The Conference, the biggest in its history with more than 4,400 attendees, signaled two things. First and foremost, Shop.org was the final U.S. Conference OrderDyanmics will exhibit at this year, and more importantly, that the first wave of eCommerce is completely over.
The biggest theme of this years’ Shop.org was the integration of online commerce with traditional retail channels. Terms like “Omni-Commerce”, “Agile Commerce”, or our very own “Connected Commerce” were everywhere from the exhibition hall to the keynote presentations. Nearly every retailer we spoke to was focused on bridging channels and centralizing retail operations around web initiatives. To us, this really speaks to the evolution happening within eCommerce. The first wave of eCommerce was about figuring out how to sell online (technologies, staff/talent, strategies, partners, etc…) and how to be profitable doing so. The next wave of eCommerce will be about creating best-in-class online and offline experiences by offering the same merchandise, products, promotions, prices and experiences across all channels. It goes without saying that this wave is already well underway.
For many, including us, one of the highlights of the Shop.org was seeing Jamie Nordstrom’s keynote presentation. His honest and insightful recount of Nordstrom’s approach made it clear that innovation in customer service is the key to their continued growth and dominance. In fact, according to Mr. Nordstrom, they’ll be irrelevant if they don’t continue to innovate how they approach customer service. Their commitment to testing new ways to engage and satisfy their customers is impressive and refreshing. Mr. Nordstrom and his team have fostered an environment that “celebrates mistakes” and spends an incredible amount of time understanding reasons why ideas and tactics didn’t work. According to Mr. Nordstrom, the most difficult part of becoming a true multi-channel retailer was merging their retail store and catalog (online) teams. He did suggest technology integrations were costly investments, but emphasized properly aligning the organization was where the “heavy lifting” occurred. There’s so much that could be said about Mr. Nordstrom’s keynote and the insight he offered (and we could go on and on), but one particular quote still stands out as a key message to his presentation: “Nordstrom can't focus on making decisions that benefit one store and not another. In the end, all stores are part of the same company and the customer doesn’t care about which store gets the credit for a sale”.
Another big theme from Shop.org was order management, and the movement to having it integrated within an eCommerce platform. In some cases order management might have been a longer term priority for retailers, while for others, it’s a tool they didn’t need before but now require due to significant growth. While the notion of an end-to-end platform is hardly new, it’s clear enabling improved customer experiences and faster fulfillment will be significantly easier using an eCommerce platform that features an integrated order management system. For retailers who are re-platforming or soon plan to, selecting an eCommerce platform with built-in order management would be a highly strategic investment and would provide a significant advantage over competitors.
One final thought about Shop.org: The Conference was a clear reminder how far the eCommerce industry has come, and yet, how much work lies ahead for retailers (and vendors) in order to catch up with consumers and their expectations. As Chris Ladd from The Finish Line said during an Omni-Channel roundtable session on day three of Shop.org, “It’s up to the digital guys to bridge online and offline channels”. One sentiment that echoed to us throughout the Conference was how the control has shifted from retailers to consumers. Retail was once about what merchants offered consumers, and subsequently what consumers chose to purchase from those offerings. Now retail has evolved to merchants reacting to consumers and their needs and wants, and adapting to new technologies which can be used to improve and connected consumer experiences across multiple channels.
Now that Shop.org has ended, we will be reaching out to all interested parties in the coming few weeks. You may also contact us directly: solutions@orderdynamics.com.
In the meantime, we invite you to visit our website at www.orderdynamics.com to learn more about our On-Demand Commerce Platform.
Sincerely,
The OrderDynamics Team
1 (866) 559-8123
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