Here at Blueport, we’ve been passing around last week’s StorefrontBackTalk blog post “Should CIOs Now Surrender to Marketing?,” and it has sparked some discourse between our own marketing and technology functions. As Director of Integration, do I think CIOs should surrender to marketing? They already have!
Some don’t know it yet and some have walled themselves up in time capsules, and for both those groups, the battle has passed them by. Those CIOs who don’t know it yet lead organizations that just can’t seem to make up lost ground chasing the most profitable new technologies. Those who have walled themselves off behind pretexts of the need for conformity and centralized control have done nothing but stifle and stratify the process of business evolution critical to ongoing competitiveness. IT organizations that encourage and support peer business unit management of specialized, cost effective, outsourced applications have won the day.
When CIOs Let Go, Bigger Opportunities Result
By foregoing complete control of all that has become the technology function, the CIO also realizes benefits and reveals opportunities. No IT organization has excess resources to spend making specialized applications that compete with today’s best-in-class cloud and SaaS solutions. Spinning off responsibility for tools that cater to subject area expertise allows CIOs to focus resources against core projects where their resources thrive as opposed to working a potentially complicated solution in an unfamiliar discipline.
A Real-Life E-Commerce Example
The real opportunities result when, through a collaborative approach to enabling specialized applications, a vision develops of the next generation corporate infrastructure, an infrastructure that enables and supports snap-in specialized solutions and opens the door to the same type of quick, cost-effective solutions for all business units. Collaboration between the company’s business functions leading to a common enabling infrastructure gives the CIO the benefit of steering decisions on critical issues central to modern IT, such as compliance and security. Finally, the specialized applications researched and implemented by business units act like a research and development IT skunk works, exposing the organization to the newest technologies and solution patterns.
A real world example of this is your typical big-ticket retail e-commerce website. Assuming the CIO chooses to develop the e-commerce solution in house, the company first needs to decide on a technology for catalog, order tunnel, fulfillment, and reporting. Then the CIO must hire a development team or train existing staff. While the staff is either hiring or training, none of them are advancing the IT organization’s other core solutions. And, as the new e-commerce team is building the website against the initial technology chosen, they are already falling behind technically. When the in-house solution finally launches, it is already underwhelming to consumers and, more often than not, the effort needs to be set aside immediately to resume work against the ever-present backlog of requests for changes to core business solutions.
All the while, the CIO could have used one of the SaaS solutions that are evolving quickly and constantly setting new user experience paradigms.
Alternately, if the CIO chooses to embrace an SaaS e-commerce solution advanced by the marketing team, the CIO’s team would have input on integration and security, as well as an easy case with management for building enhancements to core infrastructure and systems. The enhancements to the core infrastructure, quickened and focused by working against the new SaaS e-commerce solution, open the door to additional SaaS or cloud solutions as well as new technology core solutions by the in-house team. And don’t forget the finished product: SaaS solutions evolve very quickly and constantly set new user experience paradigms – customers love the new website. The next SaaS integration is very cost-effective, and the CIO is the hero. Best of all, nothing of true importance was actually surrendered to marketing.
Next week: Marketing responds!
Related posts:
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
When developing our clients’ e-commerce websites, we help drive consumers to convert by providing simple interactive widgets that complement the retailers’ catalogs. With guaranteed interoperability across operating systems and browser flavors, Flash has been the platform of choice for these types of quick projects that engage users -- so far.
With Adobe’s decision to cede the mobile widget space to HTML5, it’s time for web developers to put Flash aside as the platform of choice for quick consumer interactivity. You need to be able to deliver a consistent e-commerce site experience to consumers whether they are surfing the web from their PCs, phones or tablets. And without guaranteed Flash support in the growing mobile space, the unit developer environment cost and associated learning curve sinks Flash’s chances for a decent ROI.
HTML5, however, has a core foundation in interoperability, and the encapsulated APIs that support quick consumer widgets already have a multiyear track record. With Microsoft’s IE9 HTML5 implementation entering the field over a year ago and that implementation’s significant cooperation with the other next-gen browsers, there’s no longer an excuse to keep developing indefinitely in Flash. We plan, and advise other e-commerce web developers, to gradually mix in HTML5 projects for quick interactive widgets now, while the Flash platform support is still good.
