Connected Commerce: What Does it Mean

In the retail & distribution businesses today, the concept of Connected Commerce is getting much hype. To put it in layman’s terms, it is considered the upcoming step from omnichannel commerce, giving you the ability to connect all your business channels and share data in real-time. So, it basically implies seamless networking of the touchpoints encountered by the customers in your organization, both in physical and online retail. It aims to offer a smooth shopping experience to the buyers.

Why does it matter?

Connected Commerce helps business owners ensure that every interaction of the customer with your company reflects and fortifies your brand values. It will provide your customers with a consistent and exceptional experience throughout all the channels. When it comes to achieving growth-driven results, it can act as a true game changer.

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Top benefits of relying on Connected Commerce

In many retailers’ systems, the staff isn’t properly trained to handle the varying selling and fulfillment demand. This creates gaps between what retailers can offer and what customers demand and expect. With Connected Commerce, you can combat many such issues. So, here goes the list of the top benefits of this regime. Read on!

1. Enhances customer satisfaction

Connected Commerce facilitates providing satisfaction to customers as their demands are better and more closely met while they’re shopping. This results in creating and nurturing stronger relationships with consumers and further gives a boost to their satisfaction.

2. Boosts team productivity

With Connected Commerce, you have all your data in a single place which makes the job more straightforward for your team. For instance, using a robust CRM is helpful in filling the gap between demand and supply. One can also monitor what exactly customers want, thereby promising better and richer experiences for them.

3. Consistent & exceptional brand experience

With Connected Commerce, it becomes smoother for one to ensure that every platform of yours is consistent with the brand image. This enhances customer satisfaction & experience, which renders the possibility of the customer returning higher. Whatever device the customer uses, your brand should offer them the same and consistent experience, which further opens the way to trust.

4. Better knowledge of customer expectations

Once you have all your crucial customer data in one place, it becomes simpler for the team to get acquainted with the customer behavior, preferences, and expectations. Thus, you can make smarter marketing strategies. This can be achieved through product bundling, personalized emails, and recommendations, news providing news about sales, etc.

Groundbreaking examples of Connected Commerce

Here are the top companies that are playing it hard in the field of Connected Commerce. You can get inspiration from their unparalleled game, too, to take your marketing and customer satisfaction strategies up a notch.

1. Amazon Go

Amazon Go, another reason for Amazon to make innovations, is a checkout-free and line-free grocery store introduced in 2018. The brand proved that there are, in reality, no boundaries when it comes to stretching the limits of Connected Commerce. The company says that the facility of checkout-free experiences is made possible with the tech also used in computer vision, self-driving cars, deep learning, and self-fusion. No doubt, with its creative regimes, no one’s on the top of trendsetting but Amazon. With Connected Commerce, Amazon is looking forward to considering cloud-based voice services to revolutionize the shopping experience for the customers.

2. Lowe’s

Lowe’s is a brand that specializes in home improvement. Since the company took over in 2018, it has made extensive investments in e-Commerce, which really paid off during the recent pandemic. As a part of using the Connected COmmerce strategy, Lowe’s launched its store app and also shifted to the Google Cloud eCommerce space. This helped the company to boost demand for home improvement products during COVID-19. When it comes to embracing digital transformation early on, Lowe’s is the finest example one can give.

3. ILIA Beauty

This makeup and cosmetics line surpasses other brands in the way it handles its online and offline marketing to sell organic makeup products. ILIA approaches COnnected commerce through social media, and that isn’t bad at all. After all, social media is a powerful sales tool nowadays, particularly for brands that target Millennials and gen-Z-ers. Today, social media and information on the Internet largely determine whether a person will buy a particular product or not. ILIA takes social media as a Connected Commerce tool and is always able to produce innovative and fresh products to meet the demands and expectations of customers.

In every business, the Connected Commerce strategy will differ as no one size fits all. However, the ultimate goal always stays the same, and that is to enhance the buying journey of the customer online as well as offline.

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