x
READY TO BECOME A MEMBER?
Stay up to date on the digital shelf.
x
THANK YOU!
READY TO BECOME A MEMBER?
THANK YOU!
"Shoppers are really pulling for those frictionless experiences." — Andrea Leigh, CEO, Allume Group
If you want to better understand current ecommerce insights and trends and where the industry is headed next, Andrea Leigh is one of the best people to talk to.
Leigh, CEO of the ecommerce education consultancy Allume Group, puts together a quarterly report that summarizes the latest data, industry research, and expert conversations, offering unparalleled ecommerce insights and a view into the digital shelf strategies that will drive ecommerce success for brands.
Leigh joined a recent episode of the "Unpacking the Digital Shelf" podcast, "Takeaways from the Q3 Allume Group EIQ Report," to share current insights on the present and future of ecommerce.
Here’s what Leigh and her team uncovered about the trends currently reshaping the industry.
Allume Group’s "EIQ Report: Ecommerce Insider Quarterly" found that “forfeiting friction” is one of the biggest ecommerce trends.
"That shopper, coming out of the pandemic and returning to stores and having experienced the convenience of shopping online, is really pulling at retailers to provide them with frictionless experiences," Leigh says.
Unfortunately, brands and retailers still need to address several points of friction. From searching for products online and in-store to the checkout and payment process, the end-to-end customer journey isn’t yet seamless.
In discussions with Allume Group’s retailer clients, Leigh and her team discovered companies focus on technology and innovation to address friction. These companies turn to technology as generative AI, image, and social search simultaneously transform the shopper experience and create multiple digital shelves on which brands must engage consumers.
Today, brands have to compete for attention on a multitude of channels and platforms.
"There's more than one digital shelf now." — Andrea Leigh, CEO, Allume Group
This growing ecosystem includes the traditional retailer digital shelf, image search results, and even a TikTok digital shelf.
Generative AI now affects how products show up in Google Search, with more dynamic, visual content and product results displayed in ways that mimic the ecommerce shopping experience. Consumers also turn to TikTok to discover, research, and compare products.
More than half of Generation Z’s product searches now happen on TikTok, according to Leigh.
"You have to figure out which of these [digital shelves] your shoppers are using and how you're going to focus on them — and where you're going to place your bets," she says.
As brands try to facilitate connected commerce, they’ll only succeed if they meet shoppers wherever they are, whether on TikTok or Google Search.
Brands must now do more to engage consumers. Once a customer checks out and pays for their order, the process doesn’t end — it’s just begun.
"The big takeaway that we've seen manufacturers embrace is that there are a lot of new areas of responsibility for them right now than there used to be," Leigh says.
In its report, Allume Group says brands must focus on the entire shopper journey across discovery, activation, and fulfillment. This focus should also encompass ways to engage in social listening, social brand engagement, and the post-purchase experience.
Brands will need robust metrics for each of these touch points to optimize the end-to-end shopper journey and reduce friction. Some brands are already using data to improve aspects of this journey, specifically the post-purchase experience.
After examining customer reviews for its Alka-Seltzer product, pharmaceutical and life sciences giant Bayer discovered customers actually had begun to use the product as a hangover cure. Many customers also had begun posting TikTok videos about this off-label remedy. In response, Bayer launched a new product, Alka-Seltzer Hangover Relief.
"They did a great job of looking at the post-purchase experience, doing some social listening and mining user-generated content, and then using that to inform product development," Leigh says.
To drive better ecommerce performance, brands must implement the right organizational structure. Leigh says democratizing teams can accelerate innovation.
"We’re seeing more brands move to a more democratized ecommerce model, which to us means instead of having ecommerce sit in its own team off to the side, those functions are starting to get parked back within the organization, which helps with driving alignment," she says. "It also helps with being able to access resources from the broader organization."
It’s also critical for companies to create a culture of accountability, with individual and shared goals. They can lay the foundation for success by embracing a culture of continuous learning and experimentation.
Ecommerce and ecommerce insights change so much that brands must be adaptable and willing to take risks while giving their teams the knowledge, tools, and resources to achieve the business’s overall goals.
In the era of TikTok, social commerce, and AI-driven image search, brands must bring technology, data insights, and the right talent together to win on the digital shelf.
As the Allume Group’s quarterly report suggests, they have no choice but to innovate or shoppers will leave them behind.
"The brand has to develop these capabilities to have a relationship with the shopper, to communicate with the shopper, and to understand where the shopper's at," she says. "And those are all new skills."
To hear more of Leigh’s ecommerce insights, listen to the full episode.
