Two Digital Commerce Trends for 2021

To reach the next level of maturity in commerce, companies need to transform both their digital activities and their data strategy. This is described in the Merkle Customer Experience Imperatives 2021. Consumers expect brands to anticipate their needs, be there for them anytime, anywhere, and reward their continued loyalty. Data and content are the fuel that drives a company's engagement with its prospects and customers across all digital channels. Vendors need to rethink their approach - both in how they build these capabilities and how they operate them. This is the only way they can create contextualized and personalized customer experiences that drive business success.

This basic understanding leads us to two trends that we are currently observing on the market:

Trend 1: Commerce Experiences will go beyond simple transactions and shape brand perception

Commerce can be the all-encompassing relationship with customers, but it has been siloed: the store. This doesn't necessarily mean a physical or digital store, but the process of customers coming to the brand to access its offerings. We are now moving into a customer-driven market and entering a post-store era. E-commerce must evolve from isolated transactions to lasting customer relationships. Commerce Experiences are increasingly becoming Brand Experiences - not only because lockdowns limit in-store experiences, but also because all types of interactions, whether digital or physical, shape the perception of a brand. Even though the online store has now taken over the role of the always-open flagship store, ultimately all micro-interactions should reflect the brand and its values.

"Get a clear view of where you meet potential customers online and how you do business with them through continuous customer research," recommends Benjamin Adler, author of the white paper "E-commerce must evolve." "Internalize user-centric design methods and customer-centric ways of working. Establish a culture of experimentation and testing with a clear focus on conversions."

From implementing basic disciplines like social media, customer relationship management or email marketing to a company with differentiated, exclusive experiences, it's a journey in itself. The two technology companies Isobar Switzerland and Namics have worked with a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer to create an ecosystem that supports customer interaction anytime, anywhere. The implementations are also designed to enable an open communication and interaction channel between customers and the brand - across multiple touchpoints and the entire customer journey.

Trend 2: Commerce Experiences will be designed to maximize data

A commerce transaction is a turning point in the customer experience, where maximum attention is usually focused on the brand. For the brand, it therefore holds the potential to get to know and understand customers, transform them from casual shoppers into loyal customers, and ultimately turn them into loyal advocates. It is also a key moment to expand your own data pool. If the same approach is taken with every interaction, the knowledge about the customers and thus the data treasure grows exponentially. This is precisely why it is so critical for companies to improve their data management. In 2021, it will be more important than ever to master the ever-evolving approaches to collecting, managing, and mining valuable data for the customer experience - in real time and while preserving privacy.

"In the future, companies must, on the one hand, take full advantage of the data they collect themselves through more productive interactions with their customers and prospects. On the other hand, they will also need to forge strategic partnerships to obtain second-hand data," explains Adler.

Customer data gives companies a competitive advantage by creating helpful and relevant personalization capabilities that improve the customer experience and the lifetime value of businesses. This requires customer experience design to maximize data and experiences that incentivize customers to share their data. It also requires a strong infrastructure based on an enterprise identity management system that is able to handle and operationalize this data.

"One example is the Adobe Experience Platform (AEP), an enterprise platform that enables brands to leverage data from a variety of touchpoints to deliver differentiating digital experiences in real time and at scale," said Luís Nunes, Head of Digital Experiences at Isobar.