Strategy

How Personal Ecommerce Drives Profitability in a Digital World

By Sarah Cascone

At the start of the pandemic, no one expected the percentage of online retail sales to double in a matter of months. But as we all know, it did, creating a fundamental shift in how people explore, evaluate and make purchase decisions. 

This shift sent retailers of all shapes, sizes and business models rushing to adjust their strategies. Without their reliance on stores, it quickly became obvious that brands would require a different set of investments to keep up and evolve from the transactional nature of commerce into something more personal.

Watch the broadcast:
Beyond Transactional Commerce: Driving Profitability in a Digitally Dominant World

Digital Commerce Requires a Fundamentally Different Approach

Following one of the most pivotal macroeconomic shifts of our time, all retail business models — from traditional chain stores to digital natives — are operating on the same playing field for the first time in history.

Between March and April, ecommerce sales doubled. Traditional chain stores saw first-time buyers increasing up to 119%, indicating a large number of shoppers trying brands for the very first time. And through the recent holidays, many retailers that were historically physical-first drove as much as 80% of their transactions through ecommerce.

The brands best positioned to take advantage of this shift were those that developed an ecommerce strategy and had transformed their digital infrastructure to move at the speed of the consumer. This shift required teams to focus on systems and processes built for the future state of retail.

We call this personal commerce, which is all about meeting the customer wherever they are.

What is Personal Commerce?

Personal commerce is a form of personalization that aims to meet each shopper on a 1:1 level with experiences curated just for them. By sharing data and signal with brands, buyers take part in designing their experiences from the product they’re looking for to the channel they’re on.. This method differs from the traditional ecommerce method where experiences are static and appear the same for every shopper. 

Website personalization is conducted by using audience data analytics. By studying each individual consumer’s data, your organization can understand what the consumer’s intention will be at any particular moment. The goal of personalization is to improve relevance, and specificity to ultimately connect with customers on a deeper level.

Benefits Of Personal Commerce

Analyzing consumer behavior through data and then using that information to design the experience the consumer has on a website has a plethora of benefits. Personalization offers each individual an opportunity to experience their buyers’ journey at a special level many brands do not offer.

Ultimately, personalization bridges the retail gap by engaging online shoppers. So how does your brand benefit from this and is it worth the investment? The answer is yes. 

Why is Ecommerce Personalization Important To Your Business?

Loyalty is everything and personalization creates loyal customers that will choose you over your competitors over time. Loyal customers are extremely important in the survival of your brand; here is what you can look forward to. 

Personalization is now an expectation in the retail industry. Customers want it because they want to feel unique and crave a special shopping experience. One of the best ways to achieve this kind of personalization is by using a dynamic website. But before you can give consumers what they crave, you must learn about them. And yes I do mean each and every one of your customers. Building a powerful personalization product is not an exact science, it requires a different approach and is an ever-changing and evolving method that, done right, will ultimately build a better relationship with your customers.

Rethink Transactions to Make Retail Truly Personal

People spend almost seven hours a day online surrounded by the most convenient digital experiences tailored to their affinities and preferences from the likes of platforms like Netflix and Spotify. Yet ecommerce only represents a fraction of that time and only 15% of retail revenue at the beginning of 2020. 

Why is retail so far behind?

Quite simply because most ecommerce experiences today are transactional and impersonal — and consumers demand more. They expect the same level of highly curated expertise about products along with an intimate understanding of their affinities and preferences that they experience everywhere else online.

Previously, retailers could skate by in this transactional manner, thinking from one purchase to the next rather than considering the entire experience throughout a customer’s lifetime with the brand. That was in large part because the store served as a conduit for whatever experience was necessary to nurture customers.

But the pandemic flipped the script, all but eliminating the role of the store and leaving most brands to realize their ecommerce operations were not prepared to deliver on the experiences required to support transactions — especially not at the level shoppers have come to expect in the rest of the online world.

This situation has positioned the shift to digital as top of mind for every retailer and given each one, no matter their origins, an unprecedented opportunity to grow and win in a now digital-first world.

Importantly, competing digitally in retail is not just about retail, it’s about all the other places where consumers spend time online, as the only way to stay competitive is to focus on elevating the customer experience to the level provided by the most advanced digital platforms.

Personal Ecommerce = Profitability

We have established that during this digital shift, retailers shifted from a transactional commerce mindset to a personalized experience. Retailers had to figure out how to bring the same kind of experience shoppers got in stores to the online “cart”. But how? Ecommerce personalization begins by engaging customers based on their shopping context and then delivering them the recommendations they want at that particular time. All of these elements use dynamic content such as personalized product recommendations and personalized emails

The goal is to create a personal interaction with your customer online. This can be based on a customer’s previous purchase, where they are geographically located, language, browsing history, and other personal experiences. 

Personalization strategy should include personalized marketing that engages and creates as much outreach as possible. In addition, your organization should have consistent consumer interaction across all channels. With all of these tactics at play, personalization helps drive long-term revenue through repeat purchases by expanding the average customer retention.

Discover What Retailers Need to Thrive Long Term in a Digital-First World

Retailers must bridge the gap between transactional commerce and personal commerce to capture consumers’ attention and loyalty. The typical mass marketing formula built exclusively around physical stores is proving insufficient to meet the new needs of shoppers and position brands to thrive in a world that bridges the physical and digital…

Bridging this gap requires leapfrog thinking over incremental investments. It requires reimagining your team, processes and technology to gain unprecedented intelligence about your customers and products. Doing so will position your brand to create truly personalized experiences that focus on the big picture of a customer’s lifetime relationship with your brand rather than simply getting that next purchase.

Fortunately, those who are willing to make these changes and lead with digital will find that everything they need to do so is within their reach.

New Market Trends: The Future of Business Operations

Organizations are leveling up, and it is time you did the same by staying on top of new trends. Here are some you might want to keep your eye on. 

Bottom line is that personalization is becoming a progressively paramount part of the business. 

Choosing The Best Platform For Personal Commerce

Ecommerce personalization is the key to winning in an omnichannel world.. The key to this success will depend on what platform/software you end up deciding to use. Let smart tech set you apart from the competition today. 

Watch Bluecore and Ascena Retail Group share what it takes, including a deep look into the shifts that are required to transform from the current, transactional nature of commerce to something much more personal and how Ascena brands like Lane Bryant are successfully making this vision a reality.

Sarah Cascone, VP Marketing

Sarah Cascone

A metrics-driven brand marketer with 10+ years experience, Sarah has a passion for tying the human element of marketing to revenue growth. As VP of Marketing at Bluecore, Sarah’s focus is cultivating and nurturing the strong community of innovative retail leaders behind Bluecore's mission to empower brands to discover their best customers and keep them for life.