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Metaverse: a new way for businesses to connect with consumers?

metaverse

Metaverse: a new way for businesses to connect with consumers?

Although not a new concept and with a long road ahead, the “Metaverse” is currently seen as the future of the Internet, which is why technology giants such as Meta, Google and Apple are competing to be number one in the race to dominate the metaverse.

Eva Martín, CEO at Tiendeo, a company that specializes in the digitalization of the retail sector, kicks off the debate with the following question: Are we facing a fleeting fad or a new world that is opening the doors to a powerful business model? By way of introduction, he invites us to ask ourselves what we think of the metaverse, to enter this world to find out how it is changing people’s lives, the opportunities it offers retailers and brands to connect with the consumer.

A whole new universe in the making

The Metaverse is a virtual space that we can connect to through devices such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) glasses or helmets and applications that offer the promise of an immersive experience that feels like we are there, interacting with other people and objects.

In this alternative world, everything will be possible through an avatar: buying goods and services, attending concerts, traveling, playing games, and even working. The amazing thing about this universe is that you can teleport from one experience to another without leaving your room. The development of the metaverse seeks to extend the real world into the virtual world by making everyday actions into a spectacle.

What makes the metaverse so appealing?

The great potential of this technology as a business model is what has led several companies to create their own “omniverses”. To be successful they must understand that the user ventures into the metaverse to escape from the real world, because it offers them the alluring possibility of creating their own personality, their own reality: to show themselves as they “feel” they really are, taking the user experience to another level. Brands have seen in the metaverse the opportunity to create that aspirational reality and self-expression that, many times, the user is not able to develop or transfer to his real and physical life.

This introduces a new form of interaction between consumers and brands through the D2A (direct-to-avatar) model where we will no longer buy clothes for ourselves, but for our representation in the metaverse. This opportunity to improve conversions through fully immersive shopping experiences also has other benefits. In this universe, there are no stock or store space limitations, and manufacturing these products does not require raw materials or workshops to create them, so the profit margin is much higher.

The challenge for companies will be to get people to carry out the bulk of their activities in this digital universe, just as we do in the physical world, giving rise to virtual marketplaces that already move large sums of money. This is not so far-fetched in an age where humans are already glued to technology, whether professionally, socially, or both, and it is speculated that by 2030 we will spend more time in the metaverse than in “real life”. As such, the desire to dominate the new virtual spaces reveals an eagerness to control the way people interact with each other.

The Metaverse at the forefront of the retail sector

The opportunities offered by the Metaverse are endless, especially in the field of commerce. Technology company Wildbytes estimates that in the next five years, 70% of major brands will have a presence in the Metaverse. By 2023 some companies are already promising to launch a new product while others are already looking at the possibility of creating malls, boutiques, and virtual stores where avatars will be able to buy NFT products and pay in cryptocurrencies.

The retail sector is one of the most heavily invested in the Metaverse. For example, Gucci has already started selling its own virtual clothing, the Gucci Virtual 25 trainers and H&M has recently launched its first virtual collection through Nintendo’s social simulation game Animal Crossing.

Ikea also uses AR technology in its App to allow customers to create their own spaces and see how furniture would look in the physical world using AR technology.

There are brands that go even further and have no hesitation about making a clear commitment to the Metaverse. This is the case for Nike, which has gone so far as to create its own virtual universe: Nikeland. A space that offers access to various sporting arenas, as well as a showroom where users can equip their avatars with Nike shoes to take part in competitions. The brand also uses it as a testing ground so that younger generations can experience its new products through avatars before purchasing them in real life.

In short, the metaverse revolution holds the promise of a digital experience in which the virtual world and the real world intertwine and merge under a single reality. It is now up to brands and retailers to find their place in it and explore its full potential.

augmented reality

Augmented Reality Is Changing How We Shop

Consumer shopping habits and preferences are rapidly evolving—and it can be hard for e-commerce marketers to plan when they can’t anticipate the next major change. In a market defined by uncertainty, business intelligence has become essential to monitoring trends and making better business decisions. And right now, one of the key drivers to watch is the rise of augmented reality (AR)—and how it will influence consumer purchases.

Gone are the days of having to wait for an online order to arrive to see exactly how it will fit in your home or look on your face. AR, or augmented reality, is allowing e-commerce platforms to give their customers a more immersive shopping experience by showing how new furniture will look in a room, or how their new makeup can look once it’s applied. AR is gaining traction quickly: it was used by over 100 million shoppers in 2021, and it’s predicted to grow even more in years to come. By 2025, more than 75% of smartphone users will be frequent AR users. Right now, we’re in the early days, and the impact of a technology like this can be a game changer for e-commerce marketers looking to deliver immersive, engaging customer experiences.

How do you incorporate AR? What’s meaningful to your customers? What are your competitors doing? These are key questions to consider in shaping strategy, and it’s essential to leverage business intelligence for your planning and decision-making. Line Item can provide this insight into what is and what isn’t working for your business’s e-commerce; it can also help you monitor and evaluate emerging trends in your market so you can make more informed, strategic decisions. This includes information at the product attribute level as well as insight into your SEO and campaign performance and much more—all via a single, powerful platform purpose-built for CPG and e-commerce.


New technology shapes the shopper experience

How does AR work? AR takes the image captured on a device’s camera and imposes an image or effect over it. It’s a powerful tool to overcome one of the biggest friction points (and risks) of online shopping: the dreaded “not as described.” About 30% of all products bought online are returned (compared to an approximate 9% return rate for brick-and-mortar purchases), with 22% of those returns attributed to the product looking different than described. A customer’s ability to have greater confidence in a product before purchasing can help curb those return rates.

Brands like Ikea are utilizing AR to show shoppers what a product will look like in their homes. A shopper considering buying a new piece of furniture could use their phone’s camera to view the area where they plan to place the furniture, and the AR technology would place a 3D model of the furniture into the landscape, providing views from multiple angles.

AR, of course, is not limited to furniture. According to Shopify, Bumbleride, a stroller company, and Gunner Kennels have both been using AR to allow potential customers to see how much space the product will occupy in their home or on the sidewalk, and if their dog will fit in a specific crate. This allows shoppers to get a deeper feeling for how a product will look or function once they have it, giving them more purchase confidence. And it translates to better business performance: Bumbleride and Gunner Kennels reported 33% and 40% increases in order conversion rates, respectively.

