Retail Technologies That Pair Well Together

And so we were very happy to be invited by Adobe to contribute to their latest eBook entitled “Retail Technologies That Pair Well Together.” The concept behind this new eBook is that “to attract and retain new customers, retailers must create a unified experience that’s also hyper-personalized for each individual.”

Adobe sees that “many sellers’ digital strategies aren’t fully baked...and while retailers have made big strides over the past year—such as expanding merchandise assortments online and adding curbside pickup—they still fail to deliver a customer experience (CX) that’s both seamless and responsive.” There are two parts to this equation that retailers must solve for. The first part of what is driving the need for a unified experience is the growth in eCommerce by necessity, and the emergence of new channels. This has caused consumers and buyers to behave differently, taking new paths to purchase. From a product information point of view, it’s therefore critical to provide unified information, tailored for the needs of each channel. Buyers and shoppers should not see inconsistent product information across channels, but should see that information adapted to the product listing requirements for each channel. The second part is personalization. Consumers want to feel as if the brand knows them, and remembers interaction context across touchpoints, and provides them relevant and timely offers. Part of knowing a customer is understanding what they care about, such as your brand values. Do your customers care about sustainability, responsible sourcing, and other eco-friendly attributes? If so, include that information on your site, and with your products. With more consistency and relevancy - in both product information and customer preferences across channels - customers are more likely to convert and become repeat customers. What other attributes are common to a unified shopping experience?

• Speed. A unified eCommerce experience must be fast and easy for consumers to use.
• Predictive content and commerce, tailored to their specific needs at every stage of the buyer’s journey.
• Cross-channel consistency, so consumers feel you know them regardless of which channel they visit.
• Privacy consciousness and highly secure.

Do you have the right digital foundation? Creating a unified retail experience requires the right technology to prepare to support the customer experience, from product data to customer data to payments, shipping, and more. And, it needs to work consistently across platforms. However, being able to access and use all of this data is a major challenge for retailers that have not built a digital foundation. And that’s the challenge this eBook seeks to help overcome. So, check it out! You’ll get advice from several of Adobe’s top partners on how to design, deploy, and continuously improve a unified retail experience that serves up a large helping of success.