James Johnson

In retail today, all eyes are on the customer experience. It defines which companies are thriving, and which are struggling to compete. In the race to be the best, retailers are turning to new and emerging technology like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) to get ahead.

Companies all over the world are using machines to interact with their customers at a level once only seen in science fiction movies. It’s reached all elements of a consumer’s… Show more

In retail today, all eyes are on the customer experience. It defines which companies are thriving, and which are struggling to compete. In the race to be the best, retailers are turning to new and emerging technology like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) to get ahead.

Companies all over the world are using machines to interact with their customers at a level once only seen in science fiction movies. It’s reached all elements of a consumer’s life, from providing personalised product recommendations, proactively rerouting drivers in traffic, or automatically tagging people in photos.

The emergence of AI and automation is often portrayed by technology leaders such as Elon Musk and Bill Gates as the epic struggle between humans and machines, with dire predictions for jobs. There is another vision. One that showcases the possibility for AI to empower service teams to create even greater personalised experiences that have a human touch, at mass scale.

In an era of heightened customer demands, our recent State of Service report found high performing service teams are already looking to artificial intelligence to make customer service more human.

High performers are nearly four times more likely than their underperforming counterparts to say predictive intelligence will have a transformational impact on their customer service by 2020, and more than three quarters (77 percent) of top service teams excel at leveraging AI compared to 36 percent of underperformers.

Show less

By the end of 2017, more than 60% of all digital traffic will come from mobile phones, and customers will place more orders on their phones than any other device. The smartphone shopper is becoming too powerful to ignore, the Empowered Shopper 2017 Report reveals.

Technology is continuing to revolutionise the retail industry. With their smartphones at the ready, customers are more connected and informed than ever before. Consequently, their expectations are sky-high.

Today’s… Show more

By the end of 2017, more than 60% of all digital traffic will come from mobile phones, and customers will place more orders on their phones than any other device. The smartphone shopper is becoming too powerful to ignore, the Empowered Shopper 2017 Report reveals.

Technology is continuing to revolutionise the retail industry. With their smartphones at the ready, customers are more connected and informed than ever before. Consequently, their expectations are sky-high.

Today’s shoppers expect individualised experiences whether they’re shopping on their couch, on the go or in a store. The cloud, mobile, and social revolutions have empowered today’s shopper, transforming the relationship and challenging retailers to develop compelling and frictionless mobile experiences.

Yet, while Australia and New Zealand slightly over-index globally on retail traffic from a mobile device – a total of 55%, compared to the global average of 53% in Q1 of 2017, according to Salesforce’s Shopping Index – conversion is still an issue. Globally, in 2016, only 25% of orders were placed on phones. Removing friction from the mobile purchasing process, and turning browsers into buyers, is now one of e-commerce’s greatest challenges.

Show less

Retailers and brands all over the world have invested heavily in the tools to become more customer-centric. Yet it is still difficult to keep up with customer demands, competitive pressures and the accelerating pace of technological advances. While we at Salesforce Commerce Cloud have recently seen some established retailers fall by the wayside, others are reporting record results. New research reveals four things these leaders focus on, and how they are transforming what lies at the very… Show more

Retailers and brands all over the world have invested heavily in the tools to become more customer-centric. Yet it is still difficult to keep up with customer demands, competitive pressures and the accelerating pace of technological advances. While we at Salesforce Commerce Cloud have recently seen some established retailers fall by the wayside, others are reporting record results. New research reveals four things these leaders focus on, and how they are transforming what lies at the very heart of the successful e-commerce businesses.

New insights into the way successful e-commerce brands and retailers are rising to the challenges of the market reveal that organisations need a radical change to the way they do business – and the way they (and others) see their business.

Simply building on existing ways of doing business involves some outdated assumptions, which won’t get you very far. When everything is changing at an unprecedented pace – customer demands, competitive pressure and the technology to keep up, it’s easy to get left behind.

Accenture and Salesforce conducted a survey and in-depth interviews with executives from retailers with high online penetration and from brand manufacturers with high direct-to-consumer revenue. Show less

To turn your omnichannel shopper into a buyer, you need to change. We’ve spoken to retailers around the world to find out what the best are doing.

I’m a reformed retailer – I’ve been around retail for 16 years in a variety of verticals and a variety of industries. I’m very lucky to work with some amazing brands at the moment, locally, regionally and internationally, and I’m seeing them doing some very innovative things in response to their customers’ changing expectations.

They’re… Show more

To turn your omnichannel shopper into a buyer, you need to change. We’ve spoken to retailers around the world to find out what the best are doing.

I’m a reformed retailer – I’ve been around retail for 16 years in a variety of verticals and a variety of industries. I’m very lucky to work with some amazing brands at the moment, locally, regionally and internationally, and I’m seeing them doing some very innovative things in response to their customers’ changing expectations.

They’re reimagining retail in the age of the shopper. I’m seeing both bricks and mortar as well as digital brands turn store associates into brand evangelists, personalising contact across every touchpoint, and connecting to their shopper in whole new ways. They’re not just driving customer experience – they’re driving customer excitement. They’re putting the customer at the centre of everything they do. And all retailers and brands need to be doing the same.

At Salesforce, via our Shopping Index we’re able to analyse the activity of more than 500 million shoppers worldwide to identify trends and changes in shopping activity.

We’re seeing that more than 50% of traffic to ecommerce sites, in aggregate, now comes from mobile. In Q4 2015-16, mobile visits grew 32%, and mobile transactions increased 43%.

We’re also seeing social commerce growing at a faster rate than mobile did at the same stage of its maturity – commerce through social media channels is growing 100% per year.

And, while more than 90% of consumer commerce still happens in physical stores, more than half of that is influenced by digital touchpoints with brands – and those are multi-channel and multi-device.

It’s not a new idea that the shopper funnel is dead, replaced with the customer journey. There are many points of interaction and many ways customers collect information, and they can buy at almost every moment. The new omnichannel shopper demands a unified experience. Show less

While the business pages buzz with glowing reports of climbing revenue driven by a unified consumer experience – now even seamlessly integrated with the customer’s daily life, many retailers just need to know where to start.

Behind the single brand your customers see there can still be a big divide between store and digital, constrained by legacy infrastructure and a cultural resistance to embracing change.

Here in Australia, we read about omnichannel success stories in the US -… Show more

While the business pages buzz with glowing reports of climbing revenue driven by a unified consumer experience – now even seamlessly integrated with the customer’s daily life, many retailers just need to know where to start.

Behind the single brand your customers see there can still be a big divide between store and digital, constrained by legacy infrastructure and a cultural resistance to embracing change.

Here in Australia, we read about omnichannel success stories in the US - like Macy’s revelation last year that its customers who shop across channels are eight times more valuable than single channel shoppers.


Read more at http://www.ragtrader.com.au/advisors/unlocking-new-channels#06BbRaePPwa7UcIz.99 Show less