AR can also work for CPG brands. Cosmetic heavyweight Sephora is implementing a “Virtual Artist” feature to layer the appearance of makeup over the face of a potential buyer (similar to a filter on social media apps). The buyer can sample different makeups quickly without ever having to go into a brick-and-mortar store. AR will give consumers new avenues to explore products—upping the ante for e-commerce brands. According to Shopify product lead Ryan Smith, AR functions in e-commerce “will be ubiquitous by 2023.”

Staying on top of trends

How could AR strengthen your e-commerce strategy or enhance customer experience? What competitors in your category are already implementing it? Staying on top of trends in a dynamic market with rapid shifts in consumer preferences is challenging; powerful business intelligence enabled by Line Item makes it easier.

AR isn’t the only trend to watch. Are there any new competitors out there, undercutting your pricing or appearing first in search results? What product attributes are driving value? Line Item provides better business intelligence to answer questions like these. Through its proprietary AI engine, which calculates attributes for style, form, packaging, flavor and much more, Line Item can help you analyze what’s really motivating preferences and purchases.

Line Item also helps to ensure accuracy and consistency in product descriptions and images, which can affect search engine rankings and page one results. Line Item can identify if your items are overpriced or if your promotions are working.

In a constantly evolving marketplace, understanding what is working for you—and your competitors—can help you make strategic changes and execute smarter strategies for more successful e-commerce. It all starts with better business intelligence. This makes Line Item your lifeline to more profitable ecommerce.

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Ironbridge Software was founded in 1989 by Mike Dickenson. Mike’s unparalleled expertise and passion for technology led him to create the first-ever analytical solution for the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry.

multichannel

Are You Reaching Today’s Customer? Keys To A Great Multichannel Marketing Strategy.

Getting customers in the door means first getting, and keeping, their attention. As consumers have moved more toward e-commerce, the challenges for digital marketers have become greater, but so have the opportunities.

Marketing to a target audience is more complex today, but the evolution of technology has opened numerous doors to reach consumers effectively through multichannel marketing, says Christena Garduno (www.mediaculture.com), chief executive officer of Media Culture.

“Multichannel marketing allows marketers to cater to potential customers across channels by mirroring how they operate in different digital spaces,” Garduno says. “You as a company need a significant presence across social media platforms and other digital channels. And you have to develop a clear, compelling and consistent message while keeping the brand voice intact.”

A marketing channel is any platform or method that’s used to market a product or service to consumers. Multichannel marketing involves reaching out to and interacting with customers through various channels, including regular email, social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, websites, search engine optimization, video, texts, and others.

“Multichannel marketing done well will capture a higher engagement rate from consumers, build long-lasting relationships with customers and positive brand awareness, and move you ahead of your competitors,” Garduno says.

Garduno offers these points as keys to your multichannel marketing strategy:

Develop a channel focus. Understanding who your audience is, including their age, education, career and income level, is central to determining the most effective channels by which to reach those consumers and creating the right messaging. “You need to focus on the right channels to grow your business,” Garduno says. “To evaluate the effectiveness of a channel, see if it’s producing a measurable benefit. You can do this by tracking various metrics such as the number of opens and clicks in email marketing, the quantity of likes and comments and number of new followers over a given time in social media marketing, the click-through rate and total visits on your website, and more.”

Personalize your strategy. “You want the consumer to feel important, as if you’re speaking only to them, while making it clear you anticipate their needs,” Garduno says. “You need to personalize your message, which means making it highly contextual, relevant, and emotionally engaging. Personalization influences customers to pay attention to your brand message amid an endless expanse of marketing content.”

Maximize a multichannel CRM. Customer relationship management (CRM) is a technology for managing, supporting and building customer relationships across the entire customer lifecycle. “Companies need a multichannel CRM system to stay relevant,” Garduno says. “A multichannel strategy requires user profiles, and a multichannel CRM enables a company to create a consistent customer experience based on aggregated, actionable data. Potential customers do research on their smartphones, then go to their tablet and may complete a transaction on their desktop, so you have to keep up with that kind of shopper.” With a CRM platform that provides multichannel customer data in the form of profiles, Garduno says it’s easier for companies to engage with customers in ways that will be beneficial to them. “You know what they like, what channels they engage with the most, how much money they’ve spent with your brand, and more,” she says.

Run drip campaigns. These focus on user actions or specific timelines. The idea is to effectively engage users and move them closer to buying. “A drip campaign is a series of emails you send to customers at certain intervals,” Garduno says. “It can be used for CRM or lead nurturing. Drip campaigns are an effective way to keep your target audience engaged with your brand. The unique ability of a drip campaign is being able to identify the different stages your audience is in and sending different emails to them accordingly. That approach builds trust amongst the audience, which wouldn’t happen if they all were subject to a generic email blast.”

“Having a strong multi-marketing strategy is essential as consumers have higher expectations and reaching them in a variety of ways is key to companies’ growth,” Garduno says. “It’s about being thorough and never being complacent.”

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Christena Garduno (www.mediaculture.com) is chief executive officer of Media Culture, a multichannel brand response media agency that drives growth for global clients with innovative and performance-driven media campaigns. She is a member of Forbes Agency Council.  

on-demand WMS supply chain warehousing global trade

How SOLOCHAIN WMS Can Enable Your Growth Strategy

Successful growth strategies require technology-enabled innovation. Manufacturers can look at various technologies to automate operations, improve efficiencies, and scale more efficiently throughout the entire supply chain. A WMS is one technology that can help manufacturers transform their warehouse or plant operations to scale for growth. 

A good WMS will provide real-time inventory visibility and create new efficiencies within inbound, warehousing, manufacturing, and outbound processes. SOLOCHAIN WMS combines warehouse management and manufacturing execution system capabilities to deliver a cloud-based, flexible platform with features and capabilities to enable efficiencies and support operational excellence.

Inbound Processes – Improve Receiving, Inspecting, and Put-Away of Inventory

The goal of a WMS is to reduce the number of steps in a process and the touches or movements of inventory. During inbound processes, SOLOCHAIN WMS optimizes inventory receiving.

-SOLOCHAIN WMS enables cross-docking by receiving, creating the picks, and staging the inventory to ship out within a cross-dock zone without putting the inventory into overstock or pick locations within the warehouse. Cross-docking can help move products more quickly based on sales orders and reduce overall handling and movement of inventory.

