Customer Experience | Digital Commerce 360 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/topic/customer-experience/ Your source for ecommerce news, analysis and research Tue, 06 Feb 2024 15:31:59 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/cropped-2022-DC360-favicon-d-32x32.png Customer Experience | Digital Commerce 360 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/topic/customer-experience/ 32 32 Digital buying experiences win business https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2024/02/05/digital-buying-experiences-win-business/ Mon, 05 Feb 2024 17:28:07 +0000 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/?p=1315040 Leaping into 2024 and Beyond Learn about the B2B Pressures Challenging Marketers’ Strategy and Solutions to Meet B2B Buyers’ Expectations According to a 2022 Forrester Research report, B2B e-commerce revenue is predicted to reach $3 trillion by 2027. This forecast is driven by a number of factors, including the increasing adoption of digital technologies by […]

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Leaping into 2024 and Beyond
Learn about the B2B Pressures Challenging Marketers’ Strategy and Solutions to Meet B2B Buyers’ Expectations

According to a 2022 Forrester Research report, B2B e-commerce revenue is predicted to reach $3 trillion by 2027. This forecast is driven by a number of factors, including the increasing adoption of digital technologies by businesses of all sizes as well as B2B buyers. B2B buyer’s expectations will continue to increase in the coming years. To help B2B businesses meet the rising B2B buyer expectations, Google commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a study which uncovered three key trends in this landscape:

Accelerating Trend: Consumerization of B2B. Today’s B2B buyers are looking for B2B digital experiences to mirror their B2C experience. Whether researching products, comparing prices, or communicating with vendors, buyers expect a seamless, frictionless journey across digital channels. And these expectations for digital experiences have only heightened since January 2022. There is considerable upside for the B2B businesses rising to the occasion, with 65% of B2B buyers willing to pay more for a supplier/vendor that has strong digital capabilities. 1 B2B buyers expect personalized buying and seamless web experiences and the Forrester study recommends modern marketing teams prioritize a frictionless digital experience.

Dynamic Trend: B2B buyers are concerned about product assortment and product innovation. 85% of B2B Buyers are equally or more concerned with product assortment since January of 2022. Of those with changed expectations as of January 2022, 25% of B2B buyers expect a more robust product catalog. 1 Buyers should not have to dig for a product on your website, nor will they. This requires your B2B merchandising and finance teams to work more closely together to ensure the product catalog is accessible, easy to use and robust in order to monetize against all their SKUs – whether B2B buyers are just starting to explore brands or ready to purchase specific SKUs. Once the entire product catalog is accessible online, showcase your full product assortment with shopping ads.

Static Trend: Loyalty is affected by poor digital capabilities. 70% of B2B Buyers agree that they prefer repeat purchases with a vendor/supplier instead of finding a new partnership. 1 But, according to the Forrester survey, only 53% of B2B Buyers purchase from the same suppliers. 1 Of those that switch providers, they do so because of the digital experience. The #1 reason buyers switch is an easy to navigate digital experience and #2 reason is the company’s digital capabilities. 1 So once a vendor engages with a buyer, it is essential to foster that relationship in the ways that matter most for the buyer – which is increasingly through digital touchpoints.

Want to learn more about how to stay ahead of the curve and win in the digital-first B2B world? Read the Google study, Digital Buying Experiences Win Business.

 

 

About the Survey
The Google-commissioned Forrester Consulting survey was conducted from June 2023 through July 2023. Our aim was to evaluate the B2B buying process, as it pertains to B2B buyers that purchase maintenance, repair and operations, office supplies, printing and promotional products, and logistics or payments products/services. It asked 411 respondents and conducted 4 qualitative interviews.

 


1 A Google-commissioned Survey conducted by Forrester Consulting, July 2023, Business and Industrial B2B Buyer Decision Makers for Office Supplies, Printing/Promo, Logistics and MRO who made a purchase in the first half of 2023, US Only, n=411

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An alcoholic beverage distributor’s customers embrace B2B ecommerce https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2024/02/01/republic-national-customers-embrace-b2b-ecommerce/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 20:37:10 +0000 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/?p=1316592 B2B customers of Republic National Distributing Co. are giving the company a reason to celebrate ecommerce. “A large and growing number of our customers are now embracing B2B ecommerce as a complementary vehicle to engage with us,” says Nick Mehall, president and CEO. He notes that the distributor’s ecommerce site, eRNDC, “has demonstrated significant market […]

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B2B customers of Republic National Distributing Co. are giving the company a reason to celebrate ecommerce.

