.  What I can tell you in this space is this: Enterprises should manage social network dangers with sensible policies leveraging a combination of proper training and use of technology.  Do not do this reactively to a recent fire that was created, but go through the necessary thought process (like the questions above) and develop a position on what you want to accomplish.  Then your policy can be developed to support these goals.

Your next challenge will then be getting your employees to follow the policies, but that’s a topic for another time.

Have you successfully implemented social media guidelines that reduce risk to your brand, yet provide your employees freedom (and hopefully leave their Constitutional rights intact)?  How do you measure success in this area?

Posted by Lester Lam at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My fellow blogger Rockey has recognized the arrival of Mobile-apps and the increasing retail presence in the space[i]. I want to further expand on this topic by recognizing some important trends – predicted boom in smartphone usage and increasing demographic variety of users. Both of these suggest customization as a way of creating value of the consumer interaction in this space.

1.       Mobile-apps are booming

There over 30,000 apps on the Apple appstore and they are growing by the day. The rest of the major players – Microsoft, Palm, RIM and Google either already have or are planning to open an appstore of their own. The number of smartphone users capable to access those apps is expected to quadruple in 2013 growing to 100MM[ii] . The large variety of apps paired with the ever improving technical specs of the phones are truly driving the convergence into a single device for work and play – work an Excel sheet, level a bookcase, find a favorite song or your parked car and play an office prank with the iFart app.

2.       User profile is changing

At first, smartphones were only used by the high income early-adopter user type. However, this trend is quickly changing with prices becoming more affordable and users willing to spend more for a multi-functional device. The growth rates in iPhone adoption are three times higher in incomes $25K - $50K as compared to over $100K[iii]. This trend will most likely continue into the future and smartphones will penetrate even further into a variety of demographic segments where users will have starkly different interests and needs. Combined with the plethora of information, available apps and the small screen size for access, customization will become of high priority.

Both of these trends imply that if a retailer does not yet have a viable presence in mobile-apps they need to start working on it. But even more importantly, the retailer needs to be thinking of ways to provide a customized experience that will be essential in user satisfaction and creating value in this space.

Retailers can start by customizing the landing page based on the user profile when their domain is accessed by a smartphone.  To solve this they can marry their current segmentation approach and identify the top 3 product groups and activities that those segments perform on their web page or store. Then, they can classify the phone user (getting the data from the mobile carrier) based on the segmentation and offer them the tailored landing page. If the user is classified to be part of the “Retired Consumer” segment, then they could be shown quick links to books, prescriptions and online photo. For the “Teen” segment the user can see music, fashion and school supplies.  This can be further tailored by the specific user behavior and preferences exhibited over time.

Additionally, retailers can improve the in-store experience by converting the smartphone into a functional shopping assistant. Large retailers can provide annotated store maps and pair them with the built-in phone GPS to assist in getting to the right places based on the user shopping list. While browsing the store the user can take a picture of an item bar code with their phone camera and use an app to match it against the product database to see e detailed list of features and reviews. Users can get tailored promotions on their phone as they are shopping and redeem right off their phone at the register. Market basket analysis performed on the specific user segment can be used to suggest relevant complements to the shopping lists created by the user.  Users could also be allowed to create “profiles” of their own, like Health Conscious , Environmentally Friendly or Price Focused and establish goals associated with that – concentrate on low-fat foods, save an additional $100 a month, lower carbon footprint etc. A mobile-app can be provided by the retailer to track the products purchased and match against the established goals, along with suggesting relevant products and additional activities that meet those goals.

Posted by Nikolay Trandev at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It all changed a couple of years back when Social Media began to rear its head and retailers started participating in Blogosphere and launching their own blogs. Since then it has been a gigantic rush to keep up with the ever emerging mediums and the online marketers have been pushing out the boundaries and leaping forward with the latest trends.

I decided to pick a few retailers randomly and see how they are keeping up with the emergence of these new channels.

