By Scott LiPera, Global Practice Lead, Commerce & Content, eClerx
The retail industry is undergoing a rapid change in how it is embracing technology, data and analytics to deliver a better experience to attract and retain customers. Looking ahead to 2014, these tools and technologies will have an even greater impact on the way retailers engage with their customers across channels, whether they’re in a store, online, or shopping via a mobile device.
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To keep their competitive edge in an increasingly competitive multichannel world, retails should keep a close eye on these five trends in 2014.
1. Omnichannel Retail For Omnichannel Customers
Consumers can now buy anything, anywhere and at any time. For retailers, whether they employ social or mobile, in-store or online platforms, they must maintain an elevated omnichannel experience. Reaching the connected consumer by effectively bridging all channels should clearly top retailers’ priority lists in 2014. And it’s not just about their customers’ purchases. It’s about supporting the entire customer journey and experience.
2. Make It Personal
Personalization is the next frontier and it lies at the center of omnichannel marketing. You must reach today’s customers with what they want, when they want it to create the personal touch they expect — indeed, demand — in 2014. You also must present the right information at the right time and, again, it must be flexible and focused on the customer’s journey.
This ties omnichannel and personalization together: knowing what your customers want, when they want it and in what format — i.e., device — they prefer at the moment. Omnichannel means a retailer is listening everywhere to determine its customers’ preferences. Then it’s making the shopping experience as streamlined as possible.
3. Data Still Looms Big, But …
Gartner forecasts that Big Data will drive $34 billion of IT spending in 2014, and some foresee that figure rising more than threefold by 2018. Yet, most retailers still possess limited data expertise and are slow to adopt data practices. When they do, they often dive head first into data analysis with no knowledge of best practices or processes. Look for skilled professional analysts, adept at managing immense and complex customer data sets, to be a hot commodity beginning next year and even hotter in 2015.
One roadblock looms for the Big Data bandwagon. Until someone truly figures it out, Big Data will be an enigma with unforeseeable business value. So retailers should place greater focus on Smart Data, centering on data basics, driving sales through sharp analysis and quick action. They should create the team composition including online operations support (in many cases third-party process specialists) and nimble in-house analytic teams poised to provide actionable insights.
4. Social Commerce And Marketing
Merging social and sales, social commerce will prove to be an important element driving revenue growth by turning omnichannels into commerce platforms. In social commerce, data is at the core, helping marketers convert likes, pins and tweets into revenue.
5. The Mobile Age
Increasingly, consumers are using mobile for research and purchasing. Those retailers slow to fully support mobile commerce are forced to adapt or lose valuable revenue.
Luckily, companies don’t need to reinvent the wheel when creating mobile-friendly platforms. Most online content can be repurposed for a new, mobile format or application. Retailers just need to recognize that today’s shoppers are using their smartphones more often to help their fingers do the walking and shopping.
The digital consumer will be in the driver seat in 2014. Are you primed with data-driven insights to deliver the best customer experience?
Scott LiPera is the Global Practice Lead, Commerce & Content at eClerx.