Related posts:
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
With Adobe’s decision to cede the mobile widget space to HTML5, it’s time for web developers to put Flash aside as the platform of choice for quick consumer interactivity. You need to be able to deliver a consistent e-commerce site experience to consumers whether they are surfing the web from their PCs, phones or tablets. And without guaranteed Flash support in the growing mobile space, the unit developer environment cost and associated learning curve sinks Flash’s chances for a decent ROI.
HTML5, however, has a core foundation in interoperability, and the encapsulated APIs that support quick consumer widgets already have a multiyear track record. With Microsoft’s IE9 HTML5 implementation entering the field over a year ago and that implementation’s significant cooperation with the other next-gen browsers, there’s no longer an excuse to keep developing indefinitely in Flash. We plan, and advise other e-commerce web developers, to gradually mix in HTML5 projects for quick interactive widgets now, while the Flash platform support is still good.
Related posts:
- Improving the Big-Ticket E-Commerce Online Shopping Experience
- Approaching E-Commerce Applications with the Wisdom of Maturity
- Creating an Immersive Online Shopping Experience
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Yesterday, TechCrunch reported on the new Square Register, a replacement for cash registers that not only lets retailers accept credit card payments via iPads, but also allows the stores to communicate with customers more efficiently.
After a retailer processes a customer’s payment via Square Register, the retailer can invite the customer to download the Square Card Case, allowing the merchant to engage with customers in entirely new ways. Customers can add your “card” to this virtual wallet and access your location and contact information, their purchase history and receipts, a live menu of your daily offering and customized offers from you. Customers will also be able to use the Square Card Case to make purchases from your store within two physical blocks of the location. The customer can show up at the store, give the name to the cashier and then be charged on the back-end Square Register for the goods. It practically takes the whole payment process out of your relationship with customers.
Is iPad the Perfect Multichannel Retail Tool?
While we will certainly keep an eye on this application and how it works in real retail, we just need to say how amazed we are with the multifaceted iPad as a catalyst for retail both for merchants and consumers. The iPad is not only a tool for customers looking for great images of product and an ability to buy, share information on the fly and get feedback from their friends on all types of purchases from lunch to gadgets to big-ticket items and everything in between. It is also a tool for selling. Retailers can use iPads to show additional retail to customers, as a mobile option for checking retail and now as a replacement for cash registers and POS terminals with extraordinary customer engagement opportunities.
What can’t the iPad do? Or, more importantly, as a retailer, what else would you like the iPad to be able to do for your business?
Related posts:
After a retailer processes a customer’s payment via Square Register, the retailer can invite the customer to download the Square Card Case, allowing the merchant to engage with customers in entirely new ways. Customers can add your “card” to this virtual wallet and access your location and contact information, their purchase history and receipts, a live menu of your daily offering and customized offers from you. Customers will also be able to use the Square Card Case to make purchases from your store within two physical blocks of the location. The customer can show up at the store, give the name to the cashier and then be charged on the back-end Square Register for the goods. It practically takes the whole payment process out of your relationship with customers.
Is iPad the Perfect Multichannel Retail Tool?
While we will certainly keep an eye on this application and how it works in real retail, we just need to say how amazed we are with the multifaceted iPad as a catalyst for retail both for merchants and consumers. The iPad is not only a tool for customers looking for great images of product and an ability to buy, share information on the fly and get feedback from their friends on all types of purchases from lunch to gadgets to big-ticket items and everything in between. It is also a tool for selling. Retailers can use iPads to show additional retail to customers, as a mobile option for checking retail and now as a replacement for cash registers and POS terminals with extraordinary customer engagement opportunities.
What can’t the iPad do? Or, more importantly, as a retailer, what else would you like the iPad to be able to do for your business?