-Put-away logic in SOLOCHAIN WMS can help workers put inventory in the best or right location when it enters the warehouse. This is important for frozen, refrigerated, and other goods to ensure it is in the proper place. Likewise, put-away logic can bring additional efficiencies if it makes sense from a logistics standpoint to allow forward pick locations to be topped up during the receiving process while still respecting FIFO/FEFO rotation. Put-away logic will help optimize the picking process and improve inventory turnover.

Warehouse Processes – Improve Inventory Control, Accuracy, and Movement of Inventory

SOLOCHAIN WMS can improve inventory control and accuracy within warehouse processes and make inventory movement more efficient and productive.

-Cycle counting within SOLOCHAIN WMS allows for inventory control and accuracy. Inaccurate inventory is one significant way businesses lose revenue. A strong cycle counting process gives a warehouse an ongoing measurement of inventory accuracy while reducing stock shrinkage and shutdowns and the ability to identify out-of-sync inventory or mistakes more quickly.

-Warehouse movements are managed in SOLOCHAIN WMS. These can include put-away moves, replenishments, pre-emptive replenishments, manual moves, and picking. To improve operational efficiency within the warehouse, task interleaving can reduce deadheading and maximize travel time. For example, a forklift operator will complete the next closest task based on their location in the warehouse – it could be a pick, a cycle count, a replenishment, etc.

Manufacturing Execution Functionality – Support Kitting, Multi-Stage Manufacturing, and Recall Reporting

Unlike many WMS, SOLOCHAIN WMS has MES functionality built into the platform to give businesses real-time visibility and traceability throughout the supply chain.

-Kitting or multi-stage manufacturing processes can be managed with SOLOCHAIN WMS to produce finished products. The warehouse becomes connected with the production floor to ensure a consistent material flow.

-Traceability and recall reporting is made possible by SOLOCHAIN WMS. Throughout assembling or producing a finished product, detailed information about each material used is tracked, including lot numbers. As a result, manufacturers can trace forwards and backward. For example, if there was an issue with a single ingredient, the manufacturer can trace all finished products where it was used. Alternatively, if there was an issue with a finished product, the manufacturer can also identify all raw materials used to produce the good. Real-time traceability allows for recall reporting in instances where there are product issues. This functionality is ideal for industries with traceability regulations such as food, cosmetics, and nutraceuticals.

Outbound Processes – Manage Order Types, Fulfill Efficiently, and Meet Customer Compliance Requirements

As customer buying behaviors have shifted significantly, businesses strive to enable new channels to support customer needs, such as eCommerce and omnichannel experiences. How efficiently outbound logistic processes operate is critical to success. Outbound processes managed within SOLOCHAIN WMS are flexible and highly configurable.

-Multiple order types are managed within SOLOCHAIN WMS, and the solution looks to optimize the picking process for the specific order type. A warehouse can fulfill orders for direct eCommerce, omnichannel, and traditional wholesale more efficiently as WMS will direct the pick from the most efficient location. For example, if a large pallet quantity is in the order, the WMS may suggest picking the oldest pallets from bulk overstock rather than from forward pick locations. Likewise, customer compliance requirements can be generated through SOLOCHAIN WMS.

-From a shipping perspective, SOLOCHAIN WMS can be integrated with a TMS system. If the WMS is integrated with the TMS system, the platform can further optimize the picking process. For example, SOLOCHAIN WMS can wait for enough case quantities to create a picklist that will pull a full pallet shipped out by UPS. The UPS shipping labels are printed and applied in sequence during the pick creation as the worker picks the product. With a whole pallet of product, the worker can move and load it onto the UPS trailer versus taking it to a packing station.

The core capabilities of SOLOCHAIN WMS optimize processes – inbound, outbound, manufacturing, warehousing – and accurately capture data and use it to enable new efficiencies. To learn more about the features and capabilities of SOLOCHAIN WMS, download the Gartner Magic Quadrant for WMS Report today.

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About Generix Group

As omni-channel driven demands become the norm, with resulting customer satisfaction harder to achieve, supply chain professionals need to leverage advanced WMS technology to keep their operations nimble, efficient, and scaling – especially in these volatile times.

Given Generix Group’s completeness of vision and ability to execute, as recognized once again by the Gartner analyst community, their SOLOCHAIN WMS is well positioned to help companies needing a modern, flexible and agile solution that can easily adapt to their changing needs. We invite you to contact us to learn more.

This article originally appeared here. Republished with permission, 

shopping cart

Shopping Cart Abandonment: A Challenge for E-Commerce

Unfulfilled shopping carts are rampant in the retail industry and represent a significant source of additional revenues. Too many sales are left pending due to the lack of a smooth process and relevant options presented in real-time to the consumer. To “tighten the weave” of these abandoned sales, retailers need to manage unique and omnichannel baskets. Here is an analysis of best practices.

According to Baymard Institute, 55-75% of initiated shopping carts are abandoned. Despite these statistical findings, shopping cart abandonment is not fatal to retailers. Retailers like Cultura and FNAC have been demonstrating this for several years with a dynamic, 360° approach to their customers’ selections. Their strength? Ensure an overall view of the product selection and associate additional offers and advantages in real-time, regardless of the customer channel (at home, on the move, in-store).

Distributors: Aim for the Top!

“This ‘seamless’ connection between physical and digital channels is the first prerequisite for better basket completion” explains Philippe Petit, product marketing manager at Generix. “The second element relies on the retailer’s ability to analyze, in real-time, the nature and value of products, and to trigger personalized offers in correlation, which improve customer satisfaction and the retailer’s margin.”

According to a study by AB Tasty, a personalized e-commerce customer experience can increase the revenue generated by 15%.

To turn this promise into reality requires a software suite capable of transforming “static” shopping carts into dynamic allies for retailers. Omnichannel Sales ensures this mission by integrating ‘sales gas pedals’ that offer customers discounts, additional products, advantages or loyalty points depending on the products they select,” says Philippe Petit.

Golden Rules

1. A high-performance shopping cart is unique, omnichannel, and seamless

2. It is managed in a personalized, contextual, and real-time manner

3. It is a customer relationship and satisfaction tool

4. It improves sales, margin, and loyalty

The customer in search of omnichannel fluidity

Consumer journeys are made up of constant back and forth between several spaces (physical and digital), several terminals and several moments (information searches, price comparisons, analysis of comments, delivery conditions, etc.). In networks that combine in-store and online sales, too many baskets turn into a trap, due to a lack of management that is in line with this “mosaic” of expectations and behaviors.

There is also the case of franchised stores, which do not always have the same management systems as branches, resulting in a discontinuity in customer relations. In marketplaces, the rate of completion of baskets varies greatly depending on the costs and delivery conditions of each supplier.

