Digital transformation: a lever for meeting eCommerce challenges

With the development of digital, people are increasingly buying online: in 2021 2.14 billion people¹ shopped online around the world. Shoppers also have « more power² » over the information they want to find and have specific demands in terms of customization.

To meet these challenges, it is vital to speed up the digital transformation. The eCommerce businesses that have done the most in terms of digitalization³ are the ones that have adapted best to these developments.

There are many advantages to the digital transformation, among which: increased operational efficiency (40%⁴), reduced time to market (36%⁴), solutions that are more adapted to shopper expectations (35%⁴)…

Discover the 3 challenges of the eCommerce industry that can be met through digital transformation.

Challenge n°1: customization

When a customer shops on line, they expect to find a customized experience with 83% of shoppers⁵ willing to provide their data and 52%⁵ wanting to systematically access special offers.

To meet these demands, you need to collect customer data: identification information (63%⁶), background of interactions (56%⁶), shopping history (55%⁶)…. and use it wisely. For example on an eCommerce website, shopping history data allows you to identify « the best sellers » for each customer and to create customized product packages or product bundles based on these sales. This way shoppers can access offers adapted to their preferences.

Businesses should be using new technologies to manage their customer data optimally. This data needs to be safe and centralized in a single tool. It also needs to be easily accessible to all employees and useable at any time. This is essential to meet customization challenges: managing cross selling and/or upselling, adjusting the sales pitch, adapting offers to each profile…

Challenge n°2: omnichannel strategy

In an omnichannel context, shoppers use up to 6 different selling channels⁷ and 90% of shoppers⁸ expect to find a consistent experience across all these channels.

It is necessary to provide shoppers with a truly omnichannel journey. When they access a promo code, they should be able to use it on the brand's website as well as instore. They also expect to be able to use a « persistent shopping cart⁹ » which enables the shopper to order products through an eCommerce site and to find « exactly the same » cart when they connect to the mobile app.

These demands are making it necessary for businesses to accelerate their digital transformation and to reconsider the customer journey: breaking down online and offline barriers¹¹, developing an omnichannel company culture, relying on a « 360° unified¹¹ »… product repository… These efforts are essential for decompartmentalizing¹² shopping channels and providing a unified global shopping journey.

Challenge n°3: develop your sales internationally

When searching for a product, shoppers don't hesitate to check out foreign eCommerce sites and 68% of shoppers⁹ buy from foreign sellers. On these websites, they have high expectations⁹ and expect to find a shopping experience adapted to their geographic location with 60% of shoppers¹³ saying that they won't buy a product if the content is not translated into their language.

For a business this means optimizing working processes to satisfy the expectations of potential foreign shoppers¹¹: managing currency efficiently, handling returns quickly, systematic translation of contents… « New technologies¹⁴ » can be great allies in this optimization process, enabling you to automate content translation tasks and facilitating the adaptation of product information for each country (local culture, regulations, shopping habits…).

Digital transformation: an essential sales lever for eCommerce

To meet the challenges of the eCommerce industry, businesses often use tedious working processes and unsuitable technologies: 97% of businesses¹⁵ do not have a unique platform for the implementation of their omnichannel strategy and 78%¹⁵ are not using « suitable technology » to develop their cross selling and/or upselling strategies.

The digital transformation is a strategic ally for these companies with businesses that have managed this transition successfully being 3 times more¹⁶ likely to reach their targets. They also have « more business opportunities » and generate more profits¹⁶ than other companies.

To sum up, the new habits of today's shoppers require that businesses speed up their digital transformation and optimize their working processes: centralization of data, improvement of translation processes, decompartmentalization of selling channels… These efforts are essential to meet the demands of shoppers at each stage of their shopping journey.

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