It’s no secret that mobile engagement is forever changing how and when consumers shop. In fact, mobile devices drove nearly a third (31%) of all holiday sales in 2016, generating more than $24 billion over the course of the holiday season.
So the task at hand for retailers is not to simply have a mobile presence in place, it’s to offer an experience that helps their business stand out from competitors.
To offer the quality mobile experiences consumers crave, retailers must integrate their mobile strategy within a holistic digital strategy rather than executing mobile in isolation. Failure to establish the necessary framework for a mobile strategy is akin to building a house on an unstable foundation: it will slowly fall apart.
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Organizations can build a sturdy foundation on which a mobile experience can thrive by ensuring the company’s direction, user experience, culture and technology are aligned toward business goals.
Direction
To build a digital foundation that fully supports a mobile offering, retailers must first define their company’s overall direction. Where are you going, and how will you know when you arrive? What are your goals and how will you measure them? Do all members of your organization understand their role in achieving these goals?
Confusion around vision for growth is surprisingly common, and it can lead to a myriad of problems. For instance, it is difficult for your organization to align IT and marketing initiatives without a common understanding of what the overall goals are. To address this problem, retailers must establish a strategic roadmap with measurable and clearly defined business objectives. Long- and short-term KPIs are essential to driving iterative improvements, but the data is only as good as its analysis. Regular reporting is also necessary in order to reveal opportunities for improvement.
Strategic roadmaps should be flexible enough to adapt to changing customer needs over time. If consumer demand for a mobile wallet solution increases, for example, a retailer should be capable of implementing it without massive overhauling of their entire digital strategy.
Experience
The user experience must also be at the forefront of every mobile commerce offering. It’s no longer enough to have a mobile offering. That offering has to provide the user access to the information they need, all within that platform’s context and while remaining cohesive with the rest of the brand.
To optimize the user experience, retailers need to first define their audiences and then determine how to offer a unified experience across channels and devices. In-person customer research such as focus groups, interviews and in-the-wild testing will help retailers gain an understanding of audience segments, the shopper journey, and individual needs and wants.
With deeper insight into the customer journey, retailers can create a seamless and intuitive experience across all channels. Do your best customers make repeat purchases twice a month? If so, make sure your platform offers a way for shoppers to easily add previous purchases to their carts during checkout. Or if a customer buys the same shampoo each month, for instance, send her promotions and suggested purchases on both her mobile and desktop devices. But also pay attention to when and where a purchase is made.
Culture
To execute an effective digital strategy with a mobile offering, it is crucial that your culture supports change and innovation. This means implementing efficient processes that allow for constant communication and cooperation across departments.
First, introduce new ways for your teams to work together. This could mean investing in cloud-based systems that improve the flow of information, or it could be as simple as providing devoted co-working spaces within the office that help break down internal barriers to communication and promote collaboration.
Next, ensure that each department shares accountability. Collaboration must be considered a financially beneficial move. If everyone’s resources are invested in the project this prevents one department from dominating processes and incentivizes cross-team cooperation.
Lastly, create a safe space for all employees to voice their ideas and opinions. Forums, open door policies or digital feedback channels can ensure that organizations do not fall into a top-down mentality. When fear or egos prevent employees from speaking up, creativity and collaboration are stifled.
Technology
It’s nearly impossible to execute a comprehensive digital strategy without the right technology in place. This means evaluating legacy systems and making necessary migrations to cloud-based platforms that are scalable and can easily integrate with other digital-ready systems.
The right technology allows retailers to align data across all systems and services to gain a holistic view of the customer. When forced to navigate multiple systems to access customer data, retailers fail to gain a clear picture of customer needs and wants. In turn, they’re unable to maximize value.
What’s more, a reliance on legacy systems prevents retailers from quickly iterating based on market changes. Shopper behavior — particularly on mobile devices — is constantly evolving based on trends and technological advancements. Cloud-based systems allow for better API management, which makes it easier to execute changes in response to customer demand. Through BiModal IT practices and cloud-based platforms retailers can create mobile experiences that are scalable, stable and innovative.
Shoppers today make purchases on-the-go and they want it to be as easy and seamless as possible. Retailers can no longer execute a siloed mobile strategy and expect to meet these evolving customer demands. Optimize m-Commerce by integrating with your overall digital strategy, bringing all aspects of your organization together to create a commerce offering that provides users true value.
Gregory Ng is VP of Digital Engagement for PointSource. He is responsible for developing new digital offerings for clients as well as partnering with architecture, development and delivery teams to ensure their long-term success. Working with other executives, Ng combines goal setting, cultural alignment and training and enablement programs to build out core competencies in data-driven decision making. His expertise in strategy, visual design, UX, marketing and analytics have earned him a reputation as a go-to source for all things digital. Prior to joining PointSource, Ng spent nearly 20 years focused on developing effective, integrated, results-driven marketing programs for some of the world’s biggest brands, including numerous Fortune 500 companies. Ng is a leading creative director, designer and direct marketer. His work has earned more than 40 awards, with recognition for excellence and innovation in marketing campaigns. He is also an accomplished speaker, blogger and video blogger. Ng has published thousands of articles and videos online, and his work can be found in publications like The New York Times, Wired and The Wall Street Journal.