Connected Commerce provides an integrated online shopping experience that allows transactions to occur anytime, anywhere and on any device. In today’s digitalised world, your business must provide a smooth and consistent customer experience across different channels to keep up with your competitors and maintain profitability.
Many retailers’ systems, processes and staff aren't depicted or trained up to handle the diverse selling and fulfilment demand. Ultimately, this can result in gaps between what customers want and what retailers can provide. This won’t make your business look good.
Connected commerce can help you combat these issues. Here are our top five benefits of this strategy:
Thanks to the advent of WiFi access and 4G, your customers want to access your brand and products at any time and place, on the device of their choice. For example, someone might be browsing your products on their PC at home and then decide they want to purchase whilst they’re on the go, so they buy from you using their smartphone.
If your eCommerce is flexible and designed to work on different platforms, then you’re in for success. When a customer has a consistent experience, they’re much more likely to purchase from you again because you’ve gained their trust.
If you succeed in giving your customers a quality experience, then you can expect to boost their satisfaction too. In short, connected commerce creates satisfaction in customers because you can meet their demand to shop on-the-go, with the added ability to switch between devices.
When you satisfy a demand or need, you build a stronger relationship with your customers and improve their satisfaction. So, support this experience at all costs and you’re bound to have happier customers.
When your commerce is connected, it’s easier for you to ensure each of your platforms are consistent with your brand image. This boosts customer experience and satisfaction, making it more likely for your customers to return.
Customers want to be able to access your brand on the device and channel of their choice and for the experience to be the same. They don’t want to move from, for example, your website to your business’ Instagram profile and feel like they’re consuming a different brand. That’s not a good experience.
If both your PC and mobile webpages are as identical as possible and simple to use, then you inevitably build more trust with buyers. Similarly, we recommend having a strong marketing strategy and streamlined social media campaigns – using your brand story is one of the best ways to attract customers.
With a connected commerce strategy, all your customer data is in one place. This is great news for your team, as it essentially makes their job more straightforward.
If you use a CRM system, for example, you can have all your data all in one place. This will help your team to maximise their time and focus on other important aspects of your brand, such as marketing strategies, rather than handling fragmented information and disparate systems.
Using a good CRM can help you fill the dreaded gap between supply and demand too, as you can easily monitor exactly what it is customers want and deliver as such.
Once you’ve brought all your customer data into one place, it’s easier for your team to get to know your customers inside out. And when you know your customer preferences, you can market smarter. For example, you can cater to them through personalised recommendations and emails, product bundling, exclusive offers, news about sales they might be interested in etc.
Personalising your retail offerings also empowers your customers as they feel valued – boosting satisfaction and retention. Likewise, knowing your customer preferences will also boost your sales and your basket revenue.
Ultimately, a Connected Commerce strategy is key to building that important relationship with your buyers. If you’re struggling with engaging, attracting and delighting customers, then it might be a good time to invest in such a strategy. Providing this streamlined customer experience is bound to increase your leads, sales and revenue.
What’s stopping you?
We understand that creating a new commerce strategy can be daunting, and it’s hard to know what steps to take. Stuck? Download our free guide on creating Connected Commerce success down below.