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by Mary Henderson

on Jun 4

What are you doing about ecommerce?

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For Australian retailers now is the time to think about investment in an online store and an invigorated channel strategy.

2007 research predicts that in Australia, online sales will increase from 4.9% to 8.2% of total retail sales by 2010. A recent Nielsen Online survey indicated that 43% of Australia's online spending in 2009 went to international etailers. This compares with just 14% in 2005.

Dozens of overseas fashion retailers have expanded their ecommerce presence in Australia, such as Topshop, Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie with some international etailers claiming that Australia is its third or fourth largest market. The choice for purchasing is now both international and virtual and no longer physical and domestic.

Etailing is complex and requires a sophisticated approach since it’s not just an online web interface and a shopping cart; it’s more than that. Etailing is about understanding and capturing consumer behavior data, analysis of that data, continuous communication points, customer service, follow up, integration points into CRM’s, financial and supply chain management systems, for instance.

So why are we not looking at international retailers as our role models? From my experience, the lack of wisdom in technology and the technical possibilities is where the gap lies. Let me give you an example:

Recently, we pitched to a retailer. The panel was made up of a marketing team and a researcher. The brief indicated no technical requirements except for a ‘sexy’ look and feel and some type of interactivity, yet they wanted an online store.

The questions raised by the panel had very little to do with their understanding of etailing and the complex nature of these systems. The focus for the researcher (on the panel) was, “What content management system (CMS) do you recommend and use?” Why on earth would you be focused on a CMS when the pitch was about ecommerce?

Unfortunately the panel couldn’t grasp the idea of what they actually required which was a product management system and numerous integration points. The CMS was the least of their requirements. Not one person on the panel had an understanding of their internal business systems and a flow of how they wanted to communicate to their customers. What was even scarier was that there was no IT person sitting in this meeting and not one person could answer any questions associated with ecommerce.

Small, medium or large retailers need to consider serious management systems behind their ‘website’ and invest in their online stores as they would in a bricks and mortar store. Perhaps taking the project more seriously and engaging professional experts who really understand how to build systems that both match their internal business model and have the ability to engage their customers virtually, is something that needs to be considered.

The international retailers are investing hugely in their online stores and have implemented sophisticated systems that really deliver a ROI but more importantly they are stealing market share from Australian retailers and will continue to do so. What are you doing about it?

7 Comments

Walter Adamson
  • Wrote on 4 Jun, at 05:55PM
Nice article and I think that you could say the same about how social media integrates across all those touchpoints and business flow as part of the customer engagement.

I jumped when you said it's "not just an online web interface". How many times have I said this when explaining what we do, which is creating customer engagement for companies selling subscription services, and in particular software companies wanting to transform into Software as a Service companies. Needless to say many, perhaps the majority, of software companies think that SaaS is just a web front-end.

We have more business than we can handle from the agile companies and the buy guys that "get it", but for certain the laggards are falling behind at a rapid rate, and of course they don't even know it! This could be the same fate for your etailers.
Walter Adamson @g2m
http://xeesm.com/walter
mbt shoes
  • Wrote on 10 Jun, at 04:13PM
I know that I came to know about useful and interesting information on your site that is why I always came to visit this site so that I can know about the latest trend and news. I like to do everything in ecommerce.
Joy
  • Wrote on 10 Jun, at 05:14PM
Wow, this is a really inspirational piece. I totally have started shopping online and its obvious Australian companies are falling behind the 8 ball. I noticed on your website www.geekitdigital.com.au that you have developed a Retail Online Management system, this sounds unbelievable and I will definitely be contacting you to get more information on this system. Well done, and I look forward to reading more of your blogs in the near future. Thanks Mary :-)
Sam
  • Wrote on 11 Jun, at 10:25AM
I totally agree! I see this often as well. We really should be learning lessons from the overseas market, they have been doing this alot longer and have perfected their techniques. Setting up a website is not cheap by any means so if you are going to invest you should do it right and cover all the elements. I think the first time people go in to this thinking that if the product is available then it will be purchased, but the reality is you have to put in so much more effort, you have a very short window of opportunity to captivate your audience and convince them to buy and you need to make up for the fact that this item isn't there in their hands for them to feel, touch and smell.
Kevin
  • Wrote on 14 Jun, at 03:29AM
Hello,
Great article as it provide good aspects of online marketing and business.
I am totally agree with your customer relationship management as for successful marketing on internet, understanding the customer behavior is very important.
I am also attached with online marketing strategies specializing on Email Marketing, i found that if we have the data regarding the customer activities and behavior patterns, we can target our products and services more effectively.

Thanks
Kevin
Media Beast
MyWebsiteNow
  • Wrote on 14 Jun, at 07:01PM
Hi,
Nice article
The international retailers are investing hugely in their online stores and have implemented sophisticated systems that really deliver a ROI but more importantly they are stealing market share from retailers and will continue to do so. What are you doing about it?
valium
  • Wrote on 19 Jun, at 12:59PM
Today, electronic commerce has significant revenue to the credit of the U.S. retail $ 175B in 2007. The Internet has created a new economic ecosystem, electronic commerce, and became a main street in the virtual world. Provides a fast and convenient way to exchange goods and services as well as regional and international commerce is the most important.

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