The unified basket, a factor of recurrence, recognition, and valuing of customers

“The absence of a unified shopping cart, managed in real-time, penalizes the brands. Between two distributors that are apparently equivalent, customers always choose the one that offers them the most simplicity and recognition,” continues Philippe Petit. To reverse this trend, Generix Omnichannel Sales aggregates data into a single basket, thus freeing retailers from the problems of re-entering or merging files.

The solution integrates the entire spectrum of information including the basket (items, value), the customer journey (physical and digital), the transaction, promotions, loyalty, and history (recency, frequency, value). This makes consumers feel known, recognized and rewarded for their loyalty. “This is a strong element of differentiation, with a purchase act that is supported from start to finish, regardless of the channels and paths,” emphasizes Philippe Petit.

The statuses can be configured (pending, abandoned, or canceled). The customer, the sales advisor, and the after-sales service can find, in real-time, the shopping cart created via an e-commerce site, a wish list prepared on the phone, an order placed on a salesperson’s tablet.

The retailer can create and instantly distribute discount codes sent by SMS, encouraging consumers to go to the store or online. Omnichannel Sales even offers web services for VAT processing and legal collection of shopping carts generated via a salesperson’s tablet or an in-store kiosk.

According to a study by OpinionWay and iloveretail 48% of French shoppers use their store while in a store.

Clear and efficient returns management: An important decision factor for e-customers

Returns are the third most important decision factor for e-customers, after price and delivery terms. The clearer the brand is on the conditions of return (deadlines, logistics), the more it encourages customer trust and commit to purchasing.
“Generix uses the complete information of the registered baskets in the case of a partial or complete return of a purchase”, underlines Philippe Petit. Whether it was generated in-store and/or online, the single basket kept in Omnichannel Sales facilitates the management of returns, with the same level of information whatever the origin of the order (mobile, web, store, call center, etc.).

Generix hopes to eventually offer an analysis of the reasons for basket abandonment, whether it’s due to a product line’s pricing policy, an over cost between the product’s value and its delivery cost, or a lack of clarity on the return conditions. The result is a significant reduction in the number of unfulfilled shopping carts in consumer e-commerce.

As omnichannel-driven demands become the norm, with resulting customer satisfaction harder to achieve, supply chain professionals need to leverage advanced WMS technology to keep their operations nimble, efficient and scaling – especially in these volatile times. Given Generix Group’s completeness of vision and ability to execute, as recognized once again by the Gartner analyst community, their Solochain WMS is well-positioned to help companies needing a modern, flexible and agile solution that can easily adapt to their changing needs. We invite you to contact us to learn more.

This article originally appeared here. Republished with permission. 

dropshipping

Top Products You Should Avoid Dropshipping

There’s a reason why dropshipping is such a popular business model among aspiring entrepreneurs. Selling products that you don’t need to ship or store is accessible in that it doesn’t require much capital to get started. Also, it comes with low overhead, and, with such a wide selection of products available to sell, entrepreneurs can more easily experiment with their business without too much risk.

It’s an excellent choice for business owners who don’t have a large space to operate within, considering the dropshipping business model has built-in inventory management. Entrepreneurs who use dropshipping can run their business from practically anywhere and don’t have to worry about many of the logistics involved in running a traditionally supplied business.

Still, for all the benefits of dropshipping, there are a few drawbacks that may lead to financial problems.

Along with the labor involved in order fulfillment, you also export your trust. Too often, well-meaning and legitimate dropshipping businesses find themselves entangled with suppliers who are out to make a quick buck at the expense of the customer. This ultimately damages your business’s reputation and may cause consumers to perceive it as a scam when really, you aren’t the problem so much as the dropship supplier is (which is why it’s so important to shop around and try out a different supplier every now and then).

There’s no doubt finding a reliable supplier can be difficult. And, even when your dropshipping supplier does come through for your customers, sometimes you are met with such a low-profit margin that you may wonder whether running an e-commerce platform is even worth it.

An e-commerce store is a great way to earn an income — provided you’re selling the right dropship product. One of the most common mistakes entrepreneurs make is to sell items willy-nilly, without considering the possible complications of the sales channel or order fulfillment process. To aid your discretion in what products you offer your customers, we’ve compiled a list of items to absolutely avoid selling in your online business, so you don’t make financial mistakes.

Your Dropshipping Business Shouldn’t Sell 11 These Items

1. Large Items

As the owner of a dropshipping business, you may be tempted to sell large items like furniture with the expectation that they will yield you high-profit margins. The furniture itself may be worth big bucks, but the headache is not.

Here’s why; If you’ve been in the dropshipping business for a while, you’ve likely used ePacket, a shipping method that is offered by third-party providers operating in China and Hong Kong. ePacket is designed to ship lightweight items at low cost and high speed. This is the shipping option of choice for popular Chinese online store AliExpress.

For a dropshipping product to qualify for this super-cheap, super-speedy shipping method, the weight of the package cannot exceed 4.4 lbs. The longest side of the package cannot exceed 60 cm (if rolled, the limit is 90 cm). You cannot use ePacket to ship anything worth over $400 U.S. dollars. The shipping cost for large items often surpasses what the item itself is worth, making this a poor choice for the dropshipping retailer.

For obvious reasons, furniture is a no-go for ePacket shipping, which is why you should avoid it altogether as a dropshipping model. Not to mention, there is typically a higher risk of large items being damaged in transit than smaller items.

2. Items That Cost Over $100

If you want to keep your dropshipping company profit margins up, don’t bother with items that cost over $100 before shipping and handling. Of course, you can opt to have a pos financing system, but anyway, there are several reasons why selling expensive items doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

For one, your customer base is looking for a bargain. They’ve come to your website because they think they’ll find a good deal there. Because the customer is coming in with that expectation, it’s unlikely they’re willing to spend any amount in the triple digits on a single item.  Customers who are willing to pay more will likely avoid a discount site altogether.

Secondly, it’s hard to justify the markup on items worth more than $100. If the wholesaler’s price is already high, there’s less of a chance you’ll be able to get away with charging the customer much more.

And lastly, items with a hefty price tag, such as specialty or luxury products, are already offered elsewhere in abundance. For instance, if someone wanted to purchase a musical instrument such as a bass guitar — which is a high-cost item, even at a discounted price — they would likely go to a specialty store rather than purchase from your business. While finding a niche for starting your own online store is a great idea, it’s highly recommended that your niche items are not inherently expensive.

