Taking Your Organisation into Online Retail – Issues And Challengesv1
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Jon Bovard 2010 Taking Your Organisation Online Issues and Challenges Faced by Traditional Retailers Jon Bovard
description
challenges presented for traditional business, moving into the online retail and ecommerce space
Transcript of Taking Your Organisation into Online Retail – Issues And Challengesv1
Jon Bovard 2010
Taking Your Organisation Online
Issues and Challenges Faced byTraditional Retailers
Jon Bovard
Jon Bovard 2010
Agenda
How do you build an easy to use website for your audience?
How do you select an eCommerce platform?
Going online: The REAL challenges
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Identity Direct
Identity Direct – over 500,000 orders a year
60% of Orders international Personalised gifts – kids focussed Was 1% online – now over 60% and
growing. Fast. Current platform redesign in progress!
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How do you build an easy to use website for your audience?
HIPPO Eye tracking studies/ Usertesting
laboratories/Focus groups Analytics 3rd party tools
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HIPPO
Highest Paid Person’s Opinion“Whatever you say boss!”Intelligent guessSometimes a good starting point
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Eye Tracking Studies/Labs
“Interesting” Expensive Inconclusive “Ok” for landing pages Not holistic
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Analytics
Somewhat useful Screen resolution/Technical data Is purely objective Does not explain Can lead to dangerous assumptions If not “online” then you wont have any!
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3rd Party Tools – Usertesting.com
Is my website useable or confusing? Members of the public – get paid to test
your site For $29 you get a video of the experience A written summary of your site and what
they experienced Target specific ages or demographics
Jon Bovard 2010
Jon Bovard 2010
3rd Party Tools – OptimalSort
How should I categorise my content? Where do I (my customers) think my
products fit? How should I organise my website? Do my offline categories work online? Great for sites with a lot of products
Feedback from users where your products belong
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How do you select an eCommerce platform?
PedigreeFunctionalityCustomersPeopleStrategic vision and RoadmapBackingCultural Fit
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The ‘Australian’ challenge
The Forrester Wave™: B2C eCommerce Platforms, Q1 2009
Not all The “Big” ecommerce players are here
Limited local presence Limits options Time difference = pain
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Questions to ask your eCommerce platform provider
Have you actually built an ecommerce site?
Who are your other clients? Backing and funding Customer retention Who are the key people? Ask about the integrator - not the vendor. Are you actually doing the work? Find a client that they have lost in the
last 12 months. Speak to them directly
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Questions to ask your eCommerce platform provider
What is your smallest, biggest and average size client?
How close is your platform fit to my real requirements? (find out yourself!)
References, references, references Who is doing the work for you? Meet the
programmers and project managers Beware unproven platforms or
integrators
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How much?
Minimum $200k AUD and up…. Beware false economy
Lack of featuresPoor conversionHuman overheadDevelopment flexibility (or lack of)Lack of Roadmap
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eCommerce platform: What am I actually paying for?
Roadmap – the future. Will it evolve? Security Flexibility Extensibility – integration Merchandising and search Support and upgrades
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Going online: The REAL challenges
Structural Cultural Merchandising Strategy Technical Human Legislative/Legal Financial Warehouse and logistics
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Structural
Creating the eCommerce teamOption 1: Part of the main businessOption 2: Capitalised and executed
separately
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Structural - Part of the main business
AdvantagesBrand control/cohesion common
marketing“Shared” human resources/IT (beware!)Shared physical resources/equipmentShared warehousingLower capital injection
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Structural - Separate
AdvantagesMore agile/speed to marketOnline “culture” might differ to “offline”Lower risk of resource conflictRun as separate P&LVary marketing and operating strategyMerge into the main business when/if
successful
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Cultural
“this is how we do it now” eCommerce requires support at the
board level Your business is setup for retail. Not
etail Probably operating at capacity eCommerce stretches capacity An additional channel adds complexity
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Merchandising Strategy
Does Online = Offline?Price. Are online customers more/less
sensitive?Can you vary price of online to offline?
(without upsetting customers!)Audience/DemographicSuitability of productDo they shop the same way online?
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Technical
Web developers – unique breedHighly specialisedTechnical landscape in Australia
different to the UK/USRare skills – local talent difficultEven rarer for proprietary technologyHosting eCommerce is specialised
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Human Resources
Find a good eCommerce managerNot an IT ManagerNot a Marketing ManagerSome Senior Online marketing typesBring this person in at a Senior levelKPI this personKeep this person incentivised
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Human Resources
Other considerationsWeb Content/MerchandisingWeb Design/Interface designerEmail/Search/Affiliates
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Legislative
CompliancePayment and finance (PCI
compliance)Privacy (esp email marketing)Disability actForeign “eCommerce” laws (Duties,
Taxes, Safeharbour, Distance selling UK etc)
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Warehouse and logistics
Distribution modelIs you warehouse suitable for direct
dispatch?Centralised versus single store
versus multistoreMerits of having stock in one placeReturn rates. Apparel and footwear as
high as 40%Multichannel returns. Allowed or not?
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Summary
eCommerce is tough. Large scale eCommerce is not cheap High upfront cost and effort with long
term reward Find a good eCommerce manager Test your site and audience “Getting it right” is an going process
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Thank you…
Jon Bovard [email protected]://www.linkedin.com/in/jonbovardtwitter.com/jbovard
