Connected Commerce during lockdown - resilience instead of vulnerability
Resilience stands for crisis management and ensures creative discussion of solution strategies in difficult times.
During lockdown a focus on resilient actions and choices meant a shift towards connected commerce in the fashion retail sector. Retailer have been able to limit sales losses in recent weeks and at the same time gain important experience with new media.
Connected Commerce as a hybrid shopping concept
Connected commerce is no longer a strict term that describes the integration of digital into stationary POS, but rather describes the way in which every form of sales and commerce is interwoven. Connected Commerce thus addresses common problem areas and, as a hybrid shopping concept, creates a sustainably optimized customer experience and promising customer loyalty potential for retailers.
The Trends of Connected Commerce:
- Webrooming: Viewing and researching products online and buying them in stores
- Click and Collect: Viewing and buying products online and picking them up in-store
- Analogue or digital shop window marketing
- Artificial intelligence: An AI-optimized search function can lead buyers directly to the right products, hide unavailable or unsuitable products and thus significantly improve the customer experience
- Social media: Thanks to new shopping functions and the optimization of the platforms, product purchases via social networks are gaining momentum. Instagram is about to roll out a direct order with checkout directly in the app, and YouTube is also testing new social commerce functions. With the introduction of shopping carts on WhatsApp, users can view product catalogues from various brands, collect different products and pass the complete selection directly to the shop in the chat
- Messaging: Chatbots and video advice at the POS
- Traditional phone communication
Customer data plays an increasingly important role in Connected Commerce
Customer data is playing an increasingly important role: CRM is considered a central advantage in all respects – online and offline. The right technological infrastructure and fast data usage decide who can keep up with the big players.