Related posts:
- "T-Commerce" Reinvented as iPads Reshape Mulitchannel Retail
- Forrester's Brian Walker Outlines the Fundamental Shifts Taking Place in E-Commerce Technology
- Arhaus Furniture's Custom iPad App Aims to Drive Cross Channel Sales
- A Big Screen for Big-Ticket: In Defense of the iPad
Congratulations to our email marketing partner e-Dialog for being honored for Innovation in Email Marketing in this year’s Econsultancy Innovation Awards for the company’s work with British Airways. The email marketing campaign promoted the airline’s new mobile application for its loyalty club, and achieved more than 70,000 clicks and doubled download targets over the course of the marketing campaign. Way to go, e-Dialog!
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Arhaus Furniture, a high-end furniture multi channel retailer with stores in 13 states in addition to a print catalog and an e-commerce site at Arhaus.com, will soon arm their entire delivery team with an iPad application aimed at not only enhancing the product delivery experience, but also driving repeat and incremental purchases from their customer base.
The application is designed primarily for customer use: customers will be handed the iPad at the start of the delivery, which will include a welcome and thank you message from the retailer, will be able to look at different furniture setup options and even browse the entire Arhaus ecommerce catalog. Customers will also sign off on deliveries using their fingers on the touch screen and will also be able to fill out a post delivery survey on site.
While the iPad application will certainly result in efficiencies in the retailer’s fulfillment and delivery systems, what is interesting here is how the company is adding another level to their customer service experience through a true cross channel retail strategy. For example, while a customer is having a sofa delivered that they purchased at their local store, they will be able to browse the Arhaus.com ecommerce catalog through the iPad app for the matching chair they recall seeing during their shopping trip.
No doubt that we will continue to see more and more retailers integrate these type of mobile and tablet products into their multi channel strategy to enhance their customers' retail shopping experience, be it in-store or on the go. And as retail channels become increasingly blurred and intertwined, the importance of having consistent content and product information for your customer no matter where they are shopping will be imperative and essential to driving sales.
How are your stores or franchises integrating technologies such as the iPad into their sales or customer service process?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
The application is designed primarily for customer use: customers will be handed the iPad at the start of the delivery, which will include a welcome and thank you message from the retailer, will be able to look at different furniture setup options and even browse the entire Arhaus ecommerce catalog. Customers will also sign off on deliveries using their fingers on the touch screen and will also be able to fill out a post delivery survey on site.
While the iPad application will certainly result in efficiencies in the retailer’s fulfillment and delivery systems, what is interesting here is how the company is adding another level to their customer service experience through a true cross channel retail strategy. For example, while a customer is having a sofa delivered that they purchased at their local store, they will be able to browse the Arhaus.com ecommerce catalog through the iPad app for the matching chair they recall seeing during their shopping trip.
No doubt that we will continue to see more and more retailers integrate these type of mobile and tablet products into their multi channel strategy to enhance their customers' retail shopping experience, be it in-store or on the go. And as retail channels become increasingly blurred and intertwined, the importance of having consistent content and product information for your customer no matter where they are shopping will be imperative and essential to driving sales.
How are your stores or franchises integrating technologies such as the iPad into their sales or customer service process?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
You’ve probably seen it before – a consumer in your store snapping photos of products with their camera phone to share with friends or ask for advice and opinions. Some may even post the photo to Twitter, Facebook or another social network. Mobile social consumers are not just looking for facts to support their purchase decision – they are looking for friends (or at least other consumers) to endorse it. The bigger the ticket, the more important this consulation becomes.
As such, the impact of social media as part of a complete cross-channel approach cannot be ignored. Already impacting the traditional e-commerce space, the growing use of social applications through mobile devices highlights the importance for retailers to carve out a social media presence that ensures their brand is visible and accessible in this space and creating sites that are optimized for mobile viewing and sharing.
Are you seeing this trend within your stores? How are you addressing the intersection of mobile and social commerce?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
As such, the impact of social media as part of a complete cross-channel approach cannot be ignored. Already impacting the traditional e-commerce space, the growing use of social applications through mobile devices highlights the importance for retailers to carve out a social media presence that ensures their brand is visible and accessible in this space and creating sites that are optimized for mobile viewing and sharing.
