We are all aware of cross-channel commerce (or, as some call it, omnichannel shopping), and the implications this new customer journey has for brands. Consumers use several channels to shop and obtain information before purchasing, therefore, the whole experience needs to be seamless and the information provided relevant at the time and appropriate for the channel used.
New technologies and new shopping habits mean car buyers are now driving their own purchase process – and, from what we heard at this year’s AM Digital Dealer conference, the impact on automotive businesses is huge.
The industry-specific conference highlighted the importance of having a well-rounded online strategy to help with the car buyer purchase journey, to ensure that the final purchase is one of your models or from one of your dealerships.
Whether businesses are ready for it or not, m-commerce looks set to hit the mainstream in 2012.
As part of the research for our new ebook, we dug into the latest research on consumer usage of mobiles as research and/or shopping tools. We were expecting to see usage increasing – but we were surprised by just how fast m-commerce is growing.
Here are some of the highlights, based on trends for the last six months:
The M-Commerce Pecha Kucha held by Ecommerce UK last week was a fantastic event – but more than this, it was a sign of the times.
The event was packed with marketers and ecommerce professionals all keen to hear about the latest m-commerce developments and best practices hammered out by their peers.
No one was waiting to be convinced that they need to start planning to consider adding mobile to their marketing or selling strategy - next year, or the year after. The savvy crowd already knew that m-commerce is happening now.
Will social commerce (or mobile commerce, or hyper-local commerce integration, or Facebook shops...) will become the new norm for all consumers? By getting caught up by black-and-white questions like this, we risk missing the true complexity of multi-channel shopping.
Multichannel does not mean that all consumers will use all the channels available to them. By neglecting consumer preferences, we risk missing the opportunity to make our interactions with consumers as engaging as possible - and seriously risk alienating consumers.
Multichannel integration doesn't have to be about offering brand new tools and experiences to your customers. In fact, it's usually better to think about how multichannel can combine the best of existing channels into a seamless experience for customers. This is an area in which Jessops, the UK's leading photography specialist retailer, and Pago, a new Californian start-up, are excelling.
Jessops tend to take a thoughtful approach to recent developments in technology and consumer habits, crafting responses that really work for the brand and its customers.
We're very pleased to see that our new partner GetItNow.gr has won an award for the best use of technology for customer service.
Social commerce is starting to take off in Greece, with forward-thinking retailers integrating consumer opinions into their ecommerce sites. That's why we're glad to be working with GetItNow.gr. GetItNow is the country's largest pure-play online retailer, and they've just launched iPhone/iPad apps to extend their multichannel reach.
Today sees the launch of Best Buy's new mobile site. It's great to see a major retailer building a mobile site that rivals the shopping experience on their main site.
With 38% of people already using their mobiles as a shopping tool - and the number purchasing through mobiles steadily increasing - Best Buy have timed this launch perfectly to mirror changing consumer habits.
The mcommerce market will be worth £73 billion by 2015ABI Research, 2011
Mobile traffic to retailers' sites has grown 163% since 2010ComScore, 2011
I don't think I need to say much more than that.
F-commerce may be getting all the attention at the moment but, when you leave aside the hype, there's much more potential in m-commerce - not least because mobile shopping is a better fit for more businesses in more markets.
Shopping on mobiles is becoming a regular habit for more and more consumers and an increasing number of businesses are reacting to this shift. The number of marketers who say mobile is a leading priority for their business has risen 54% since last year.
Mobile shopping is no longer in its early stages, and it's already spread past early adopters. Asos, who are leading the market in their mobile commerce strategy, predict that 30% of their sales will come via this channel within the next three years.