3. Clothing and Shoes

One of the greatest woes of buying clothes online is that you can’t try on a piece before you buy. Sometimes you can’t rely on product descriptions or product images, either.

Too often, this leads to disappointment, negative customer reviews, and returns. The returns you may have to deal with as a merchant could be enough to make you vow never to sell clothing again. Any item that must be sized, whether clothing or shoes, has a higher likelihood of being returned by the customer.

It’s also very easy to unknowingly misrepresent an article of clothing. For example, if you are an e-commerce business that only ships to the U.S., but your dropshipping supplier is a Chinese clothing manufacturer, it’s likely that the clothing is sized incorrectly for a U.S. audience. Consumers may become confused about irregular sizing, leading to mixups, frustration, and returns.

A disgruntled customer may take to your e-commerce store’s website to complain that a pair of jeans don’t fit as specified or look like the picture, and a bad review will scare away a potential customer. For this reason, it’s best to stay away from any sized items at all — it’s just not worth the hassle.

4. Fragile Items

Fragile items, such as glass and porcelain dishware, figurines, etc., can present a problem in transit, especially when shipping internationally. Depending on the quality of packaging by the wholesaler, an item might arrive damaged or broken. The safer option is to only ship plastic and other non-breakable materials. If you’re determined to ship fragile items, it’s a good idea to consult your dropshipping supplier about their fulfillment method. Ask your sales channel how they package that particular item, especially if it is a new product about which you cannot find much information. You may also want to read reviews of the item to see whether customers experienced problems with how their package arrived.

5. Supplements, Diet Pills, and Health Products

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that Facebook has stringent advertising policies. In addition to an extensive list of products (healthcare items and supplements included) that cannot be advertised on Facebook, there are restrictions pertaining to how you can advertise a new product in your online store.

Supplements cannot be advertised at all, and images showing “before and after” results are also not allowed. You also cannot use product images in a way that implies achieving health goals, such as muscle gain or weight loss, will occur as a result of using a product.

Supplements, diet pills, and health products are all items to avoid, considering that Facebook is a major driver of revenue for many a dropshipper. Without Facebook advertising, it may be harder to move your products. That is the number one reason why the above items don’t make great products; however, there are additional arguments to be made about the legality and safety of these products — some of which may be unregulated by the FDA or may even be illegal in some countries and regions.

6. Safety Equipment

Selling safety equipment simply puts the merchant at a far higher risk of liability than is necessary. For example, say a customer buys a motorcycle helmet from your website. By virtue of being a helmet, it is meant to protect the consumer from a head injury. If that customer gets into an accident while wearing your helmet and the helmet doesn’t perform as promised, you may have a major lawsuit on your hands. Since you can’t check the quality of items yourself, you’re placing all your trust in the supplier’s quality control.

However, this doesn’t mean you can’t sell equipment related to activities like motorcycling — just steer clear of equipment meant to protect consumers from serious injury. Examples of safety equipment to avoid include:

-Helmets

-Shoulder pads

-Mouthguards

-Flame retardant clothing

-Safety gloves

-Safety glasses

To a lesser extent, this even extends to equipment for electronic devices, such as a supposedly waterproof phone pouch, screen protectors, or other hardware meant to protect electronics. While you’re less likely to get a lawsuit thrown at you over a broken phone screen, your customers will not be happy, and you can expect a rather scathing review.

7. Counterfeit Items

It should be fairly obvious that selling counterfeit items is yet another invitation for trouble — if not just for legal reasons, then for your business’s reputation. It is completely illegal to sell counterfeit goods, whether you are producing, selling, or transporting such goods.

The top five counterfeit items most commonly bought on the internet are:

-Watches and jewelry

-Handbags and wallets

-Consumer electronics

-Consumer products

Pharmaceutical and personal care products

Whether or not you knowingly sold counterfeit goods, you can get in a lot of trouble. This is why it’s best to keep a close eye out for products of the above types that appear to be replicas of branded items. If the supplier price seems too good to be true, it probably is.

8. Weapons

Even if you are selling weapons such as pocket knives in a completely legal way, they can be a major annoyance to sell. The legality of a particular type of knife, for instance, may vary from region to region. Someone who is unfamiliar with weapon laws in countries their online retailer ships to would do best to avoid selling weapons altogether. There may be legality issues with selling items across national borders as well. At worst, your e-commerce business has unwittingly sold weapons that are illegal in a particular country; at best, a shipment doesn’t make it past customs. In the end, it’s probably not worth the trouble and risk of selling dangerous items.

9. Common Household Items

Avoid selling common, everyday items that consumers can find at just about any corner store. The reason? Well, just that. If you’re selling a generic item that can easily be purchased at any other store, including brick-and-mortar stores, you don’t have much of a competitive edge. For example, if a consumer has run out of toothpaste, they’re likely to buy it at any nearby drugstore. There is no incentive for the customer to buy from you, especially if they will have to wait several days to weeks for the item to arrive. But, if you sold something that was unique, such as a trendy type of teeth-whitening toothpaste with “exotic” ingredients, customers may be willing to wait for your specialty toothpaste (and hopefully buy some regular toothpaste in the meantime!).

10. Cosmetics

The reason for avoiding cosmetics is similar to the reasons for avoiding items five and seven. Namely, you may end up accidentally peddling a good that is untested or unapproved by the FDA, and possibly even counterfeit. Counterfeiting makeup has become an extremely lucrative venture. Unfortunately for the duped customer, counterfeit cosmetics often contain unregulated and unsafe ingredients that can cause skin irritation, damage, and serious allergic reactions. The same goes for cheap makeup brands from foreign countries; they are often not regulated or held to the same standards as higher quality brands. They may contain highly toxic ingredients — something you definitely don’t want passing through your hands and into the hands of your customers.

11. Copyrighted Items

Selling copyrighted items is one of the biggest financial mistakes you can make on your e-commerce platform. Just like with counterfeit products, selling items that violate copyright laws is illegal. It may be tempting to sell items that are copyrighted because there is an existing fanbase you can target; however, it’s not a good idea. Should you be caught, legal charges can be brought against you, and your store may be shut down entirely. Companies like Disney and its subsidiaries are well-known for going after any instance of copyright infringement. A small dropship company that is found to be violating Disney’s copyright, for instance, stands almost no chance of recovering from a lawsuit.