Are you seeing this trend within your stores? How are you addressing the intersection of mobile and social commerce?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
We were the first Akamai e-commerce client, more than 11 years ago. Our hosted Multichannel E-Commerce platform is more effective with partners like Akamai rounding out our offering.
Here is a link to a video (featuring Carl Prindle, President and CEO of Blueport Commerce) that describes well Blueport's E-Commerce applications and specifically how our long time expertise in Internet retail strategies has allowed Blueport to win clients again and again.
Watch the video >>
Here is a link to a video (featuring Carl Prindle, President and CEO of Blueport Commerce) that describes well Blueport's E-Commerce applications and specifically how our long time expertise in Internet retail strategies has allowed Blueport to win clients again and again.
Watch the video >>
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Recently while reading my morning blogs I was prompted to upgrade to the most recent iTunes version, the one that supports the iPad.
iTunes then separated out my apps, and I noticed an advertisement for the Gilt Groupe shopping application which was specifically tuned for the larger screen of the iPad. I flipped through the screen shots – and was immediately impressed. The iPad app instantly began to show its chops through bigger, sharper imagery – a clear win for big-ticket retailers, like Gilt.
In my opinion, imagery plays an ever increasing role in big-ticket retail, which is why the iPad has the potential to be a big win for this category. Since the decision process is longer for these high-priced items, consumers typically want to feel and experience the product on a richer level. Being able to zoom in on an item on the iPad’s big, vivid screen with the pinch of your fingers means that consumers can get a clear picture of the product like never before. They can zoom in and see the texture of a fabric or the wood grain on a table. They can literally feel like they are in the store touching this product.
This interaction with a product before a customer makes the sale is pivotal for building confidence in the big-ticket item they are buying, creating higher customer satisfaction and lower return rates. Big-ticket retailers offering iPad apps will also be virtually unlimited in the visually stimulating and interactive content they can offer their consumers.
Will you be purchasing the iPad? What are your thoughts on the big-ticket e-commerce potential of this new tool?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
iTunes then separated out my apps, and I noticed an advertisement for the Gilt Groupe shopping application which was specifically tuned for the larger screen of the iPad. I flipped through the screen shots – and was immediately impressed. The iPad app instantly began to show its chops through bigger, sharper imagery – a clear win for big-ticket retailers, like Gilt.
In my opinion, imagery plays an ever increasing role in big-ticket retail, which is why the iPad has the potential to be a big win for this category. Since the decision process is longer for these high-priced items, consumers typically want to feel and experience the product on a richer level. Being able to zoom in on an item on the iPad’s big, vivid screen with the pinch of your fingers means that consumers can get a clear picture of the product like never before. They can zoom in and see the texture of a fabric or the wood grain on a table. They can literally feel like they are in the store touching this product.
This interaction with a product before a customer makes the sale is pivotal for building confidence in the big-ticket item they are buying, creating higher customer satisfaction and lower return rates. Big-ticket retailers offering iPad apps will also be virtually unlimited in the visually stimulating and interactive content they can offer their consumers.
Will you be purchasing the iPad? What are your thoughts on the big-ticket e-commerce potential of this new tool?
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
Blueport Commerce approaches technology with the wisdom of maturity. The Blueport technology team has experience in the e-commerce space dating back to the 1990s and has experienced firsthand the full panoply of technology hype from that era and since. With this experience we conservatively maintain loyalty to cost effective e-commerce applications while aggressively adopting proven new technologies.
Our core infrastructure is based on products from Microsoft, Adobe, HP, Cisco, F5, and Akamai. We utilize Microsoft’s .Net software development platform and SQL Server database engine as the foundation for our proprietary e-commerce platform. Visually engaging client side e-commerce applications are built with Adobe Flash. We implement secure connectivity with a range of Cisco IOS products. Our server farms are principally made up of HP servers running Microsoft Windows. We manage demand for our client web portals with F5 load balancers. Akamai provides us with geographic edge caching of content. None of these technology partners were born after Y2K but all are excellent with proven staying power.
