Siebel Retail Information

Some pearls of wisdom from Shop.org: http://blog.shop.org/2009/01/05/nine-e-commerce-predictions-for-2009/. One of the most interesting and unexpected features of eCommerce has been the willingness of people to share their experiences with a product, some even share photographs and recommendations, some of the feedback is exhaustive. Well, here is where some considered objectivity from both the buyer reviewing the comments and the owner of the business need to consider:

1. Source: cynics may question the validity of source itself
2. Impartiality: wether the reviewer is an impartial observer
3. Subjectivity - i.e. some people may have a lower threshold of satisfaction than others

I would like to introduce etailers to the joys of a participative medium and business, here is where just the participation itself is a positive to the business model. If the criticism is negative, wether it be of the site or product, it is in these hard times a bucket of water to the face and is a possible line for business owners into what their customers need/want. This is a source of intelligence which is raw, as it peels away numbers, statistical machinations and lays bare the customer need. If I owned a business and had a chance to give discounts, I would like to link the discount to a feedback. Of course some may not want to publicize these feedbacks but what good is that to the rest of us?

continuing yesterday's essay on community selling and opinion sharing, word of mouth has taken a virtual turn in the road to word of hypertexting. I would like to bring up the topic on information related to a purchase or product and how a "visual review" would serve much better in some cases than a descriptive one. I would like to take you on a tour of one of my favorite sites when it comes to this aspect of community reviews - think geek.

back to buying - while I love perusing online, one challenge I face is to visualize a product in context - how will that Christmas ornament look on my table? How does t-shirt look on someone? representation of the product in a life like setting actually helps close a decision. In this regard, Amazon has customer pictures, some online retailers include professional pictures, but I would much rather have shared customer photos as not all of us are armed with a vivid imagination.

The best community pictures I have seen are at http://www.thinkgeek.com I have seen more customer shots on this site than any other, perhaps geeks always have a camera ready, or are not shy how they appear in public :-), but I would give a service fee to more realistic pictures of how shoes look or how everyday things actually appear in a setting. Am a little challenged measurementally (not sure that's a word) but when a product on a Christmas ornament description reads 3' x 4' x 5' I just do not know how that would look on my table.

and the context shot....

....................

Here is an example of virtual fitting before a full length screen - http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/womens/6f63/action/ - a surprisingly durable and well toned T-Shirt.

Here is an interesting article on RIS on retailers which are prospering, there is another older list here, although not all are true multichannel in nature, there are some very positive signs for retailers with multichannel and online operations. In the article itself True Religion, Polo has a storefront on Amazon, Walgreens has been ramping up it's online services and Gymboree with a combination of great branding strategy. Here are some of my favorites for gifts - amazon, uncommongoods.com, thinkgeek.com (I like the t-shirts).

Here is an interesting video posted on the google retail advertising blog. Neilsen concluded that Multi-channel/cross-channel spend is higher on average than customers who frequent one channel only, or example - stores.

Here's the google retail blog post - http://googleretail.blogspot.com/2008/12/pinpointing-value-of-multi-channel.html

There is also an interesting interview with the Thomas Harpointer, CEO/Founder of AIS Media posted on youtube, it talks about how the computer now the primary "window shopping device" with consumers using it to find the best deals and then purchase in the store. So it is let your fingers do the walking to find the best deals then choose the best shipping deal or drive off to the nearest store.

This in turn would mean that post event there is a huge opportunity for virtual malls, comparison sites to actually allow the customer to buy and pickup, this would get rid of excess inventory for the retailer in addition to clearing houses and liquidation and also to serve as an outlet assuming that space/storage and opportunity costs for new merchandize is not too much.

ConsumerB - how online researching is influencing and changing the purchase process

There is also a related video that talks about how a dollar spent online influences six spent at stores through influencing factors in the purchase process. I would surmise that all stop shops like Amazon will denude sales from other pure brick and mortar operations. This then means that presenting the information with a community like feel will enable customers to read reviews, post their opinions and as a next step interact! This virtual mall can now even function as a "word of mouth" or "word of hypertext" forum, something which is not a stretch considering how Amazon or Overstock, SmartBargains function are structured. We may even see an community sales model (ala Amway) when a positive recommendation is rewarded with buying points of course, this would be dependant on a successful "closure".

additionally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lcGZcmyW3g

There is a lot of consonance with analyst findings to substantiate the thoughts expressed in the google interview. The advantage of course is that with the information sharing afforded by the web and comparison shopping sites, customer have better information related to price, choice and product reviews which makes them smarter shoppers. By researching online, customers get reviews which are a result of collaborative sharing: advice, warnings, positive recommendations and a purchase which is much more satisfying!

While this information may seem to overburden the customer, the organization of this intelligence is getting better, please see the previous post. All in all the net is effectively becoming the all knowing and impartial salesperson. This part of the customer purchase process is becoming better and the day of the broadcast ad while still maintaining those tenants of Con-B and retention, we may not need to retain brand as the overriding contributor to a purchase decision. Signing that check or sliding that credit card is only the lag action in the buying process, research into the product is the major bulk of the purchasing process.

Here is an interesting video on youtube posted on the google retail advertising blog multi-channel. Neilsen concluded that Multi-channel/cross-channel spend on an average is higher than customer why purchase exclusively from stores.

Here's the google retail blog post - http://googleretail.blogspot.com/2008/12/pinpointing-value-of-multi-channel.html

There is a lot of consonance with analyst findings to substantiate the thoughts expressed in this interview. The advantage of course is that with the information sharing afforded by the web and comparison shopping sites, customer have better information related to price, choice and product reviews which makes them smarter shoppers. By researching online, customers get reviews which are a result of collaborative sharing: advice, warnings, positive recommendations and a purchase which is much more satisfying!

While this information may seem to overburden the customer, the organization of this intelligence is getting better, please see the previous post. All in all the net is effectively becoming the all knowing and impartial salesperson. This part of the customer purchase process is becoming better and the day of the broadcast ad while still maintaining those tenants of Con-B and retention, we may not need to retain brand as the overriding contributor to a purchase decision. Signing that check or sliding that credit card is only the lag action in the buying process, research into the product is the major bulk of the purchasing process.

And retailers remember - a happy customer, after independent research is more likely to come back.

For those who find this interesting, you may also want to check out multi-channel reports by leading analyst firms like Forrester, AMR, Gartner etc.