Nick_Mehall_RNDC

Nick Mehall, president and CEO, Republic National Distributing Co.

“A large and growing number of our customers are now embracing B2B ecommerce as a complementary vehicle to engage with us,” says Nick Mehall, president and CEO. He notes that the distributor’s ecommerce site, eRNDC, “has demonstrated significant market adoption over the past twelve months.”

Mehall notes that 2023 sales transacted through the eRNDC ecommerce platform reached $800 million, spurred by a 32% year-over-year increase in the number of monthly active online customers.

RNDC says its online customers in 21 states can shop among 6,700 brands, using such features as AI-powered site search, product recommendations and product assortments curated for local markets.

And RNDC expects the good times to continue.

Emily Xu - RNDC

Emily Xu, senior vice president of ecommerce, Republic National Distributing Co.

“Looking ahead to 2024, we are anticipating more customers will leverage the platform to discover products and brands,” says Emily Xu, senior vice president of ecommerce. “We are also seeing more suppliers incorporate B2B platforms like eRNDC as building blocks of their commercial strategy.”

Republic National ecommerce investments pay off

Mehall says RNDC has invested in its proprietary ecommerce platform over the last few years to “meet the demands and the complexity of our industry, and our results indicate our strategy is firmly taking hold.”

He adds: “By directly providing 24/7 access and making product information easily accessible to customers and our sales reps, we are bringing brands closer to customers. By offering order dashboards, invoices, and online payments, we also free up our sales team from some of the administrative tasks and give them more time to spend with customers.”

RNDC says it is also using its ecommerce platform to better understand how different types of customers shop for products.

In the past year, the distributor analyzed shopping behavior data collected on eRNDC to learn that account customers tend to search by category, with top search terms of tequila, bourbon and champagne.

It also learned that other customers RNDC defines as “off-premise” tend to search first by brands.

Xu says RNDC expects more ecommerce improvements to come.

“With the fast development in AI and machine learning, we are very excited to partner with our sales team, our suppliers, and our customers to continue evolving our platform to be the best collaborative ecommerce platform that seamlessly connects three tiers of the beverage alcohol industry,” she says.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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B2B buyer data shows they like their user experience, but only to a point https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2024/01/25/b2b-buyer-data-shows-they-like-their-user-experience-but-only-to-a-point/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:23:08 +0000 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/?p=1316239 Overall, B2B buyer data shows that they are more pleased than not when it comes to the quality of their online purchasing experience, according to the soon-to-be-published 2024 B2B Market and Customer Experience Report from Digital Commerce 360. But getting a better online user experience from sellers that makes their jobs easier and more efficient […]

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Overall, B2B buyer data shows that they are more pleased than not when it comes to the quality of their online purchasing experience, according to the soon-to-be-published 2024 B2B Market and Customer Experience Report from Digital Commerce 360.

But getting a better online user experience from sellers that makes their jobs easier and more efficient to perform is a top-of-mind topic with buyers today. And so far, buyers are content with the digital customer experience sellers are dishing up.

What B2B buyer data shows

A recent survey of 150 buyers by DC 360 and Forrester finds that 36% of buyers graded their experience as an A. That response came when they were asked: Thinking about your last few purchases you made online for business, how would you grade the overall experiences when researching and buying from these B2B sites? That compares with 49% that graded their experience a B, 14% a C and 1% a D.

For many buyers, a better user experience means the seller’s ecommerce site has the products, pricing and related product selections they need to make an informed purchasing decision. It can also mean having the ecommerce and order management tools to make placing the order fast, easy and convenient, the B2B buyer data shows.

How B2B buyers are spending

Digital-first customers are becoming the norm for more B2B selling organizations these days. But as a sign of the economic times, even digital-first customers are not being overly capricious in their spending. The Digital Commerce 360 and Forrester Research 2023 study reveals 50% of buyers are spending only “somewhat” more and that 29% are keeping spending levels the same. Only 19% of buyers said they expect to significantly increase spending, according to the survey.

In 2024, B2B ecommerce buyers will use anywhere from three to 10 digitally driven channels to research purchases of goods and services and buy online from sellers.

There is an opportunity for B2B sellers to grow online in 2024, provided they give buyers the user experience they want. For many sellers, the year ahead to achieve success in B2B digital commerce means drafting and implementing a strategy that meets and exceeds the expectations of digital-first business buyers.

