Amazon, Drones, Augmented Reality… What are the biggest ecommerce threats to your business?

Market change is a constant

As a business leader in the dynamic eCommerce environment, you are aware of the need to constantly stay in touch with the ever changing face of this market: Customer behaviour and expectations are changing rapidly and new business opportunities can come from the most unexpected places – the last thing you need is to be diverted from your well-laid plans by yet another threat coming from outside.

But what if we said that the greatest ecommerce threats doesn’t come from outside, but from within? More specifically, from the ability to execute effective, timely responses to any market shaping force, whatever its origin?

If you needed to, could you:

Enter a new international market overnight?

China is a big talking point, but what about other emerging markets; do you have limitless currency options, or the ability to spin up a new portal within days not months?

Respond to a competitor’s promotion within hours?

Simply countering with the same offer is at best ineffective; could you quickly execute a strategy to protect your highest value customers first?

Personalise your customers’ interactions based on their preferences and previous sales history?

True affinity is built through a combination of intelligence and a personal touch; can your solution for example; offer a matching wedding ring to a customer who’d bought an engagement ring on their previous visit to your store

Constantly evolve your customer experience through being a first mover onto new platforms and media?

Invention and consumer adoption of new tech ecosystems is accelerating; what kind of business could you be doing through wearables and smartwatches? 

So how did you fare? Or more importantly: What are the actions you think you should take today to enable your business to better respond to any market-shaping force tomorrow?

If you think that your ecommerce technology platform is a key enabler to delivering your customer revenue goals and keeping pace with the market, you’re right. The good news is that cost effective, scalable technology and adaptable ecommerce platforms are available in the market today that easily deliver the above outcomes for your business, and more.

However, to make the most of future revenue growth opportunities your business must be able to keep reinventing and innovating itself and its customer offering as well.

This is easier said than done of course; with so many variables in play and never enough time. Working with our clients we’ve helped simplify this by identifying four critical activities that keep the online commerce customer experience moving forwards:

Build Your Online Sales and Operations Plan

Know where you are today in every detail, know where you’re going given every eventuality – With the actions you’re taking to build your business tied back to revenues, you’ll have a crystal-clear picture on what’s working and what’s not; and what to do next.

Understand all Customer Touch Points to Build the Online Experience

Cross Channel analysis is the ability to truly understand what impact your online store is having on your physical one, and vice versa – knowing the true value that all customer touch points bring to your business – for example having the ability to match in store merchandising to what’s happening on the online store in real-time, driving “in the moment” sales.

Create a “Customer-Led Go to Market Strategy”

Customer Offerings Innovation helps you drive your business forward based on being a first-responder to emerging “customer demands”– Learn how to test and adapt your business model and “go-to-customer” strategy before your revenue starts dropping; conceive of new products and offerings even before there are markets for them; test, fail fast, pivot.

Build Competency Partner Models

To drive your customer experience - Stick to doing what you know, find partners to do what you don’t – With offerings in areas such as logistics, payments and marketing evolving daily, it pays to keep abreast of potential partners and their own developing offerings, and to keep them on their toes.

When you’re effectively carrying out all of these activities and combining them with the right robust, customer centric and agile ecommerce technology platform, you’ve got all the ingredients to drive your organisation to move with the market and ride the wave of success.

What’s stopping you from leapfrogging your competitors and becoming the next Amazon, Drone or AR threat to the market?

To get started, why not take a look at our free eBook
Ten Steps to Online Sales Success

If you’d like help in working out how you can Do Better for your business,
get in touch.