Essential eCommerce tips
Essential eCommerce tips
Essential eCommerce tips
eCommerce projects may look straightforward to deliver, but online projects can be every bit as complex as the biggest IT implementations. There's a lot more to creating a successful transactional website than you might imagine.
Getting your project management basics right is just as important with eCommerce as with any other project. However, there are some areas that need special attention if you want to set yourself up for online success. Here are some key observations from the experiences of Berkeley and our clients:
Think it through from front to back
Designing the customer experience is critical to the success of any eCommerce initiative. Jacques De Kock, head of Business Information Systems at Habitat, says:
"If a customer walks into a store, they're using all of their senses, but in eCommerce they're just looking at the screen, so a lot more needs to go into capturing their attention and triggering the buying decision. If you don't grab customers' attention in the first few seconds, there is a massive drop-off."
But beware of making promises that operations can't deliver. It's all very well creating a sexy front end, but it's equally important to consider the implications for the back end warehousing, fulfilment, the store base and returns processing so they can be intelligently reflected in the customer experience.
If these issues aren't raised at the outset, expectations can become misaligned, and the result can be costly overruns or substandard solutions.
De Kock says: "Buying online carries with it a higher degree of trust in the retailer because they're giving their money to someone they can't see. Some aspects need to be done even better than in store capturing attention, getting people to the right products quickly, and then prompt delivery and good customer service.
Customers now expect an online experience to be integrated across store, phone and, increasingly, mobile channels, and this adds to the complexity of any solution. Thinking through the implications early on allows you to make informed decisions about the trade-offs between service and cost.
For example, it may be enticing to offer a 10-day delivery service or a no-quibble returns policy on a custom-made product, but you need to work through all the implications to ensure that your margin won't be destroyed by fulfilment costs or returned stock that can't be resold.
Sort out your systems
Even though most companies have had some kind of web presence for nearly 20 years, for many the underlying architecture is a patchwork of point solutions, and this often leads to a disjointed customer experience.
For instance, data models can be fragmented call centres work from different customer data to stores, email campaigns are disconnected from sales data and systems have often grown organically, with no grand design. eCommerce fulfilment systems may piggyback on retail solutions built for bulk transport rather than individual picks.
Those who have chosen to develop new infrastructure have found that the eCommerce systems market is less mature than others (such as the ERP market), and there is no off-the-shelf, market-leading solution that meets all needs.
So successfully navigating this technology decision is harder than you might expect. Getting it wrong be that with the wrong combination of packages, or choosing an immature outsource provider will haunt you for years to come.
Get the governance right
Even with a well thought-through customer proposition, integrated operational design and sound IT architecture, projects can become significantly delayed or dysfunctional if you don't have your internal governance set up correctly.
The place of the eCommerce department within an organisation is often problematic. In some it is seen as just another store', when in fact its needs are significantly different; in others it is a historically autonomous entity, but reliant on the business and IT to get anything done.
Against this complicated backdrop, good governance and road mapping are hugely important. Without these, good ideas get lost, as there isn't a mechanism to push them to the top of a company's agenda.
Rob Warner, a Berkeley consultant, says "In my experience, due to its typically multichannel nature, eCommerce touches a large number of stakeholders, often with stakes of different sizes. The trick is to ensure there is C-level alignment, strong sponsorship and a framework for removing obstacles along the way"
Even when this delivery governance is navigated, problems can arise in operation. For example, if store staff are only incentivised on store sales, you will often find that customers aren't led towards an online product or service that could meet their need.
eCommerce departments may find they have a dual role, driving their own sales figures while also being a channel for the business unit. This is sometimes a difficult position to maintain, and one that requires strong partnership with the business.
For instance, you can afford to be more dynamic with allocation models in an eCommerce environment, as product can be held centrally in a warehouse until sold, as opposed to the complex logistics of getting a product to store. However, many retailers still forecast store requirements and eCommerce is given what is left over. It takes a strong relationship and a good understanding between the business and eCommerce to allocate stock according to soundings taken from the online customer base.
Be ready to move quickly
Companies often struggle with the fast-moving pace of the eCommerce marketplace. Innovations spring up all the time and quickly develop significant customer momentum look at social networking sites, for example. What's more, the online market makes it easy for the customer to compare different offers, and with big online players such as Amazon and the supermarkets broadening their ranges, it's a very competitive area.
What can organisations do to address this? Gillan Hawkes, Head of Business and Channel Development at Marks & Spencer, says:
"My experience at M&S and Tesco is that IT needs to be geared to change at the pace the online market requires. eCommerce is about lots of small initiatives that require a faster, more nimble IT implementation cycle.
"The business cannot afford to take three or four months planning. The trick is to balance the boring underlying platform changes with the sexy stuff, to ensure the business and customers don't lose interest and appetite for subsequent phases."
Look at portfolio planning and IT demand management processes to ensure they are as responsive as they can be. If your technology infrastructure is fragmented, or relationships with outsource partners are strained, your ability to deliver to short cycle times will be considerably constrained.
Consider phasing carefully. Testing a basic form of a new idea suits the online world well, so get something out there if there is customer interest and it starts taking money, you can phase in additional functionality and range later.
Conclusion
The rewards in eCommerce can be substantial, with the online market predicted to continue double-digit growth rates for years to come. Above all, remember that a eCommerce project is like an iceberg the pages the user sees are only a small fraction of the total picture. Getting the infrastructure, governance and speed to market right is crucial to a successful outcome.
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