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For growing ecommerce in Europe, PIM helps adapt to local languages https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2024/01/25/for-growing-ecommerce-in-europe-pim-helps-adapt-to-local-languages/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 13:00:50 +0000 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/?p=1316225 Expanding your ecommerce operations into Europe can be a great opportunity. The region comprises 50 member countries, giving you access to over 540 million potential customers and a market on track to exceed $880 billion by 2028. However, navigating the intricacies of the diverse European markets —each with unique languages, cultures, and consumer preferences — […]

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Sergii Shvets, CEO and co-founder at Gepard PIM

Sergii Shvets

Expanding your ecommerce operations into Europe can be a great opportunity. The region comprises 50 member countries, giving you access to over 540 million potential customers and a market on track to exceed $880 billion by 2028.

However, navigating the intricacies of the diverse European markets —each with unique languages, cultures, and consumer preferences — can be challenging. You need an effective localization strategy for the new markets you are entering, and product information management (PIM) can help.

A PIM is a centralized platform that organizes, enriches, and translates product data so that it resonates with the local market you’re targeting. The PIM market is estimated to grow to $17 billion by 2026, highlighting its crucial role in online business.

This article will explore the advantages of using a PIM for localization and provide best practices for a successful ecommerce expansion in Europe.

Understanding Localization Challenges for Ecommerce in Europe

Whether you run a small fashion store, sell handcrafted items, or operate a big retail operation, you’ll face these localization challenges while navigating the intricacies of the European market:

  1. Europe’s Multilingual Landscape: With its rich tapestry of languages, each European market may have its own preferred language or dialect. Effectively managing content across multiple languages requires precise translation and cultural adaptation to resonate with diverse audiences.
  2. Navigating Cultural Nuances: Cultural differences within European regions significantly impact consumer behavior and expectations. Adapting product messaging, imagery, and user experience to align with cultural nuances is essential for connecting with local audiences.
  3. Meeting Regulatory Standards: Europe enforces stringent data protection and consumer rights regulations, including GDPR. Complying with these rules across different countries complicates ecommerce operations. Balancing legal frameworks while delivering a seamless user experience demands careful consideration.
  4. Payment and Currency Dynamics: There are over 30 different currencies in Europe and a myriad of payment preferences. Effective price localization — implementing a payment system that caters to local preferences and ensures accurate currency conversions — can accelerate your business growth by 30%.
  5. Tailoring Products to Local Markets: Products may require adaptation to meet different markets’ specific needs and preferences. This involves translating product information and considering factors like sizing, labeling, and packaging to align with local standards and expectations.

Benefits of PIM in Localization

As you can see, localization can be a big challenge when expanding into a diverse business landscape like Europe. However, using a reliable PIM tool can help. Let’s see how.

Centralized Data Management

PIM systems are a central hub for organizing and storing all product-related data, ensuring product details, specifications, and attribute consistency across an ecommerce platform. This unified approach prevents discrepancies, streamlines operations, reduces errors, and provides a reliable source of truth for data management — particularly crucial for expansion into a market as diverse as Europe.

Multilingual Content Creation

Given Europe’s linguistic diversity, PIM systems provide multilingual support, making it easy to create and manage product information in multiple languages and supporting the translation and adaptation of product descriptions and marketing materials to meet local audiences’ cultural and language preferences.

It also boasts version control features, simplifying the task of handling multiple versions of catalogs, specifications, and pricing — a requirement for localizing product information — thereby enhancing communication of product value, especially in international sales.

Maintaining Consistency Across Markets

PIM systems help to preserve consistency across diverse markets by centralizing product information, branding elements, and marketing content. This centralized approach ensures a uniform brand presentation across different European regions, regardless of the specific market or language.

Adapting To Cultural Nuances

PIM systems offer features that enable businesses to tailor product information to specific cultural requirements, ensuring relevance and resonance with target audiences in each market. This may involve customizing imagery and promotional material to align with cultural preferences in European markets.

Enhanced Customer Experience

PIM systems are vital in enhancing the customer experience. By centralizing product information, businesses can efficiently manage multilingual content, maintain a consistent brand message, and adapt to cultural nuances. This results in a personalized and user-friendly experience for customers, ensuring they can access accurate information in their preferred language.

