Electronic commerce in Spain breaks records and has not yet reached its peak. 2022 will be the great year of retail, which in its permanent search for modernization is making its way hand in hand with technology.
How are retailers preparing for the new challenges?
During 2021, eCommerce in Spain closed with historical records, exceeding Є 52,000 million and with an increase of 1.9% year-on-year, according to figures from the National Market and Competition Commission (CNMC).
However, for many companies —both stores and companies and entrepreneurs— there are still potholes to make that great leap. Why is it important, then, to align strategies across all sales channels?
Put yourself in the consumer's shoes. Customers are more empowered than ever. They are already in the habit of getting what they want, when and where they want it. Offer a positive experience all the way — aka customer journey —.
For that person, your company will always be their company, regardless of the channel through which they communicate. This vision of strategies, called "omnichannel" or "omnichannel" is here to stay. The omnichannel strategy is a customer-centric approach to marketing and sales. Here, the aim is to provide integrated user experiences through easy and quick access to information, through different channels.
Digitization is not an option if you want to last and grow over time. This means that customers are demanding — now and increasingly — the ability to shop, collect, and return from multiple touchpoints, both physical and digital. These challenges, in turn, present the organization with the opportunity to discover new sales, previously unimagined.
Between the fundamental aspects for a successful omnichannel strategy, it is necessary:
- Implement tools that talk to each other
In all parts of the process—from procurement and warehousing, to marketing, sales, payments, and logistics—it's critical that platforms communicate with each other. In this way, harmonious workflows can be created that respond to customer demands and optimize each step of the sale.
- Use data to find improvements
In these times, companies have levels of knowledge of their customers that were impossible to imagine 20, 50 or 500 years ago. Making proper use of the data collected by the different platforms will allow you to create specific campaigns that generate new sales.
- dare to change
The journey of transformation has to include yes or yes everyone, without exception. Achieving this can be difficult, of course. Fortunately, there are organizations that do just that: help stores on their transformation journey.
5 tips to start your digital store
- Defining the “ideal user”
This step is critical to any business and goes by many names — like “create buyer persona“; and also many techniques to achieve it — such as UX —. Knowing what their wishes and dislikes are is key to defining a value proposition. Based on that, design a strategy that includes both the promotion of the value offer, as well as relevant information that allows creating conversation before the sale. - Digitize the product catalog
Consumers seek to find the brand's value proposition at all points of sale —both physical and digital. But that's not all, they must also be integrated into systems and processes so that you are always up to date. Knowing more about your customers and using their preference data will allow you to deliver products and services tailored to them. - Offer different payment methods
There are platforms that allow a certain number of different payments, at a certain cost. Also, there are those that offer more limited and economic options, although with fewer variants. The important thing here is to choose the one that best suits the type of client. If most of your customers use —for example— Visa for their online operations, then it will be necessary to have a solution that includes it as a payment option. - Improve operational resources:
In a physical store, the person who attends is surely the same person who packs and collects. In the eCommerce model, that process happens behind the scenes, in warehouses and with other types of controls. Training people in these new functions is the key for the product to reach each buyer correctly. - organize logistics
When a purchase is made through a digital channel, the delivery of the product can occur at the hands of the store or with logistics partners who know when to pick up and deliver a product. Whatever the path, it is important to have solutions that allow the tracing of products in real time. Fortunately, there are technological solutions according to each budget and type of operation.
Access a product demo!
zentricx, an international company with local offices in Spain, helps Spanish retailers of all sizes on their digital transformation journey. If you want to know how these innovations can help grow your business, we invite you to Contact Julio Cesar Blanco, Innovation Director & Head of Spain Office at Zentricx.
Julio Cesar Blanco – January 27, 2022