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Mike Austin is a Content Director at Adrack.com. He has worked in the Digital Marketing industry since 2009. As a conversion-driven marketer, he is passionate about helping businesses expand their online visibility and reach their goals.

omnichannel

The Importance of an Omnichannel Approach for Great Customer Experience

The omnichannel approach to customer experience has become an essential investment among companies focused on maintaining a strong brand reputation. It means providing a unified experience through all channels and platforms that consumers use to interact with the brands they use. In other words, it’s become more important than ever to communicate the same messages across all channels in which customers choose to engage. Done successfully, an effective omnichannel platform will deliver a resolution-centered, personalized experience to every customer – no matter how they connect with an organization.  

Seventy-three percent of consumers point to customer service as an important factor in their purchasing decisions, making the customer experience the number one driver of brand loyalty.1 While brand loyalty is an important factor in the success of a company, it is shockingly fragile. In fact, one in three consumers say they will walk away from a brand they love after just one bad experience. Most of the 32% of customers willing to abandon a brand after a bad experience are the Gen Z and Millennial generations, who assign lofty significance to how a brand treats and values them.1  

More companies should expand to the omnichannel customer service model. It has shifted from being appreciated to being largely expected by these market-driving generations of consumers. It promotes consistent brand messaging and enables brands to protect their customer relationships across multiple platforms. Right-place, right-time engagement can be the difference between whether a customer chooses your brand or a competitor – and whether they stick with your brand for their next purchase decision.

The Risks of Neglecting Social Media Customer Experience  

The average social media user has roughly 865 followers across all platforms.2 No matter how strong a company’s other means of communication – phone support, chat operations, self-service – a lack of social media engagement exposes your brand to the possibilities of neglecting customer questions and feedback, resulting in a bad reputation when it comes to customer service. All it takes is one consumer posting a bad complaint on their social media platforms for their 865 followers to see. Furthermore, 60% of customers who complain on social media expect an initial brand response within 15 minutes. Brands lacking a social media customer response strategy, or brands with understaffed digital engagement teams, have no way of redeeming social media brand perception to consumers in a time when there is a mass customer pivot to social channel utilization for customer care. 

Neglecting social media can also lead to inconsistent brand experiences that break customer loyalty, lose moment-of-purchase sales opportunities, and alienate buyers in the research and observation stages. By using omnichannel communication, a brand can avoid these mistakes and keep the company’s reputation in the good graces of loyal consumers.  

Social Experience Management Solution Sets 

Having consistent customer service across all channels can be greatly beneficial to a growing company, so it’s important to know how to do it right. Social experience management can be broken down into three solution categories: social care, reputation management and content/community moderation. Utilizing these three categories and correctly implementing omnichannel approaches is the best way a company can provide the customer service and experiences that consumers expect to receive from their favorite brands.  

Social care is the monitoring of all social media channels. The key is knowing when to listen and when to respond. It’s also essential to align all social media channels in messaging and brand voice. To do this well requires response teams ready to reply to all customer questions, complaints, and praise. Having sales conversion and cart value strategies for consumers are shopping through various media outlets is also important, as is detailed engagement and KPI reporting on engagement and brand performance 

A second specialized area of social experience management is reputation management, where companies complete all online reputation assessments and social media campaign activation. Screening for inappropriate or malicious content aimed at your brand can help companies get ahead of an issue before it escalates into a problem. It’s important to brainstorm brand, product, e-commerce, and retail-based strategies that focus on review response, as well as addressing questions at the point of digital sale. These efforts can determine whether a customer decides to buy your product or return to your location.  

Another key component to reputation management relates to incorporating the right social media customer engagement campaigns. A great campaign will align with the efforts of the marketing teams and agencies to maximize campaign reach and amplify the goals of current social promotions and objectives. Social media customer engagement campaigns can be fundamental to showing what values your brand has above and beyond basic digital customer care, which is another reason why it’s so important to incorporate into your brand’s strategy.  

Finally, content and community moderation is another integral part of ensuring the company’s presence is being represented accurately across all platforms and that community forums are being cultivated in a way that promotes brand loyalists and new advocates alike. Moderating uploaded user/brand content (video, text and images), flagged content review as well as promoting community guideline enforcement are of high importance to grow digital communities while still following brand standards. Brands that pull all of these digital skills together to monitor all social channels, brand sites, and third-party sites can see the benefits when measuring customer experience through social engagements can set themselves apart from competitive brands. 

As the omnichannel approach continues to rule customer experience strategies, having the best tools to measure interactions and implement company KPIs is of the utmost importance to ensuring a successful brand experience while boosting consumer loyalty.  

_________________________________________________________________

Roger Huff is Vice President, Digital Engagement Solutions at ResultsCX. His experience in the business process outsourcing industry spans 13 years, with 10 years of experience concentrated on social media customer experience management. Roger leads solution development and sales of social media and digital CX solutions that span social CX, digital reputation management, and content & community moderation services. He has worked extensively with digital, e-commerce, insurance, healthcare, and retail companies to deliver specialized solutions that elevate brand reputations.  

Sources:
1: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/advisory-services/publications/consumer-intelligence-series/pwc-consumer-intelligence-series-customer-experience.pd
2 : https://www.customercaremc.com/insights/national-customer-rage-study/2020-national-customer-rage-study/  

sales

eCommerce Success: How to Boost Store Sales Ethically

The surrounding reality dictates specific rules of the game. The world is changing, and very rapidly. Therefore, the ability to adapt to changes is a vital prerequisite for business development. In e-commerce, change happens very quickly. How to stay afloat in this business and achieve success ethically?

Register your business

First and foremost, if you want to be successful with your eCommerce business sales, you need to make sure that everything is okay regarding documents. The easiest way to do so is by registering your business online so you avoid all the paperwork and the hired company does these daunting tasks for you. No matter where you are in the world, you can seek help from Hong Kong company formation services to register your company in Hong Kong.

Plan ad campaigns

Data Management Platform (DMP) is a platform created for advertising marketing purposes as a tool for identifying the target audience. You get not just raw data on loyal customers’ discount cards but a full-fledged synchronization mechanism with the target audience. Using the entered card number, open letter, and other user actions in the network, you can track preferred purchases and generate data sets for conducting advertising campaigns for certain products.

Implement an omnichannel approach

It should be equally convenient for buyers to choose, pay and receive goods by all available means and immediately. You need to understand that omnichannel technologies are not created for the convenience of sellers but for the convenience of customers.

