1. Reducing Cart Abandonment: £1.5 trillions worth of shopping
baskets are abandoned online globally. Even a slight improvement would lead to
a windfall for the retail industry. This can be attributed to the inefficient buying
processes. For example, once the customer has decided to buy something, she has
to register with the website, before making the purchase. But, this is not the
end. During checkout, a lengthy payment process further exacerbates the users
frustration. As a result, most of the customers (66%) end up abandoning their
shopping basket.
2. Devising a Mobile Strategy: Accept it or Not, Mobile devices are
changing the way people buy things. It makes it imperative for retailers to
have a mobile strategy, which should encompass everything from advertisements
to the order completion. Also, with limited real estate of mobile devices, the
website should be intelligently designed to adapt to provide a consistent
experience to the customers.
3. Supporting Multiple
Touch points: Consumers can engage with online retailers with
different intents: to buy, to give feedback, or to complain. Retailers are
expected to be there when customers want to talk to them. Today the shopping
process can be complicated, with the buyer searching for an item on her desktop,
booking it on her tablet sitting in Starbucks, and then proceeding to the nearest
store to collect the item. The retailer should provide seamless experience to
the buyer across multiple channels.
4. Creating Loyal Customers: It is getting increasingly difficult
for retailers to keep customers coming for more. This is primarily due to fact
that the customer wants the best bargain, and there are tools available for her
to compare prices across multiple websites, and go for the one that best meet
her need in terms of cost and delivery. Retailers need to implement loyalty and
payment solutions that make it easy to reward customers. For e.g. location
based personalized advertising, and intelligent retargeting can help in getting
a larger share of customer’s wallet.
5. Leveraging Customer Data: The challenge is not the scarcity of
data; it’s plenty to collect. The real challenge for retailers is to figure out
how to mine that data intelligently, and use it to better serve their
customers. With cost of storing data decreasing every year, there is no excuse
for retailers. This data can be used for not only for segmenting customers, but
also to predict the demand to keep an advantage over competitors. Clothing retailer
Zara excelled at this by observing fashion trends on streets, and stocking inventory
accordingly. It is time for retailers to step up their data game.
Certainly there
are many other challenges before retailers, compounded by the fact that mobile
revolution is shaking up the way people shop, and still no standards have
emerged for retailers to cling on to. If they were on the wrong side, they
would be left out; if they wait and watch, they would be left out!
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