Continue reading "iPhone Apps - The latest entrant in Social Media Marketing" »

Posted by Rockey Nebhwani at 06:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

With today’s recessionary climate, retailers are struggling even more to retain customers and get them to convert online.  It seems that these days online shoppers are much more careful about what they spend their money on.  As a result, comparison shopping is even more common and consumers are spending more time doing their research to make sure they are buying what they need at the best possible price.  Consumers have also become more sophisticated and have higher expectations during their online shopping experience.  Figures range anywhere from 50% to as high as 75% of abandoned carts in the online retail space.   As retailers struggle with ways to reduce this abandonment rate there are a few factors that need to be taken into consideration when deciding what to do to increase conversion.

While different tactics work for different retailers, it is clear that there are some common factors that cause consumers to abandon their carts and that they may not always be what you would be expecting!

Continue reading ""Please Don't Go!" How to Reduce Abandoned Shopping Carts" »

Posted by Behnaz Ghahramani at 06:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For years clothing, grocery, auto, home electronics, and DIY retailers have attempted to drive traffic into their stores with events, offers, coupons etc. Marketing departments crunch numbers and models trying to find relevance for their customer base, a very costly operation when considering staff and system costs.

How else can you drive traffic into your store? The concept of viral marketing and social networking has caught on, but the practical applications are few and far between. Youtube videos are great for advertising products. Facebook widgets can do the same. If you’re a retailer, however, it takes something more to drive people to your store.

Continue reading "Flash Mob Anyone?" »

Posted by Seth Lively at 08:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

LinkedIn recently announced launch of its open application platform for others to develop social applications. (http://blogs.zdnet.com/social/?p=600). Out of those, the one which caught my attention was an application named as the “Reading List” developed by Amazon. Those, who haven’t seen this yet, would probably want to take a look at the Demo video on YouTube. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNlANI9juY8). However, if you think about this, this is not the first time somebody has developed an application like this on a social network.  So, you might be wondering as to what makes this one different?

Continue reading "Amazon & LinkedIn – Collaborative Prospects" »

Posted by Rockey Nebhwani at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

The global slowdown is clearly hitting consumers. Daily tales of restricted financing, foreclosures, and credit denial are all too frequent in the media. Yet, online channels seem to, if anything, be benefitting from this relative economic slowdown. In an article reviewing such changes in the Wall Street Journal (Nov.13th 08, "Net Gains" - Nikesh Arora, Google Snr VP, & Pres. EMEA) the indicators for self service and shopping online seemed to be tracking upwards as consumers look for value and cost reduction.

Continue reading "Credit Crunch - Crisis or Opportunity?" »

Posted by Billy Byatt at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In my travels and conversations with clients, I’m often excited about the high levels of interest I see in all things Web2.0 and Social Commerce. Corporate executives find themselves taking cues from their teenage offspring about what’s hot in this space, chatting to friends about these weird and wonderful behavioral creatures called Social Networks, and engaging on the web in ways they never have before just to keep up with the fast pace of industry developments.

Having said that, I’m struck by the fact that, despite all their excitement, very few people and companies actually have a meaningful strategy to employ the many powerful concepts these topics embody.  As a result, they’re forced to give cagey responses to questions from superiors about how much to budget for Web2.0 and Social Commerce in the next year. It’s almost as though there’s a reluctance to experiment with the ideas because there’s no clear answer to where they should begin. Is a company blog the right place to start? Perhaps ratings & reviews are the way to go? Or maybe we should build a widget for Facebook? You get the point… lots of action but not a whole lot of strategy. Kinda like a goat rodeo…

Recently, I heard the folks from Forrester allude to this phenomenon as “approach avoidance” syndrome. You know, the “I should probably be doing something about this, but I’m not quite sure what, so I’ll just continue to dabble and perhaps one day I’ll wake up and it’ll all be crystal clear to me” approach. This isn’t a challenge unique to web2.0/social commerce, and I’m sure we can borrow countless examples from the history of emerging technologies to illustrate how disruptive technologies can put you into a strategic tailspin. But, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t address it.

So then, the question remains, isn’t it time for a simple, easy-to-apply framework for understanding the social commerce possibilities and defining the right strategy for your company? I think it is….

Stay tuned for my next blog, when I’ll break social commerce down into the handful of business models it  supports, and discuss a simple approach to creating a meaningful social commerce strategy.

Posted by Devon Ferreira at 08:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)