Our e-commerce platform, shared by all of our clients, represents 10 years of evolution shaped by the unique requirements of “big ticket” e-commerce - from local branding, regional product availability, regional pricing and sale events, coupons, consumer financing, variable lead times, and the CRM and CMS systems to support them. With this library of processes and functionalities available to us, we can focus on the unique requirements of our clients rather than reinventing these complex processes or trying to repurpose an “off the shelf” e-commerce platform designed for simpler transactions.
Our custom platform can also adapt easily to partner systems. The long service technologies making up our core have naturally evolved integration pathways with most other competitive products. We leverage these to work freely with partner systems rooted in Oracle, IBM, and other, less well known companies.
There’s no shortage of e-commerce conventional wisdom - sweeping pronouncements that online is growing at a certain rate. That one tactic works, another doesn’t. That a multi-channel strategy is increasingly important.
I love such analysis and opinion – back in the day, as a consultant at McKinsey, I performed and provided my fair share. However, I will point out the need to dig deeper. What is loosely called “e-commerce” is dramatically different in its application depending on what you are selling.
A few things to keep in mind as you digest the latest e-commerce wisdom or evaluate a vendor:
E-commerce expertise correlates with where money has been made to date, not where it will be made.
Well known e-commerce experts, agencies and technology companies become so because they’ve been doing it for a while and have been well paid for their work. As such, their experience tends to be in those categories that went online early and successfully, yielding enthusiastic clients and customers who could pay.
There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as you are also in those categories. If not, think about whether what you are being told makes sense for your business.
One example: It’s been said that 65% of e-commerce keyword searches include a manufacture name and/or model number. Most online agencies build keyword strategies around that fact. And, it works well in those categories that have dominated e-commerce in the past.
But, say you’re a furniture retailer.
Most of your prospective customers have no idea who manufactured the sofa they already own, much less the one they are thinking about buying. Model number? Forget it. Conventional wisdom is out the window - how will your agency react to not being able to rely a favorite approach?
Beware sweeping pronouncements and general statistics. Dig for what’s happening in your market.
I’m an e-com stat addict. There are outstanding analysts out there providing the pulse of e-commerce on a regular and accurate basis. That said, it’s important to pull apart e-commerce statistics and trends to find those that apply to what you do.
Some recent examples:
E-Commerce Growth Statistics
Pundits seem to be in general agreement that in 2009, e-commerce grew or shrank by single digit percentage points. In the face of brick and mortar declines, this is touted as strength – ecommerce holding its own despite significant economic headwinds.
All true – but there’s more to the story. Big ticket online took off in 2009.
Big ticket (think things that cost more and can’t ship via UPS…consumer durables like furniture, appliances, flooring) is 45% of the US Retail Economy, $550B in annual retail sales. It’s never done much online – until now.
Consumers are online and big ticket retailers are now meeting them there. Forrester reports customers feeling comfortable buying furniture and appliances online just in the last 18 months. Big ticket players Blueport works with are seeing monstrous comp increases for online sales and even bigger benefits in stores.
If you happen to be in big ticket markets, this is an opportunity you can’t miss…but easily could, if you just look at broader online growth stats.
E-Commerce by Channel Statistics
Similarly, stats show roughly 45% of e-commerce transacted by Web-only players and catalogers (i.e. pure plays), 15% by manufacturers, and 40% by retailers.
Beneath this stat is a dramatic big ticket vs. small ticket schism in who is winning in e-commerce.
For traditional (small ticket) e-commerce, pure plays have tremendous cost advantages. With no store costs, they can price low. Their products are well known, approaching commodity status, and the shipping is fast, cheap and risk free. In categories from books to shoes, pure plays are cleaning up.
Not so in big ticket. Here, consumers know less about the product. They want to touch and feel in a store. They look for trusted brands – not only for the product, but for the retailer who can deliver and service it. And, they are highly focused on delivery times and costs. Here, retail chains, with trusted brands, local stores and fast, cheap local delivery have the upper hand.
Combine these advantages with the growth noted above, and it’s a good time to be going online if you’re a big ticker player. And, if you’re a retailer in these categories, there’s certainly more than 40% of the online marketplace available to you.
