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"It [ecommerce] is a different animal in that to sell it, you have to know it. You have to use your network to be able to see how it's working elsewhere. Because it's 27 years old, it's relatively a baby compared to traditional retail." — Colette Richards, Director of Alternative Sales and Distribution, Barcel USA
Compared to brick-and-mortar retail, ecommerce is still in its infancy. Ecommerce first emerged in the 1990s, according to George Washington University, but over the last 30 years, it has rapidly evolved with advances in technology that constantly change how consumers transact online.
Today, 96% of Americans have had an online shopping experience, as noted by BigCommerce. In 2022, U.S. ecommerce sales topped $1 trillion for the first time ever, according to Digital Commerce 360. And, Forbes reports the global ecommerce market is projected to total $6.3 trillion in 2023.
As big as it might be, however, ecommerce requires constant adaptation and learning.
Colette Richards, director of alternative sales and distribution at Barcel USA, the snack division of Grupo Bimbo, deeply understands and embraces this. Richards joined a recent episode of the "Unpacking the Digital Shelf" podcast, "Growing Ecommerce at a Global Brand from Scratch to Success," to share what she’s learned, how to set company goals to win at ecommerce, and how Barcel USA and other brands can advance their digital shelf strategy in 2023 and beyond.
Growing ecommerce at a global brand takes time, skill, and vision.
As director of alternative sales, Richards focuses on finding and growing emerging areas of Barcel’s online and offline business.
She recalls Amazon’s initial approach of Barcel in 2018 to partner with them to sell its brands on the Amazon marketplace. Today, Barcel’s presence is ubiquitous on the platform, and consumers can find everything from Takis (rolled tortilla chips) to Ricolinos (chocolate-covered candy from Mexico) on the site.
Richards is essentially an internal evangelist for ecommerce within Barcel and is laser-focused on helping everyone in the organization understand the value of ecommerce and what it takes to be successful on the digital shelf.
"It [ecommerce] is a different animal in that to sell it, you have to know it," she says. "You have to use your network to be able to see how it's working elsewhere. Because it's 27 years old, it's relatively a baby compared to traditional retail."
One of many things Richards tries to evangelize is that digital influences in-store sales, so Barcel must deliver an engaging omnichannel experience at every touchpoint.
"It's learning that 60 to 80% of people who are in the store have the app open while they're shopping," she says. "You're able to influence the in-store shopper even with the online content. So, you want to make sure that your content is right and your digital assets are right."
For Richards, making digital content right is all about making it “craveable.” Craveable content not only showcases the different use cases for a particular snack but also fosters an emotional connection.
Richards says focusing on content is one approach brands can use to grow their market share online.
One of Barcel’s overarching company goals is to have higher sales on-platform than in-store. Richards says getting new customers is how the brand will drive this growth, and creating engaging, personalized product content will be the cornerstone of these efforts.
Ecommerce is constantly shifting, which means Richards is constantly learning. Building the right network has helped her stay on top of industry trends and devise innovative ecommerce strategies for Barcel.
She says building and learning from your network is especially critical today, with the rise of retail media platforms, social media, and other digital channels.
"If we don't begin having these conversations as humans selling to Amazon or learning from people who've worked there, how will all of us ever be successful?" Richards says.
Richards distills her experience and lessons learned into best practices for brands. Here are a few of them on how to set company goals for ecommerce.
Any brand looking to build its digital presence must first lay a strong foundation.
"Your foundation is, ‘What am I going to sell?' 'Where am I going to sell it?' 'How am I going to digitalize my assets?'" — Colette Richards, Director of Alternative Sales and Distribution, Barcel USA
Part of this effort includes creating and assembling the right digital assets, such as compelling imagery and great product detail content, along with maximizing free search. Once these foundational elements are in place, brands can build from there.
Silos within many organizations often keep them from creating a seamless experience across the digital and physical shelves.
"If you don't break the silos down on your teams, you're going to keep having to evangelize [ecommerce] longer and longer," Richards says.
Fostering alignment between marketing and trade spend is critical to increasing marketing effectiveness, return on investment (ROI), and driving more sales.
Better alignment often leads to better visibility into spend, which allows ecommerce teams to allocate their resources more effectively and move money from one bucket to another that actually converts to sales.
Richards gave the example of finding out that certain on-platform spending focused on awareness drove negative return on ad spend (ROAS). This inspired a shift in money to the sales bucket and a repurposing of it throughout the course of Barcel’s funnel.
"There’s a lot you have to learn and unpack,” she says about navigating today’s ecommerce landscape, adding that testing and learning are crucial. "You've got to have a control and you've got to have the experiment. If you have 10 experiments and one control, you're not going to know what works, so pace yourself."
Achieving success on the digital shelf requires close collaboration between brands and retailers, as their fortunes are now largely tied together.
Barcel is forging a more collaborative relationship with retailers driven by metrics.
"We are getting a lot more granular," she says. "And working with each of the strategic platforms we operate on to show the sales dollars we're regenerating and how it's growing at a faster rate than our traditional retail."
"This year, we're adding shadow P&Ls [profit and loss statements] to understand that my little team and this amount of spend is actually a better P&L performance than traditional retail," Richards says. "So, we're adding different components to show there is this opportunity that the marketplace and the business place and consumers are demanding."
With the rise of retail media, collaboration is more vital than ever to optimize channel performance. Richards says, once again, that continuous learning and adapting are critical for brands like Barcel to stay one step ahead of competitors.
"It's an opportunity that you just have to keep understanding that it's happening, and you can either be behind, can catch up like we did, or you can be a leader," she says. "It's all about evangelizing and looking at what's happening next."
To hear more of Richards' insights on how to set company goals for success on the digital shelf, listen to the full episode.
