Although the pandemic may have fueled the e-commerce boom, online retailers now grapple with a new challenge — consumers' reluctance to spend.
According to McKinsey's Consumer Pulse Survey, American consumers are still spooked by high inflation and job cuts, leaving retailers struggling to reel consumers in. As the economic and job market uncertainty continues to undermine Americans' trust, they're still spending, but getting choosier about the goods and services they invest in, with 63% reporting they will even pay more just to get the level of customer service they expect.
If e-commerce retailers want to capitalize on the internet-savvy consumers of today, they must adopt a new customer experience strategy to capture customers. Retailers may not be able to combat inflationary pressures, but they can enhance the customer experience by improving operational efficiency in the most critical business areas. With a comprehensive automation solution, retailers can deliver excellence to stand out against competitors in a time when consumers are more selective than ever.
Today's economic climate is wracked with uncertainty, leaving the path to excellence riddled with challenges. Between inflation, supply chain bottlenecks, decreased consumer spending power, and labor shortages, many retailers have struggled to provide the experiences consumers seek. And with no end in sight to inflation, 45% of IT leaders are instead turning to solutions that streamline operations according to the 2023 State of the CIO report as companies look to transform customer experiences.
The perfect shopper experience
With customer retention a priority for retailers going into this year, e-commerce retailers should look at what factors are driving consumers away. In new research, 76% of consumers would stop doing business with a company after only one bad experience, lending strong evidence to the argument that customer experience is the leading decision maker behind whether a consumer chooses to put their hard-earned dollars to use for your goods, or a competitor's. Retailers who want to maximize profitability and capture new customers should redirect their attention away from marketing gimmicks and instead prioritize a seamless user experience, from order confirmation to delivery.
Poor user experiences come from broken, inefficient processes that fail to smoothly transition customers from one step of the purchase process to the next. At no point in the buyer journey should customers be aware of individual business processes or disparate systems and, if they are, that's a clear sign retailers need a solution to integrate all processes seamlessly.
Automation's role in streamlining processes
As companies scale operations, simple workflows carried out by individual employees often become too complex for individuals to manually oversee. When staff could instead be prioritizing product development or strategy, tedious, manual processes end up costing retailers thousands in revenue every year.
These workflows have strong implications for customer satisfaction. With customers happy to take their business elsewhere, retailers should address the most critical sources of customer frustration. These include an inefficient and confusing returns process, slow delivery, unpredictable inventory, and poor customer service. Additionally, retailers have an opportunity to stand out from competitors by personalizing the individual customer's experience with custom product recommendations that recognize the consumer as a unique individual.
Automation platforms, especially those that allow companies to leverage line of business users instead of developers, present a comprehensive solution to the biggest roadblocks standing in the way of an excellent e-commerce customer experience. By integrating data across the systems that handle these unique workflows, retailers can proactively spot errors before they affect customers, provide personalized experiences, prevent stockouts and overselling, and improve customer support.
Developing a plan for e-commerce automation
Before making the jump to automation, retailers should keep a few things in mind. Research shows that automation projects are more likely to fail without an automation plan so it is critically important that companies first define a clear strategy with project goals and expectations before diving headfirst. Key areas to consider include:
Order to Cash
With an automation-driven approach, retailers can ensure customers have full 360 degree visibility into their order, from the moment the order is placed, to delivery. Automation ensures customers are transitioned seamlessly, from one step of the purchasing journey to the next.
Inventory Visibility
To combat stocking struggles such as overselling, underselling, and stockouts, automation systems can track inventory levels in real-time, ensuring customers avoid long wait times and companies avoid unexpected costs.
Returns Management
With more customers shifting to online purchasing, it is essential retailers have a straightforward returns process. A survey found that 92% of customers said they would purchase from a company again if their returns process was hassle free. Automated returns management can establish a strong basis of trust with customers, and capture prospective interest from consumers on the fence about purchasing.
Inflation and other financial pressures have consumers more selective about the purchases they make than ever before. If retailers want to distinguish themselves from the crowd and retain customer loyalty, they need to provide an elevated customer experience that not only brings customers back, but captures new customers as well.