Prophesies uttered by the Wise Men of market analysis pointing skywards to record breaking figures for online purchasing over the Christmas period appear to have come true! Key to the reported figures was the observation that it was those integrated e-commerce sites optimised for multichannel e-marketing who drew double the number of visitors of standard etailer sites.
Customer research early in 2011 had already begun to show that increased revenue at nearly 85 per cent of online businesses was obtained from customers using more than one channel. According to e-retailing analysts IMRG/Capgemini, online sales reached £4.5 billion in May 2011, up by 1.6 per cent on April. And it was those businesses who offered customers the opportunity to purchase via more than one channel who showed a better sales performance.
In the run up to the festive period, IMRG predicted that UK spending online would hit a peak of £367.8m on Boxing Day - a 12 per cent increase on 2010 due to use of smartphone and tablet devices creating the "bulk of the demand". According to Experian Hitwise, the internet information service, Boxing Day saw retail sites actually receive an all-time high of 96 million visits or a 19.5 per cent increase on the 80.5 million online visits the previous year. The "increased interest in shopping on Christmas Day" was also given as a contributory factor!
In addition, it was users of smartphone and tablet who were easily able to jump across mobile optimised sites and social networks, combined with mobile apps, who were key in driving increased multichannel traffic.
There’s no doubt that in 2012 multichannel and platform choice will continue to transform consumer expectation and search behaviours. Ecommerce site owners will need to keep in touch with fast moving trends and technology innovations by optimising their sites via bespoke web solutions to catch vital traffic opportunity. Online sites retailers must be geared towards offering consumers, both pre-qualified or otherwise, the choice of purchasing via multiple channels in the customer’s own preferred way.
Perception of an entire site or brand presence can all too easily be tainted by a poor customer experience through just one channel, whether traditional online marketing, social media content, email marketing or text marketing. The most successful sites will be those who understand that performance online is based upon offering the consumer more than offers and deals but are also focused on being seen to be socially adept at creating human engagement so that they may make a real connection with their audience / customer base and their motivations.
By matching channel and e-commerce integration to real customer expectation, prospects are more easily able to search, discover, research and purchase online and offline at any user touch point. In 2012, multichannel will multiply and social ranking will gain greater importance even as conventional user search continues to feed traditional site ranking.