What a difference a year makes. When I first started this blog back in the early Summer of '07, I wrote a post on why online merchants and marketers tend to fight, and how the lines between these critical functions were becoming blurrier as marketers with rich customer data were driving and influencing product strategy(read the post here). I also speculated that the growing need for robust product content was rapidly becoming a runaway train in many organizations, and this was the place where merchants needed to take the reigns, view content as a strategic asset and apply merchandising know-how to the equation (read the post here).
In July of this year, the annual Shop.org Merchandising Workshop was held (always a great event, well worth attending) and I was thrilled to see that the e-commerce merchant role is evolving and gaining in importance. And, it looks like some of my earlier predictions are coming true. So, if the online merchandising role is evolving, are retailers keeping up?
First, what is an online merchant, and what does she/he do? Online merchants are the product specialists on the e-commerce team. It's their job to know the product they sell inside and out, and, using customer insights and e-commerce technologies, make that product discoverable, considerable, and purchase-able on the website or through other online distribution channels.
The devil, as we know, is in the details. E-commerce technologies and best practices have advanced significantly over the last few years. Merchants have more data and tools than ever, and their customers are demanding more product information than ever. But customers are also participating more than ever, and leaving behind valuable insights into how they shop and what information they expect to find. The difference between an "old world" online merchant and one in the "new world" is how well they have incorporated these robust customer insights into their online merchandising practices and how well they are using them to optimize the site experience.
When I listen to "old world" online merchants talk about what they do, they usually list out tasks like this:
- Decide what products to feature on the home & landing pages
- Decide what navigational categories and sub-categories products belong in
- Sequence thumbnail & search results pages so that new or best selling items appear first
- Assign coordinate or up-sell products to display on product and shopping cart pages
- Coordinate photography needs
- Determine feature products for affiliate partners and email campaigns
If you're an online merchant doing the above, you're probably a bit bored by now, and you're probably starting to sense that there's a whole new world out there. There's an additional level of horsepower that you can be adding to optimize the effectiveness of the e-commerce channel by harnessing customer insights. The job in the "new world" looks something like this:
- Mining product reviews and customer generated content to determine what product features and language to use in product descriptions, search meta data and comparison tool criteria.
- Creating new navigational paths beyond standard categories by mining search records and user generated content.
- Forging new ways for customers to discover product that can be automated on the back end, like "best sellers", "top rated", or "new additions" sections that are continually updated based on business rules - not manual merchant population.
- Determining automated solutions to cross selling and up-selling based on product attributes and purchase history.
- Diving deep into the way that people shop for key product categories both online and in store. See my previous post about buying swimwear at Land's End. They've made a deliberate decision to own the category, and their selling process is right in synch with how customers want to buy the product. Can you say the same about your online selling experience?
- Determining the visual product presentation needs at the category and product level. Zoom, larger views and alternate views have become ubiquitous. Video is on the rise. Smart online merchants take an in-depth view of presentation needs by category and product vs. a cookie cutter approach to display.
- Partnering with stores to make the web an integral part of the in-store selling process. What do customers want to know? What information do store sales associates need at their fingertips when they work with a customer?
We’re well into the back half of the year, and in addition to readying your site for the upcoming holiday season, you’re probably starting to think about '09 priorities and budgets. If you're an online merchant and you're feeling a bit stuck in the "old world", consider giving yourself a new job description as a holiday gift. The "new world" might be a bit more work, but it's bound to be a lot more fun and effective.
Great article! You’re right we live in rapidly growing web 2.0 world where
companies are turning to their customers to market and evaluate their products.
Posted by: Casey | September 04, 2008 at 09:04 AM