We’ve heard that e-Commerce has moved forward rapidly from something that was expected to be happening in a couple of years to being a reality in just a few weeks, adapting itself to the immediate demands generated due to the Coronavirus crisis. Retail is one of the unique industries that understood the needs of a digital transformation and under these circumstances reacted and managed to mitigate the pandemic’s impact. The results are clear and we’ve already mentioned some of them in our latest post.
In spite of that and looking ahead, the world’s biggest challenge is to discover if we are facing a new way of doing business or if it is just a simple and momentarily reconfiguration of players. What’s clear is that e-Commerce has become the leading actor and the greatest hope regarding a fast and secure economic recovery.
The numbers speak for themselves. According to experts, at this point of the year e-Commerce sales in its different areas have increased more than 50%, a significant growth that has benefited both big chain stores and small and medium sized companies. But even though the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs alerted that the worldwide economy could end the year with an 0.9% decrease, the e-Commerce industry growth has been outstanding. In fact, it is estimated that some Latin American countries evolved in six weeks what they would have accomplished in a couple of years, both in supply and in demand.
Before the Coronavirus crisis, the retail industry was already booming due to constant innovation. We must take advantage of this ‘positive’ scenario by providing better shopping and omnichannel experiences, to strengthen relationships with our customers, and to improve their experience with our brand.
We suggest some key concepts that can be useful for your daily success:
Cross selling
It has happened to all of us, going to a store with the idea of buying only one thing and ended up buying other stuff we were not looking for. The idea of cross selling, which strengthens in this new scenario, has a lot to do with that. In order to make the customer buy another product on top of the one they were already going to buy, what we can do is to recommend products related to their interests or previous purchases. We can increase interaction with our customers through e-mail marketing, reassuring fidelity to our brand and getting closer to them, something very important for medium and long lasting relationship.
Chatbots
We are used to entering a website and finding some kind of online chat. Most of the time there is a bot that answers FAQ which doesn’t personalize the customer’s shopping experience. Can one of your stores employees answer those messages through your ERP? Nowadays most clients are ‘virtual’ and helping them personally navigate through your website may end up gaining a new loyal customer to your brand.
Tracking codes
Digital users have very similar shopping behaviors to those going physically to the stores, the only difference being that they cannot touch and feel the product.
In the digital world, a tracking code is very important to guarantee a satisfying delivery and it is also important to keep simple and agile sales support in order to provide assistance when required.
Shopping experience evaluation
Customers need a space to leave their comments and reviews. Now more than ever we must let them know that they are very important to us.
In essence, the retail industry mustn’t stop and rest. At RetailApp we are constantly looking for innovation. How about you, what are you doing to improve your business?