PIM systems also help with cross-border selling. They handle currency conversions and customize recommendations and content based on customer data. All of these advantages together foster a positive customer experience, leading to increased conversions and long-term brand loyalty.

Case Studies or Real-Life Examples

So, how exactly does this work? Here are some real-world examples of how a good PIM can help businesses with localization when expanding into European markets.

Sizing and Measurement

A U.S.-based fashion ecommerce platform is expanding to Europe. To align with European standards, measurements will have to change to the metric system used in Europe. For instance, a dress labeled as size 2 in the U.S.A. would be size 34 in most European regions, and a chest measurement of 36-38 inches in the USA corresponds to 91-96 cm in Europe.

Getting all these differences down can be challenging, but a good PIM system will allow the fashion store to showcase product sizes according to local standards, preventing potential returns.

Language and Translation

A beauty and cosmetics ecommerce brand expanding into European markets has to translate and adapt product descriptions to fit each country’s language and colloquial terms. Research indicates that 76% of people prefer shopping in their native language, and 60% rarely or never buy from an English-only website.

To address this efficiently, the brand can use PIM to manage product descriptions. This enables them to translate and tailor content seamlessly for French, German, and Spanish. The goal is to resonate with local audiences, ultimately enhancing customer engagement.

Best Practices and Implementation Tips for PIMs in Localization

So, how can ecommerce businesses effectively implement PIM for localization? Here are some actionable insights, best practices, and tips to consider:

  1. Plan Ahead: Initiate your PIM implementation well before launching in Europe. Early planning reduces the risk of rushed decisions, ensuring smoother integration into diverse markets.
  2. Be Culturally Sensitive: Respect the cultural nuances of each European market. Customize your PIM strategy for language, local preferences, and cultural sensitivities. This ensures positive resonance with diverse audiences.
  3. Consider the Whole Customer Journey: Extend the PIM application beyond product details. Localize marketing content, customer support, and post-purchase communications. A holistic approach provides a seamless and culturally relevant experience, from exploration to post-purchase engagement.
  4. Implement PIM Everywhere: Ensure consistent messaging and data accuracy across all channels —  website, mobile app, social media, etc. This guarantees coherent and synchronized localized content, reinforcing brand integrity and customer trust.
  5. Evaluate and Improve: Continuously assess the effectiveness of your PIM localization strategy. Analyze data on customer engagement, conversion rates, and market-specific performance. Use insights to refine your approach, adapting to evolving market trends and consumer behaviors.
  6. Train Your Team: Equip your team with skills to maximize PIM capabilities. Conduct thorough training on localization, data management, and cultural considerations. A well-trained team enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of your PIM implementation.

To thrive in the diverse European e-commerce market, adopting Product Information Management (PIM) is crucial. The varied languages, cultures, and regulations require a centralized approach for accurate and consistent product information. PIM ensures data precision and simplifies localization, providing a seamless shopping experience.

About the Author:

Sergii Shvets is the CEO and co-founder of Gepard PIM, an ecommerce data transformation company that connects retailers with manufacturers and content providers. He is also the director of technology at Icecat, a product catalog technology provider.

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Bloomreach buys Radiance Commerce for AI and ‘conversational commerce’ https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2024/01/23/bloomreach-buys-radiance-commerce-for-ai-and-conversational-commerce/ Tue, 23 Jan 2024 17:46:57 +0000 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/?p=1316062 Bloomreach wants to make online shopping more like the personalized experience shoppers get in conversations with in-store sales reps. Today, the company said it took a significant step toward that goal by acquiring Radiance Commerce, an “enterprise-grade conversational commerce” platform powered by generative AI. “Bloomreach is fully invested in an AI-driven future  ecommerce, and Radiance […]

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Bloomreach wants to make online shopping more like the personalized experience shoppers get in conversations with in-store sales reps.

Today, the company said it took a significant step toward that goal by acquiring Radiance Commerce, an “enterprise-grade conversational commerce” platform powered by generative AI.

“Bloomreach is fully invested in an AI-driven future  ecommerce, and Radiance Commerce is critical in helping us bring that future to life,” Raj De Datta, Bloomreach co-founder and CEO, said in announcing the acquisition. He added that Radiance will help to further develop the Bloomreach Clarity “AI-powered conversational shopping” product and make it available to businesses worldwide.

