I had the opportunity to attend Senior Forrester Research Analyst Sucharita Mulpuru's "State of Retailing Online" address again this year. As usual, she has a fascinating take on what retailers are facing now, why they’re facing it, and what they can do about it.One point in particular that stuck out to me was that the web is no longer the retailing underdog. When compared to the various off-line channels, the web is more nimble, it’s faster, and it’s a less expensive channel for retailer and consumer alike. Though taxes are just starting to go up online, consumers are beginning to take full advantage of shopping online and cutting out things like local sales tax.
She went on to make the point that “3G is the new T3.” She chronicled how broadband was initially available primarily at work, so online shopping happened there. Soon after it was available to households, and now with the 3G iPhone, it’s available anywhere at anytime. As a result, marketing communications must be readily available at all times without sacrificing important principles like personalization, relevance and consistency.
Another interesting revelation was from a survey of different channels from the same companies. Intuitively you may think that each member of a given company cares most about having strong sales company wide. Her survey results show something different. They show that the individual channels care more about their own channel success than they do the business as a whole. It’s this type of siloing in organizations that simply must devolve over time. With mobile coupons and other forms of off-line and online channel integration, the perspective of those running a company’s marketing department must evolve and take a big picture perspective. All sales are good, no matter how the consumer came in and converted. There’s nothing wrong with competitiveness per channel, but the more the channels are willing to work together, the more consumers will buy and be loyal.
One more, interesting point. There’s been an underlying theme of a few presentations I’ve seen here: Green is good. Not taking a political side here, but her research found that consumers actually care about how their shopping styles impact the environment. According to a recent survey, 38% of consumers say they’d pay more for a product or service if it is regarded as environmentally friendly. Another stat — 31% of those same consumers say they shop online more now because of the impact of higher energy and gas prices. Consumers drive adoption, and this is a worthwhile trend to take note of.
My last takeaway from the presentation — there is still a great deal of skepticism out in the marketplace for new technologies designed to impact the shopping experience in a positive way for consumers. From her survey results, here are three quotes from anonymous interactive retail marketers:
- “The technology costs are too much.”
- “Alternative payment methods do not fit with my brand.”
- “We are followers, not leaders.”
Interesting perspectives that help frame up the reality that their may be few early adopters of technology designed to help consumers, and those who are lagging behind the adoption curve may lag for a variety of reasons. It’s up to technology providers to make the case for the consumer’s experience, and to price themselves in a way that makes their technology accessible.
You can download this report from Shop.org’s website. Once they have it posted, I’ll post a link from here, too.
Okay, I’m off to give away Wii’s and Rock Bands. Definitely one of the coolest parts of the show!
