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In
my view…we are fast approaching another holiday shopping
season in what is now the second decade of the Internet playing a part in
the retail marketing and selling mix – for the holiday season and
through-out the year. What
have we learned and what are certainties about selling online within an
Internet-integrated retail strategy?
Online
retail is still retail:
Peel the veneer off the latest, greatest online marketing or
selling strategy, customer service concept, or sales tool, and what you
will find if you look closely are the time-tested elements of classic
retailing dressed up in today’s jargon.
The pattern from the introduction of each new e-retailing strategy
or tactic has become predictable. The
early proponents of the new strategy or tactic invariably hype the new
idea as having the power and the capacity to control and manage the
customer through to the happy conclusion of the customer spending the
maximum possible dollars buying whatever the seller is trying to sell.
With
equal certainty, what happens three or six months down the road is that
the customer audience gets a solid handle on what this new marketing
approach or selling tactic is all about, and begins re-establishing
control of the transaction process. Oftentimes
this includes turning the new selling tactic or tool around to work for
the benefit of the customer, significantly diminishing the role of the
seller in managing the transaction. E-commerce
is transformed from a selling experience to a buying experience.
This does not mean that the opportunity for the retailer to make a
sale is diminished. Quite the
contrary. A knowledgeable,
confident, satisfied customer is a loyal customer, bringing her business
to her favourite multichannel retailer, knowing that her patronage is
appreciated and she will be well served.
Online
retailing has natural limits:
We all remember the over-the-top claims in the late ‘90s that
e-commerce was going to destroy traditional storefront retailing, sweeping
away high streets and malls in its path.
Even the most sage analysts and prognosticators were predicting
that e-commerce would grow to 30 – 40 – 50% of all retailing within a
few short years. Today,
depending on what we include or exclude as retail categories, e-commerce
has barely reached 4% of total retailing in
North
America
.
And the online retail growth curve is quickly flattening out.
As I first wrote more than ten years ago, the best that e-retailing
can realistically hope to achieve is an 8 to 10% share of total retailing,
which is exactly the range of market share enjoyed by direct mail and
catalog sales in that retail channel’s heyday in twenty years ago.
It
is still only half your online advertising that works:
Cutting through all the hype and noise from online marketing
agencies and advertising software vendors about the precision and near
perfection with which their ad management tools and services can convert
your prospective clients into paying customers, and we find that things
have actually not progressed all that far from the day when John Wanamaker
famously said “half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the
trouble is I don't know which half."
Frankly if there was one, two, or even a small handful of
sure-fire, guaranteed ways to convert a customer and gain a profitable
sale, the online marketing game would be over.
Every online and Internet integrated retailer would be doing the
same few things and all would be maximizing sales and profits.
This certainly is not the case today, and I don’t believe it ever
will be.
Customers
change – their interests, their priorities, their lifestyles, things
they find entertaining, where they live, how they live – everything that
influences your customer’s shopping habits is constantly evolving.
Last year’s marketing campaign is not going to garner the same
response this year as last. It
may be better, more likely not. Where
and how your customers will interact with your advertising and promotional
messaging is going to be different. Retailers
need to evolve as their customers evolve.
This means experimentation in adverting and promotional messaging.
Testing new concepts and new delivery methods.
Some tests will succeed, some will fall short.
Meaning that some of your advertising budget will be well spent and
some will be wasted. Just like
it was a hundred years ago when Wanamaker was the most successful retailer
in the
US
.
The
customer is always right:
It has been a fundamental and often-repeated axiom of retailing
that your customer is king, or queen, and the job of your store and your
company is to meet or exceed your customer’s expectations every day and
every time she visits your store – online and off.
Until the advent of online shopping, retailers may have enjoyed
some insulation from the need to always provide a superior customer
experience. In those good old
days, it was time-consuming for a disgruntled customer to find and travel
to a more service-friendly retailer’s shop.
No
longer is this the case. A
disgruntled customer can navigate to another retailer’s webstore in two
or three clicks of the mouse and complete her shopping, find the nearest
street-front location of the new retailer, or contact the retailer by
email or phone. Online or
offline, in today’s marketplace, retailers must excel in their customer
service every day and in every way, or the customer will be quickly lost
to a competitor. Every member
of your team must understand this and every customer touch point in your
business must reflect this.
What
does all this mean in practical terms?
It means that today’s retailing marketplace has changed
dramatically and hardly changed at all from pre-Internet days.
Customers are king. You
need to serve them enthusiastically and responsibly.
You need to proactively manage your marketing and promotional
campaigns and carefully measure results.
And you need to be in retailing for the love of the game.
It is a sector that I have happily been a part of throughout my
career. There is no other game
like it.
To
stay up-to-date on new ideas and proven best practices in
Internet-integrated retailing, visit www.bricksNclicksPROFITS.com
regularly for the latest VIEWPOINT
and links to articles from a wide variety of web-strategy experts.
Happy
retailing,
Peter
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contact Peter, click here
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