Guest Post: Five point plan for multichannel online success

Ecommerce expert Ian Jindal of InternetRetailing.net picks out the key areas of focus for those looking to drive online and multichannel sales.

Ecommerce expert Ian Jindal, of InternetRetailing.net, picks out the key areas of focus for those looking to drive online and multichannel sales

The UK is home to the world’s biggest online spenders.

British shoppers spent £91 billion online in 2013, a figure that’s expected to break through the £100 billion barrier in 2014.

The opportunities for businesses from all sectors are huge. Here are five areas that it is vital to get right if you are to build a successful online business:

Enhance the online customer experience and journey

Focus on the customer’s experience at every stage and touch point.

Do not rely on your understanding of a ‘perfect buying journey’, but rather the customers’ real, complicated and multi-device contacts.

While the reality may be messier than we’d like, we still have to be at our best at every stage, on their mobile, tablet or laptop.

Successful multichannel brands start by learning from the customer. Marks & Spencer spent two years learning what its customers wanted before launching its new website, while Tesco agrees that customers must be the focus for retailers planning their multichannel strategies. It’s vital to have a consistent customer experience; customers must recognise the brand wherever they meet it, whether that’s in a shop, from a PC or via a mobile device.

Customers also use social media: 2.1 billion searches are made through Twitter alone every day.

Make sure your brand is being represented through channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn and consider how best to use each channel in order to communicate your brand and to talk to customers effectively.

Internationalise your online activity

An ecommerce website can be a relatively cheap and highly effective way to sell overseas, whether that’s cross border within Europe or further afield in new emerging markets.

Easy steps to take towards international ecommerce include adding international delivery and payment options – fashion retailer Joules, for example, recently added payment on invoice and bank-to-bank transfer options – popular in Germany – to its website in that country.

For key markets you might consider translating pages and even employing a local customer care team. Find out which markets are key to your business by keeping an eye on analytics and learning where visitors and sales come from.

Prepare to go mobile

By 2016, 61% of web traffic will be driven by mobile and with the evolution of smartphones, tablets and other handheld devices, your current customers, and your potential ones, are never far away.

The big retailers are already gearing up for this: House of Fraser recently launched its mobile-first website that has been designed first for viewing from mobile and touch devices, and second from desktop and laptop in recognition of the growing importance of mobile devices in the online retail cycle.

Some 80% of tablet users and 78% of mobile users admit to using their devices while watching television – so-called ‘second screening’.

Their potential is enormous. Understand who your mobile customers are and how they use your site in order to ensure their customer journey is as optimised as possible.

Whether your customers are looking to order or book online, or make payment with you using their mobile device, ensure you have the best and most reliable innovations available to make the most of the mobile opportunity.

Develop your operations and logistics systems

Some 46% of shoppers abandon their order due to delivery concerns. When orders start to take off, it’s important that solid logistics underpin your operations.

Returns or cancellation policies should be built efficiently whilst ensuring customer satisfaction and providing ROI. Most customers want progress updates after purchase. Are you providing that?

With the evolution of delivery options including click and collect and pick up and drop off, the benefits are clear. Recent research showed one in three customers collecting their products in-store go on to make additional purchases.

Click and collect is also moving off the premises. Tesco, Waitrose and Asda, for example, have now signed up to offer pick-up points in London Underground stations.

Make sure your digital sales and marketing plan is effective

Building a successful multichannel sales and marketing strategy is the key to ecommerce sales growth and success.

Ensure your email strategy drives sales and that you measure the ROI on email campaigns. Social media can be key to digital strategy: make sure your messages are consistent across all channels, are tailored to specific audiences and remember to measure, test and learn.

Be aware that having a presence on social channels also leaves you exposed to customer complaints. Twitter in particular is increasingly seen as the fastest path to an immediate response.

Examples from #WaitroseReasons and #McDStories to #QantasLuxury highlight the risks of your brand hashtag being derailed by public criticism.

Connecting across all touch points is crucial. Studies showing 80% of customers want progress updates after purchase. Are these included in your post-sales communications?

All these topics and more will be discussed by the leading retail names and multichannel experts at the Internet Retailing Expo 2014 (IRX) on March 26 and 27 2014 at the NEC in Birmingham.