Today buyers choose, compare prices, closely study reviews and delivery conditions on the Internet, and only then go to the store to look, touch, and try on a thing. Or buy it for a promotion announced on the site. It often happens that sellers in stores find out about online promotions and sales from the customers themselves. The product declared on the site does not appear in a particular store, or its prices differ from the online offer.

The introduction of an omnichannel approach uses all possible means of communication with the buyer and greatly facilitates marketing research and sales tactics. For example, free Wi-Fi in a store will make life easier for customers and collect data on the movement of customers around the hall and optimize the display of goods.

Collaborating with a digital marketing agency

No doubt, we need well-functioning internal processes from the receipt of an order to its delivery to the buyer and receipt of money for the goods. You can build this process yourself or collaborate with professional companies such as Tactica, New Jersey SEO Company.

Working with reviews on social networks

Most shopping networking sites and online stores are integrated with social media. Even if one out of a thousand responses is helpful to improve service performance or fix deficiencies, it will pay off. To work in social networks, you need to develop special regulations with KPIs for feedback, response, and monitoring. Try to respond to user comments within 20 minutes.

The uniqueness of each client

Personalization of Big Data-based suggestions depends only on your ingenuity. You can greet the user by name on the site’s main page and in mailings or offer him products depending on geolocation and weather conditions. The main thing is to personalize a specific purchase as much as possible. For this, predictive analytics systems are already being created, which, based on user behavior (purchases, search queries, and surfing the web), determine what they may need in the foreseeable future. Alternatively, you can turn to an SEO consultant who can help you expand your online presence and increase your sales.

Channels of connection

Service automation is not only about having a contact center, where the client will be promptly answered not by a boring robot but by a friendly consultant, but also by many other channels. The call center should be integrated with social networks and messengers, and the voice communication between operators and customers should be made more informal. The operator’s on-call question at the beginning of the conversation, how he can help, rather irritates the client. After all, this is why he calls to help him. However, communication in online chatbots and answering machines, which receive requests from users around the clock, is irreplaceable. A full-fledged customer service based on CRM systems will allow you to automate processes as much as possible and competently respond to requests in a short time.

Conclusion

To ethically increase e-commerce sales, try to implement multichannel communications and modern sales resource management systems—leverage modern Data Management Platform (DMP) software platforms. Integrate retail networks and online stores with social networks. Personalize your offers as much as possible with Big Data. And, of course, automate CRM-based customer service using chatbots, social networks, and instant messengers.

omnichannel

How to Deliver a Great Omnichannel Customer Experience

When eCommerce first emerged as a new sales channel, companies wrestled with how to set up their distribution channels to address this new opportunity. Some merged the activities right into their existing fulfillment setups, others built new warehouses specifically to support online sales, and others used a hybrid approach such as using one distribution center partitioned off to manage the activities separately.

This “fragmented” approach trickled down to the customer experience, where buyers could only return products via the channel that they used to purchase them, and where the in-store experience was still very different from what one experienced when buying via mobile phone or desktop.

As eCommerce grew, these approaches changed dramatically. Fast-forward to 2021, and the emphasis has shifted away from brick-and-mortar fulfillment and more toward addressing a market that grew by 44% in 2020 and continues flourishing. With both B2C and B2B sellers now firmly in the midst of an eCommerce boom, the push to create a better omnichannel customer experience has shifted into full gear.

Why is Omnichannel Important?

According to CMS Wire, the omnichannel experience refers to the way organizations integrate all the touchpoints in any given customer journey, including mobile device, laptop, desktop, or brick-and-mortar store. “It’s a customer-centric approach meant to deliver value to the customer through better, more consistent targeting and messaging delivered at the right moment,” the publication states.

Where omnichannel was once the domain of the B2C world, it now encompasses all corners of the business world. The consumer who expects to be able to purchase a dress and return it in store, for example, is the same buyer who wants a cohesive experience when procuring goods from a supplier.

“It’s so important to create a holistic experience for your shopper and make sure your brands are showing up consistently throughout every part of the consumer journey whether it be digitally or in store,” J.M. Smucker’s Marissa Eisenbrei told CMS Wire. “Each distribution channel should work together in unison to deliver one experience.”

Staying Consistent

When creating omnichannel customer experiences, companies run into challenges like data silos (where individual departments don’t “share” data with one another), a lack of unified omnichannel customer data, and the need for better personalization across channels. The latter is particularly important, CMS Wire notes, because today’s customer expect a personalized experience based on purchase and browsing history; customer service inquiries; and chat transcripts.

The omnichannel experience also has to be consistent and predictable. Much like diners enjoy being able to walk into a restaurant franchise and get the same experience that they would at another location (even in a different state or country), customers don’t want to be confused or disappointed just because they’re buying through a different channel.

“Make sure you’re consistent and distinctive across every touchpoint a consumer might experience your brand whether it be through commercials, digital ads, websites, or in-store experiences,” Eisenbrei advises in CMS Wire.

Breaking Down Data Silos

In Omnichannel Shoppers: Converting Them in 2021, digital marketing specialist Dhruv Mehta discusses the value of having integrated customer data across all touchpoints. For example, if a buyer sends an email to complain about a product and then calls for a follow-up, he or she would expect the customer support representative to be aware of their complaint.

“Unfortunately, this is rarely the case because of the informational siloes that exist in an organization,” Mehta writes. Companies can use software to solve this problem and create a more customer-centric omnichannel experience. With a single customer view to work from, you can overcome this hurdle and better engage with customers by knowing who they are and what they want.

“For instance, integrating your live chat data with your customer relationship management (CRM) software is one way to build a single source of truth about your customers,” Mehta points out. “This will help you analyze the past interactions in order to better personalize future conversations and seamlessly engage your customers across diverse touchpoints – creating a truly omnichannel experience.”

5 Tips for Omnichannel Success

To bust through these roadblocks and create a great omnichannel customer experience, companies should strive for more emotional loyalty and a personalized, 1:1 recognition through a process known as “customer scoring.” That means including all customer interactions with your brand—community activity, product reviews, sponsorship, private sales, previews, etc.—to develop a 360-degree view of that customer.

Here are five more ways to ensure a great omnichannel customer experience, every time:

1. Go beyond basic “earn and burn” mindset and focus on customer retention. Don’t limit yourself to managing points. For a more emotional loyalty, evaluate and reward all welcome behaviors.

2. Strive to increase average cart size. Your current customers are your best prospects for higher sales. Boost sales for all your customers: anonymous, identified, or loyal to encourage impulse buying and additional sales.