 

Vikas Jha, Radiance’s founder, said the two companies are “perfectly aligned” as AI-powered commerce application developers to further the advancement of conversational shopping technology. Jha is listed on his LinkedIn page as vice president of engineering, conversational commerce, at Bloomreach, and the former CEO of Radiance.

The companies did not say what Bloomreach is paying to acquire Radiance.

Bloomreach’s other products include:

  • Engagement, a marketing automation platform.
  • Discovery, an ecommerce search application.
  • Content, a content management system deployed with headless technology to make it independent of but integrated with the commerce engine.

Bloomreach has a client base of more than 1,400 global brands, including Williams-Sonoma, Bosch, Puma and Marks & Spencer.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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Voice commerce — the evolution of online B2B ordering https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2024/01/19/voice-commerce-the-evolution-of-online-b2b-ordering/ Fri, 19 Jan 2024 18:21:15 +0000 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/?p=1315889 Some digital technologies arrive with fanfare while others enter quietly and become ubiquitous over time. Voice technology is one example of the latter. It gained momentum when developers and users began expanding their views of sound as part of multi-sensory engagement. Voice activation was popularized by Google. They provided a “speech-to-text option” as part of […]

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Kathleen Leigh Lewarchick_Xngage

Kathleen Lewarchick

Some digital technologies arrive with fanfare while others enter quietly and become ubiquitous over time. Voice technology is one example of the latter. It gained momentum when developers and users began expanding their views of sound as part of multi-sensory engagement.

Voice activation was popularized by Google. They provided a “speech-to-text option” as part of their search functionality. And voice activation went from a quiet bleeding-edge technology (think OnStar) to a crescendo of widescale adoption as people began to use (and like) Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, and others.

Making headway in B2B and B2C markets

It was only a matter of time before voice activation would become a powerful tool in commerce. Voice commerce, or v-commerce, is making headway in both B2C and B2B markets. Its technology twin, artificial intelligence (AI), complements and accelerates this trend.

There are obvious benefits, especially for those who are visually impaired or have diminished motor skills. There are also inherent risks, such as authentication and security. However, more and more voice commerce examples are appearing in the B2B market because of ease and simplicity.

One example is hands-free ordering. A facilities manager might be replacing dirty equipment during scheduled maintenance when he or she recognizes a missing piece. One option is to pause work, clean hands and record the part for an order later. The alternative is voice commerce on the job, where the manager pauses for a voice-activated ordering assist, and then quickly gets back to the maintenance job.

Here’s an example of a voice-commerce shopping experience where the buyer:

● Audibly requests items to be placed in a cart, as pictured here:

Voice-commerce-cart 

● Places the order directly through the integrated order management system.

● And receives system confirmation through voice (and visual) outputs, as shown here:

Voice-commerce-order-confirmation

While there’s no guarantee that the part is in inventory, voice commerce enables the order to be placed hands-free at the direct moment of need.  Not only does this save time, but it may eliminate order errors if the order process is fully automated.

Essential to B2B business growth

Voice commerce, or v-commerce, is no longer on the horizon. Competitively advantaged companies are using it today to help customers save time and effort. And more users enjoy hands-free technology. It is likely that B2B use cases will only grow given the tight labor market and calls for improved productivity. Getting started on the journey of voice commerce is essential to maintaining your B2B business growth.

Kathleen Leigh Lewarchick is the VP of Marketing for Xngage LLC, a B2B digital commerce services company with more than 60 clients across the industrial trades. She is the former PURELL® Hand Sanitizer Brand Director, has co-created automated replenishment products with Amazon Business, and created telehealth solutions for a company that she later helped sell to CVS Health. 

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Google Cloud releases generative AI tools for retailers https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2024/01/12/google-cloud-releases-generative-ai-tools-for-retailers/ Fri, 12 Jan 2024 18:29:11 +0000 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/?p=1315461 Google announced new tools using generative AI for retailers through its Cloud Business on Thursday. The tools will employ the emerging technology to improve online shopping experiences through retailers who use Google Cloud, the technology company said in a press release. The announcement comes a few days before The National Retail Federation’s Big Show, where […]

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Google announced new tools using generative AI for retailers through its Cloud Business on Thursday. The tools will employ the emerging technology to improve online shopping experiences through retailers who use Google Cloud, the technology company said in a press release.

The announcement comes a few days before The National Retail Federation’s Big Show, where retailers and technology vendors will gather to discuss industry trends and test new products.

