In this post, I want to talk about the benefits of eCommerce that go beyond what you normally think. Typically, retailers look at eCommerce strictly as a way to make a sale. But there are many ancillary benefits to an eCommerce store that are often overlooked. eCommerce touches several departments within your organization, including marketing, operations, category management, and procurement.
Here are three clear ways eCommerce can and will make a difference in your business:
1) eCommerce increases overall digital engagement for your store. How? By giving your customers a practical reason to interact with your digital touchpoints routinely. It can be a trojan horse for gaining interest in other digital offerings you provide, such as a mobile app for list planning, digital coupons, or mobile self-checkout capability. The more digital touchpoints you provide a customer, the more likely you are to increase your share of their wallet.
2) eCommerce exposes out-of-stock (OOS) issues. When a customer walks into your brick & mortar store and an item they’re looking for isn’t on the shelf, the most common response for that person is to a) find a replacement item, b) remove the item from their list and go on to the next item, or c) go to a competitor to buy the item. In all these cases, the customer is inconvenienced — but, what’s more noteworthy, you will have no idea! In an eCommerce environment, this type of exposure is easily recognizable and can even be recorded — leaving you with the ability to do something about it!
3) eCommerce improves your marketing capability. When you provide customers with an eCommerce offering, they will happily share data with you that can be invaluable to your marketing department. At a minimum, you will be given the customer’s phone number, email address, and home address. But potentially even more powerful, you will learn their preferences and purchasing patterns so you can provide them with personalized and relevant offers at the right time.
There you are in a nutshell: three ways to fully take advantage of today’s digital environment, and be positioned for a better, more profitable future. Do you have questions about how these benefits could impact your grocery business? Contact me personally (Jeremy Neren, CEO) via contact form. Learn more about how GrocerKey can improve your business! I look forward to hearing from you.