3. Ensure cross-channel consistency. Create a consistent customer experience across all sales channels and help your customer benefit from the best offer wherever they are located.

4. Create a 360-degree client vision. Use software to centralize all customer data, including their locations, purchasing habits, and preferences for a better contextualization of interactions.

5. Push out offers that will entice them. Use real-time offers that are perfectly matched to the customer profile across different sales channels (or directly from suppliers) to keep customers coming back for more.

As omni-channel driven demands become the norm, with resulting customer satisfaction harder to achieve, supply chain professionals will leverage advanced WMS technology to keep their operations nimble, efficient, and scaling – especially in these volatile times. Given Generix Group’s completeness of vision and ability to execute, as recognized once again by the Gartner analyst community, our WMS SOLOCHAIN is well-positioned to help companies needing a modern, flexible and agile solution that can easily adapt to their changing needs.  More Information about Generix WMS

consumer

Omnichannel is Everything – How the Pandemic has Made Direct-to-consumer a Priority and is Upending the Old Supply Chain Model

If 2020 taught us anything, it demonstrated that to succeed, maximize resilience, and ensure business continuity, companies need to utilize every available channel – e-commerce, direct-to-consumer, retail stores, distributors, and marketplaces like Amazon. That way if one channel is disrupted, whether by natural or man-made causes, the show will go on. In this environment, enterprise and functional silos, coupled with batch processes, won’t do. Companies will need to rely even more on supply chain networks to consolidate demand across every channel and have a view into every point of supply, to be able to satisfy customer demand efficiently, grow revenues, and minimize costs.

The pandemic highlighted the urgent need for businesses not to rely on a single channel for servicing customers. Many companies that were doing well through brick and mortar, both retailers and manufacturers, suffered a huge blow when the pandemic hit and stores closed. Many of them are now scrambling to catch up and bolster or create their e-commerce channels and just in time. E-commerce has surged with Accenture reporting that “much of this new e-commerce activity has been from new users. COVID-19 will permanently change consumer behavior. Consumers’ attitudes, behaviors, and purchasing habits are changing—and many of these new ways will remain post-pandemic.” It is clear that companies that can exploit this channel, but those who fail to do so will slip behind their competitors.

Meeting the Challenges of Direct-to-Consumer

Organizations today know the value of being customer-centric, focusing on the end-customer, and tailoring the supply chain to serve customer demand as and when it happens. However, this means having products available, keeping customers informed of the progress of their order, and ensuring a timely and smooth delivery experience. In these times, it’s extremely difficult and costly to acquire a customer, and a single bad interaction can lose them.

That becomes a major challenge when customers are everywhere, in stores, physical and virtual, shopping on third-party marketplaces, and researching and reviewing on social. Today, being customer-centric requires a view across all demand channels and the ability to aggregate that demand. It also requires visibility to all available supply so organizations can coordinate that supply to meet demand at the lowest cost. That might be a pick-up in store, ship from store, ship from DC, or from the manufacturer direct to consumer.

To do so efficiently requires the ability to plan, collaborate, and execute across the extended supply chain. What does it take?

A Connected Real-Time Business Network. Companies need to be connected, not just to their immediate trading partners, but to their entire supply network. This means connecting and coordinating with distribution centers, fulfillment partners, retail locations, and parcel carriers, and perhaps with “white glove” installation and service partners.

Processes to Support Order Size of One. Companies of all sizes need to become better at efficiently managing single item orders. However, those new to e-commerce and accustomed to shipping bulk order quantities to distribution centers and stores will need to move to smaller order quantities through to the end customer. The rule upstream has been to enforce minimum order quantities in order to drive efficiencies and lower costs. Today, shippers must process a “little-and-often” approach that is predicated on point-of-origin collaboration and consolidation to move smaller quantities more frequently based on real-time demand updates.

Real-Time Data. It is possible to move to smaller order quantities and actually decrease costs by using the end-to-end network since it can provide real-time data down to the item level. This eliminates information lead times and enables real-time visibility and collaboration. In turn, this reduces variability and the bullwhip effect for all trading partners by providing real-time insight into demand across all tiers. It creates better alignment between departments and partners and coordinated response to demand and makes possible truly demand-driven logistics. From a transportation perspective, mixed loads will become the new normal.

A real-time network also enables visibility to, and the ability to redirect and reallocate supply from all sources, stores, warehouses, suppliers, even product in-transit to match demand. This means more agility and accuracy in deploying inventory and using the most cost-effective source of inventory for customer orders.

Integrated Logistics. For optimal efficiency, organizations also need logistics options across every mode, from international and ocean to domestic and last-mile delivery. Networks enable this because the technology views inbound and outbound orders as two sides of the same coin. What one trading partner considers inbound, another considers outbound. Thus, the only way a last-mile solution can benefit both the consumer as well as the companies providing the goods and services, is to optimize all inbound and outbound across a single network. Providing visibility, control, and math-based or AI-based decision-making at different supply chain touchpoints empowers trading partners to make well-informed decisions about positioning and moving inventory. Telematics and full order visibility enables companies to better anticipate logistics issues, minimize disruptions, predict ETAs and drive customer satisfaction.

Alerts and Analytics. Applying real-time, network-wide data, combined with AI and intelligent autonomous agents, greatly increases visibility to potential problems and expands an organization’s range of options for resolving them. Predictive analytics enable the business to anticipate issues sooner, while prescriptive analytics provide guided resolutions to fix them optimally. In many cases, where the resolution is within predefined “guardrails,” intelligent agents can resolve issues autonomously. This type of AI-assisted and autonomous problem solving is especially important in omnichannel environments, where there are a lot of channels and a high volume of orders and shipments in flux. Applying AI can also help balance complex trade-offs and consider the repercussions of decisions across many variables and at scale, in way that human planners cannot.

The omnichannel challenge of reaching direct to the consumer is winnable. Real-time data, networks, machine learning, and intelligent agents, make it possible for an individual home-based order to trigger a response from the supply network, while also aggregating this demand in real-time across all customers to leverage economies of scale. This allows the supply chain to function as a unified and agile ecosystem to achieve the highest levels of customer service at the lowest possible cost. Yes, even when the orders are home-based for individual items.

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Joe Bellini is COO at One Network Enterprises, provider of an AI-enabled business network platform that enables all trading partners to manage, optimize and automate complex business processes in real-time. To learn more, visit www.onenetwork.com or follow One Network at https://www.linkedin.com/company/one-network-enterprises.