How do you shop? When you’re looking for new clothes, shoes, jewellery or home appliances – do you still go into a shop, get advice from the shop assistant and then make your purchase? If that’s the case you are part of a dying breed. In fact, the very shop you are in is part of a dying breed, even if it’s an online shop.
Confronted with a challenging landscape, changed forever by economic downturn and increasingly technology savvy consumers, retailers have to up their game to meet the needs of today’s customers and survive on the market. In a day and age where information and connectivity became an indispensable part of a modern lifestyle, it’s not just bricks-and-mortar retailers that need a new strategy. Online retailers also have to adapt to the new multichannel, information-rich reality. Today’s consumers are very different from those just a few years ago. Much more demanding and sophisticated, they expect their shopping experience to be holistic and comprehensive. Information and a multichannel involvement become an important part of services, products and perception of value.
Information is one of the main drivers for customers to turn to online shopping, apart from convenience. Shopping online is a little like having a mall at home – consumers have access to a much larger part of the market, gathering as much detail as they need to make their buying decision. Shopping around, choosing from a broad selection of goods and services, comparing prices, all this is part of the information chain that precedes a purchase. Online communities and online ratings play an important role in that process. User ratings, if genuine, are the best sales argument as they enjoy the consumers’ trust and are seen as very reliable. This shows that, compared to shopping on the high street, online retailers have the opportunity to provide as much additional information as necessary. And thereby, have the chance to hugely expand their business.
This development has led to a new type of virtual stores – a hybrid between online retailer and magazine. A trend that becomes apparent especially in the fashion industry. Online retailers such as TOPSHOP were pioneers that have blurred the lines between website and magazine. Relying more and more on editorial content, they have turned to producing highly competitive equivalents to glossy fashion magazines. Reaching far beyond a purely informational purpose, editorial content is there to create a connection with the brand, with the online store and ultimately, foster consumer trust and loyalty. It is content that has to balance the missing sensory experience of touching, smelling, feeling the clothes – in online retail, the purchasing decision comes first and then comes the sensory experience.
Even though its missing the sensory experience, there is one crucial advantage for online retail – after comparing and mentally making an informed buying decision, the actual purchase is just one click away. The conversion rates from consideration to realisation are therefore much higher. Taking into account lower production costs as the whole printing process is excluded, this creates a very lucrative competitive advantage.
But it does also work the other way around. The digital revolution has made the market for printed content a very challenging environment, with many publications having to fight for survival. Consolidation has increased the competition even further. For print titles to survive, they have to turn digital. Again, the fashion market is the best example with high quality magazines such as VOGUE turning to e-commerce. But also the likes of ARGOS have changed their strategy from leafing through the catalogue and ordering by phone to online purchasing.
So, is retail the future home of publishing? Probably not, print media outlets will be around for a bit longer. In return however, editorial content definitely will become inseparable from online retailing. By connecting content with commerce, retailers increase their appeal to the savvy, information hungry consumer, bridge the gap between buying decision and actual purchase and, not entirely by chance, strengthen their profile as trustworthy and reliable shopping partner to increase sales. Online retailers thereby create a strong virtual identity and profile that binds consumers to their website and brands.
What’s next, you ask? With mobile devices going strong, multi-platform editorial content is already on the agenda, blurring the lines between online retailer and fashion magazine even more. Smart TV might add yet another channel to the range, integrating Web 2.0 and allowing access to various forms of content and even enabling targeted advertising. If we so far took our fashion advice from print outlets, compared quality and prices in the shops and then bought the chosen items online, the future will provide consumers with an all-around virtual shopping experience.
By Tim Jenkins, UK Director at e-Spirit.
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