The Importance of Cross-Channel Commerce
There’s significant recent buzz about “multi-channel” or “cross-channel” commerce as the next big thing. We couldn’t agree more – with emphasis on the “big”.
For small ticket items, I don’t think cross channel is that important. Anyone think that opening Zappos bricks and mortar stores is on any of the whiteboards at Amazon?
Conversely, in big ticket, cross channel is critical. The key differentiating factors in big ticket online are store based. Big ticket online and offline channels must be synchronized, as consumers move between them constantly.
This is why we’ve architected our platform to be localized. Big ticket commerce comes down to the local relationship between a consumer, a store, and the inventory in her area. If you’re in big ticket and you’re not reflecting this reality online, you’re missing the point.
Balance online conventional wisdom against what you know about your customers.
Ultimately, e-commerce comes down to a combination of persuading and enabling consumers to buy, using the internet.
Here again, how your consumers do this may not be the same as in “traditional” e-commerce categories.
To grossly over simplify traditional e-commerce shopping, it comes down to finding a product and deciding you like it. After that, the assumption is that UPS takes it from there - you will have your product cheaply, quickly, and some nice brown-shirted gentleman will take it back if things go awry.
As such, most e-commerce wisdom is focused on search and merchandising, helping consumers to find and buy (maybe getting a deal).
These areas are critical (and unique) in big ticket as well, but there’s more to the story – specifically, the part of the story that UPS takes care of in traditional, small ticket e-commerce.
With a sofa or a fridge, more goes into the shopping process than features and price. Customers want to touch and feel in a store. They may want to speak to an expert. They want to know how fast they can get something, and that delivery is as cheap as it can be. They may want financing options. They want to be sure the product can be serviced, and that, worst case it can be returned.
If these are questions your consumer is likely to ask, be sure to push beyond UPS-based ecom conventional wisdom. If you’re a retailer, you’ve got some of the best possible answers to these questions – be sure your online presence takes full advantage (see localization above).
* * *
As consumers look to buy more products online, and e-commerce pushes beyond the simple, UPSable products that were the first wave of e-commerce, the importance of disaggregating e-commerce increases. The opportunities online have changed. E-commerce conventional wisdom soon will too.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
We were recently in the final year of a five-year contract with one of our existing e-commerce clients. We assumed that (like any company that's smart about its technology), they were in discussions with other major vendors in the multichannel retail software space - Oracle, Escalate, GSI Commerce, ATG and the like. But at Blueport we knew the client had one overarching need: to simply find the best B2C ecommerce platform for large order value (AoV) purchases. That's what we call Big Ticket retail - and it's our sweet spot. How does the story end? Yes, they re-upped the contract: http://www.blueport.com/news-events/.
We earned their renewal because we are confident that our e-commerce solution is the only one that meets the needs of big-ticket multichannel retailers. Blueport Commerce has the technology, knowledge and expertise to capture the strategic opportunity for your business online.
We know the complexities of big-ticket retail and we have the answers to make it work for you. We know how this transformation impacts each aspect of your business and we'll guide your team through the process step by step.
The number of B2C e-commerce applications starting to play in the big ticket retail category continues to grow. But, since your goods are larger dollar value purchases, they are typically more complex to move around the country and generally don't fit in the standard e-commerce package or platform built for commodity items. The Blueport Commerce solution was built for retailers like you, and that's why it works.
We've made other folks lives easy — let us do the same for you.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
We earned their renewal because we are confident that our e-commerce solution is the only one that meets the needs of big-ticket multichannel retailers. Blueport Commerce has the technology, knowledge and expertise to capture the strategic opportunity for your business online.
We know the complexities of big-ticket retail and we have the answers to make it work for you. We know how this transformation impacts each aspect of your business and we'll guide your team through the process step by step.
The number of B2C e-commerce applications starting to play in the big ticket retail category continues to grow. But, since your goods are larger dollar value purchases, they are typically more complex to move around the country and generally don't fit in the standard e-commerce package or platform built for commodity items. The Blueport Commerce solution was built for retailers like you, and that's why it works.
We've made other folks lives easy — let us do the same for you.
Copyright 2010, Official Blog of Blueport Commerce
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