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As the economic downturn prevails, Verdict Consulting – the UK’s leading independent authority on retailing – points to the internet as a sustainable route to grow sales. Even in the current climate, the online channel continues to experience rapid growth: in the run up to Christmas, consumers turned to the internet with online sales up nearly 15 percent on a year ago.1
But online retailing is much harder to do well than it used to be. Gone is the traditional mass market of consumers with shared lifestyles and tastes. Today’s consumers all have distinct demands and expect different things from retailers, which makes selling even more of a challenge – both on and offline.
According to Verdict Consulting, consumers want a personalised shopping experience. To deliver this, you need to understand the different groups of consumers you serve and what they want from their online shopping experience. This doesn’t mean a different site for every customer. But a site that can adapt to suit the tastes of your consumer groups is essential.
Personalisation also has a role to play in your product ranges. The online environment is all about convenience: consumers want to find exactly what they’re looking for quickly and easily. Wherever possible, try to present your customers with the products that are most relevant to them. Again, this relies on you understanding your consumer groups; past purchase history and demographics can help you build up a good picture.
As the internet channel continues to experience rapid growth, Verdict Consulting warns that retailers can no longer afford to focus on a single, physical channel approach to retail. Offering consumers a credible multi-channel approach – one that combines physical and virtual stores – is a key component to maximise future growth opportunities.
But mastering the complexities of implementing and managing multi-channel commerce processes is a challenge in itself. hybris software is leading innovation in this field through the development of an integrated solution that unites all applications on a single platform, helping retailers communicate and sell across multiple channels in a consistent and effective way.
To find out more, please visit www.hybris.com
1 Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), 14 January 2009
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