Online Retailers Grip for a Huge 2012 - Ashley John Heather

It used to be that selling and building a loyal customer base online around a brand was relatively straightforward establish a website with static product pages and drive sales and customer loyalty through ads and maybe an email listThe new retail reality in 2012 is that traditional ecommerce has gone from single to multichannel from static to social Selling online and building an audience around a brand has become more complex than ever From product creation and curation to social conversation and hyper affiliate selling there are so many ways to turn your customers into advocates for your businessBut how does one make sense of these options and construct a consistent multichannel ecommerce strategy let alone manage it all We believe the answer lies in considering each of four pieces of the modern ecommerce equation and using a single platform to run it allWith the meteoric rise in popularity of social networking consumers are now leveraging each other39s expertise making more informed purchasing decisions and sharing many steps of the online shopping experience with those in their social circle Shoppers now want and expect detailed product descriptions copious reviews from other consumers instructions videos and product recommendationsCompanies that excel at social commerce are starting to look beyond Facebook shop tabs and investing in technology and experiences that bring their customers much closer into their business For lasting meaningful engagement retailers must tell a story that not only promotes their brand but gives potential customers a compelling reason to make a purchase and develop an ongoing relationship with the brandWe believe that successful social commerce in 2012 must take into consideration four equally important pieces we call The 4 Cs Commerce Content Community and Context If a brand is to develop a complete social commerce experience that online shoppers have now come to expect they must fully leverage each of the 4 Cs and make sure they are all working in concert Without this cohesion brands run the risk of losing consumers39 attention and ultimately dollarsBoth 1800Flowers39 sites Celebrationscom and TheGiftcom are good examples of sites that expertly blend curated content and valuable resources for the potential customer while also building a story about its brands and provide integrated commerceshopping opportunities These sites allow for a level of interaction and education that would not be possible on a plain vanilla ecommerce siteThrough Facebook Twitter and online message boards brands now have active communities of their customers who communicate what they like and don39t like about the brands39 products Much of the story behind a brand is driven by the users themselves and brands now see an opportunity to initiate discussion and form communities around common interests with the brand and its productsBut even a static page on Facebook won39t automatically make the online shopping experience social Retailers have to invite and encourage social interaction around the brand through games badges and rewards that keep current customers engaged sharing content with their friends and bringing new shoppers into the mixOne emerging way of creating community around ecommerce is allowing customers to create and curate their own online boutiques Shop My Labelamp160 is a recentlylaunched website where users can select a range items from their favorite brands and custombuild their own virtual stores quickly and easily using the dotbox platform These boutique owners can then promote their stores to friends and family across the full range of social media channels thus turning the most passionate users into vendors Shop My Label also adds an extra layer of encouragement by giving boutique owners a commission on every purchasePeople have been gathering at The Crossroadsamp8211central social gathering placesamp8211in towns across the globe for centuries to gossip to shop and to be entertained What we are discussing now is the digital version of The Crossroads It is no longer a physical place rather a mindset on how to do business in today39s competitive and heavily social landscapeWith presence on Facebook an ecommerce site mobile and in many cases instore how can retailers build and manage a consistent experience that will not only foster brand loyalty and engagement but also drive purchases and make consumers want to share their experience with their social circledotbox has developed a cloud based fully scalable social commerce platform we call 4CsX With 4CsX we used the 4 Cs of social commerce as a base to construct an endtoend solution where everything is integrated and works outofthebox We39ve taken the various channels of modern ecommerce into consideration and built a system that allows brands to manage all the moving parts of a complex digital retailing strategy from one placeThe synergies gained from this approach not only save time and money but provide insights and data that before now would be lost in translation between multiple systems Scalability can be done in a few clicks It can be heavily customized but starts with a baseline that works swiftly and efficiently Customization is done in a separate layer so clients can still benefit from frequent system upgradesFor online retailers when thinking about executing on a social commerce strategy it39s no longer a question of should but how We think that using the 4C framework is the best possible way for brands to get up and running and manage their social commerce deployment efficiently Our platform will keep you on top of the dynamic fastpaced highlycompetitive world of selling online those who stick to the old ways of doing ecommerce are going to get left in the dustDownload our full white paper heredotbox CEO Ashley Heather is one of the pioneers at the intersection of ecommerce social interaction and locationaware services His companies include Musikube and Entertainment Media Works which brought us StarStyle StyleLogue and Plinkingamp8212in 2004 among the first Social Commerce websites In his native London he was the lead digital consultant at Impact Plus and an executive at Ford Motor Company He is a frequent speaker at media industry events including iBreakfast CTIA Wireless The Digital Coast Roundtable MoMeMo Social Media Week and is an Associate Member of IADAS He can be reached at ashleydotboxcomRead all Ashley39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at dotboxCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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Online Retailers Grip for a Huge 2012 - Ashley John Heather

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