While making big decisions with very little information may make for interesting reality TV, it’s probably not the way you approach most of the choices in your life. Last we checked, contestants on the bachelor/bachelorette don’t have a great track record of lasting relationships.
And after all, why would you make a hasty decision if you don’t have to? The Internet is full of information about everything imaginable, and finding out more about any topic is easier than it’s ever been in history.
This ease of access to information has affected not just our learning habits, but also our shopping habits. We tend to seek out a LOT of information about products before finally deciding to buy them. In fact, the average consumer interacts with a brand at eight different touch points during their shopping journey before making a purchase.
This means that brands can’t simply provide retailers with product details and leave it at that. They need to create a seamless omnichannel buying journey while providing shoppers with detailed information at each touch point. Because no single touch point has all the information a consumer needs to reach a decision, it’s up to the brand to make sure key pieces like price, product details, and reviews are included in the right places.
To achieve this, brands need to work consistently with their retail partners to ensure all product information is kept up to date and accurate at every touch point. And to show you exactly how to do that, we’re going to enlist the help of Forrester’s Ecommerce Enablement Framework.
What is the ecommerce enablement framework?
Created by Forrester Research, the Ecommerce Enablement Framework provides a list of best practices for brands working with retail partners to ensure their products are represented accurately, comprehensively, and positively. The framework focuses on product details and findability—these are the elements brands can control on retailer sites through content optimization and by providing comprehensive details.
The role of Where to Buy technology within the Ecommerce Enablement Framework
With the rise of ecommerce, consumer shopping habits have changed considerably, meaning shoppers now visit multiple channels to find the information they require before making a purchase. According to research from Google, 59 percent of people say they prefer to shop online to get the best deal possible, and 86 percent of people are more favorable to brands that provide information at every stage of their journey. On top of this, 80 percent of shoppers visit the brand website at some point during their buying journey (according to GE Capital Retail Bank), which means it’s vital for brands to offer a range of buying options on their ecommerce sites.
As a brand, it may seem impossible to manage your presence on retail partner sites. But focusing on discoverability and product details can help to increase online sales through these touch points. Price and product information consistently stand out as the most important factors for shoppers when making a purchase decision, and Where to Buy technology plays a big part in this.
Here are some of the key elements included in the Forrester Ecommerce Enablement Framework and how Where to Buy technology can help:
1. Link to strong retail partners from your brand site
With Where to Buy technology, brands can effortlessly link to retail partners both online and offline. PriceSpider’s Where to Buy technology lists all stockist information on brand product pages, with the option for customers to navigate straight to their retailer of choice.
2. Ensure value parity across retailers
Where to Buy technology allows brands to display selected retailer pricing information on product pages. By providing customers with this information on brand websites, there’s no need for them to search elsewhere to find the best deal.
3. Provide all key product attributes and information
Ecommerce enablement is all about generating and fulfilling transactions online—so having accurate information on pricing and product availability is absolutely essential. Consumers want to know if a product they’re interested in is available—this is especially true with today’s ongoing supply chain disruptions. Shoppers believe real-time product inventory information is important, and they tend to trust retailers to deliver it best. Our customers use Where to Buy technology to improve their own inventory data and provide real-time stock information on product pages, along with other relevant product information, like pricing.
4. Increase findability of products
Instead of having to key in search terms on a retailer’s site, Where to Buy technology allows consumers to view a product on your brand website, decide which retailer to purchase from, and click straight through to the product page on their site. That means finding products on retailer sites has never been easier.
Maintain a strong presence on retailer sites
According to Forrester, it’s not enough for brands to simply ship their goods to retail partners and leave it at that. Successful brands work proactively to make sure their products are represented fairly, accurately, and attractively on other sites. Brands with a strong presence on retailer sites usually possess the following qualities:
- Strong technology solutions: Your teams should be dedicated to product information, product imagery, and video assets.
- Strong retailer relationships: Retailers will likely favor brands that share comprehensive product content and allow them to offer greater assortments at a minimal cost.
- Diligent auditing teams: Audit your products (and competitors) across third-party retail sites, and speak with retailers to understand how to optimize each product’s presence.
Before following the Ecommerce Enablement Framework, Forrester recommends brands do the following:
- Know where retailers stand: Regularly evaluate retail partners. Are there certain violators of value parity? What long-term goals can you put in place to bring them back to parity?
- Dedicate resources to the audit process: Invest in employees that actively manage retail partners. Provide employees with the tools needed to create content for retailer sites, as well as a marketing budget to help increase brand presence on retail sites (where needed).
Give customers a clear path to purchase
Omnichannel retail is not just about listing your products on retail partner sites—it’s about creating a seamless customer journey and a clearer path to purchase.
With Where to Buy technology, customers can shop your brand online and in-store at a selection of retailers, and you can display them together in one widget. The widget can be customized to fit individual brand styles and added to brand ecommerce sites. Plus, with PriceSpider’s live reporting dashboard, you can gain data and insights into customer shopping behavior across all retail partners.
With the insights provided in the reporting dashboard, strengthening retailer relationships is made easy. Detailed insights show the number of consumers that visited each retailer’s website and what they bought.
Enjoy the benefits of strong technology solutions and retailer relationships with minimal effort and at a cheaper price point than appointing dedicated teams.
Like nearly every contestant on “The Bachelor” said, “We look forward to going on this journey with you.” 😆