Commerce without Experience, is there a point | Deloitte UK has been saved
The focus shift to online presents a massive opportunity for brands to differentiate themselves. Yet in a recent survey carried out by Deloitte, one in three respondents said that online service experience during the pandemic was not good enough. In this thought piece we outline how brands need to combine Commerce and Experience to stand out from the crowd and thrive in the post COVID recovery.
COVID-19 has accelerated the pace of change in retail, as more consumers have used online services than ever before. The pandemic has also shifted consumer expectations with experience now a key differentiator in commerce alongside product and price.
Our recent survey found that 52% of consumers are more likely to buy direct from brands because of the pandemic while 53% also say that they are now more likely to use a marketplace or retailer. This poses questions for brands that seek to take advantage of these changes in consumer behaviour.
How marketers think about experience in commerce now needs to go far beyond just the single purchase event. It should cover all interactions consumers have with a brand, including:
The blend of these interactions will vary from brand to brand however all these interactions should support and enhance each other. The interactions need to be tailored to the consumer’s needs at that moment in time. Even one failure in any of these can result in consumer alienation and them moving to one of your competitors.
COVID-19 has accelerated several trends that brands were experiencing before the pandemic. It has also acted as an incubator for new trends. Our recent survey of 3,000 consumers highlighted several of these trends, including:
What should a brand be doing?
As a brand tries to meet and exceed these consumer expectations and expand their relationship with the consumer there are some key areas to focus on.
Impactful interactions – As consumers feel overwhelmed by communications, it has never been more important to focus on quality of the interaction instead of quantity of interactions. To help with this, brands should ask themselves:
Prepare for Personalisation in a cookie-less world – As consumers become more cookie aware and less willing to share data it is increasingly important for brands to:
Clear messaging – Consumers are increasingly focused on what a brand stands for and this therefore needs to come across all interactions. To help with this, brands should ask themselves:
Leverage direct connections –Brands that have historically sold through resellers have only ever able to focus on single transactional events and the metrics associated with this (i.e. average basket value). As consumers behaviour changes, direct-to-consumer brands have a great opportunity to understand their consumers lifetime value. To help with this, brands should ask themselves:
Charlie is a Senior Manager at Deloitte Digital, specialising in Experience and Commerce Transformations. Using his background in omnichannel customer experience, complex technology delivery, and site internationalisation. Charlie helps his clients to shape and then execute on their digital transformation agendas.