Thriving in the New Era of Consumer-Driven Commerce
A major step in creating cross-touchpoint capabilities is via mobile devices, yet retailers fall short of many consumers’ mobile expectations. Eighty-three percent of consumer respondents said that the most valuable and useful in-store technology was their own mobile device. Retailers that don't embrace the smart consumer by providing seamless integrated experiences between these multiple touchpoints run the risk of watching their stores become showrooms for their competition.
Preparing for the Smart Consumer Evolution
It goes without saying that technology will continue to evolve, but some may not fully appreciate just how fast this is happening. Consumers have only been interacting with brands on their mobile phones for a short time. Now tablet devices have come onto the scene. What’s next?
Retailers have to be prepared for the next web-enabled device that's going to change the way consumers interact with their brand. They have to break down the silos between the various channels and stop thinking solely about transactions and focus on the overall customer experience. Retailers need to be prepared to answer the following questions:
- What do our unique customers need and want?
- How will they want to interact with our brand?
- When the time comes, will our e-commerce platform be ready?
Now is the time to embrace this evolution and make significant changes to prepare for future demands. If you don’t, you run the risk of being left behind. Are you ready?
Jamus Driscoll is vice president of marketing for Demandware, a provider of on-demand e-commerce. Reach Jamus at jdriscoll@demandware.com or on Twitter at @jamusdriscoll.