Google’s new generative AI retail tools

One of the tools is a generative AI-powered chatbot that can be embedded on retail websites and apps. Google refers to the chatbots as virtual agents. It says the chatbots can carry out “helpful and nuanced conversations with shoppers using natural language and can provide product options based on a shopper’s preferences.”

For example, the virtual agent chatbots can give shoppers personalized recommendations. The suggestions might be based on budget, preferred colors, type of event and other factors, according to Google. Retailers can roll out the feature in as little as a few weeks.

Google also introduced a new large language model (LLM) that it says will improve search capability on retailers’ websites. Retailers will be able to customize an LLM based on their product catalog and the shopping patterns of customers. That will improve search results and surface more relevant products for consumers, Google says.

The technology company also debuted an AI tool for customer service operations. Google launched AI customer service agents that can integrate with whatever customer relationship management system a retailer already uses to take on tasks like scheduling appointments or checking order statuses. Retailers can use AI for customer interactions with real agents, too. Google’s tool will use AI to summarize customer service conversations and help agents find relevant internal information to help customers, it says.

“In only a year, generative AI has morphed from a barely recognized concept to one of the fastest-moving capabilities in all of technology and a critical part of many retailers’ agendas,” Carrie Tharp, vice president of strategic industries, Google Cloud, said in a statement. “With the ability to accelerate growth, boost efficiency, fuel innovation, and reduce toil, generative AI solutions are ready to be deployed now, and Google Cloud’s recent innovations can help retailers recognize value in 2024.”

AI and retail

Retailers and technology companies are embracing AI to cut costs and improve customer experiences. 

Victoria’s Secret announced a multi-year deal with Google to use the generative AI chatbot on its retail website. The purpose of the deal is to use the tool to make personalized recommendations to Victoria’s Secret customers.

“The integration of Google Cloud’s AI and generative AI technologies will not only improve the online shopping experience for our customers, but also will empower our internal teams to drive innovation across various business functions,” said Chris Rupp, chief customer officer at Victoria’s Secret. “This partnership signifies a new era for Victoria’s Secret & Co., where cutting-edge technology meets our passion for enhancing the customer journey and reinforcing our position as a leader in retail.”

Adore Me, another lingerie brand under the Victoria’s Secret umbrella, has already been using generative AI technology through Google Cloud, the retailer said.

Victoria’s Secret is No. 52 in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000, a ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales.

AI’s impact in retail is growing. Salesforce says AI influenced 17% of all online orders made in November and December. It also says AI accounted for $194 billion in sales over the holiday season. 

Walmart also just announced plans to use AI in new ways at CES. The retailer is adding generative AI-powered search to its app using Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI. A new InHome Replenishment feature will also use AI for Walmart+ members, it said.

Walmart ranks No. 2 in the Top 1000. It also ranks No. 9 among global marketplaces by gross merchandise value.

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Digital buying experiences win business https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/industry-resource/digital-buying-experiences-win-business/ Fri, 05 Jan 2024 18:06:18 +0000 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/?post_type=whitepaper&p=1315142 Learn about the B2B Pressures Challenging Marketers’ Strategy and Solutions to Meet B2B Buyers’ Expectations According to Forrester Research, B2B e-commerce revenue is predicted to reach $3 trillion by 2027. This forecast is driven by a number of factors, including the increasing adoption of digital technologies by businesses of all sizes as well as B2B […]

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Learn about the B2B Pressures Challenging Marketers’ Strategy and Solutions to Meet B2B Buyers’ Expectations

According to Forrester Research, B2B e-commerce revenue is predicted to reach $3 trillion by 2027. This forecast is driven by a number of factors, including the increasing adoption of digital technologies by businesses of all sizes as well as B2B buyers. B2B buyer’s expectations will continue to increase in the coming years. To help B2B businesses meet the rising B2B buyer expectations, Google and Forrester partnered to uncover three key trends in this landscape.

 

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Interview: Kognitos’ Drayton Wade on AI in retail for ops and customer service https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2023/12/14/interview-kognitos-drayton-wade-on-ai-in-retail-for-ops-and-customer-service/ Thu, 14 Dec 2023 21:30:50 +0000 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/?p=1314080 The opportunity window for retailers between Black Friday and holiday shipping deadlines can seem narrow. The high-stakes weeks put pressure on operations and customer service to get the most out of every resource. And those resources can include new investments in AI retail strategy. Operations and customer service are both areas of focus for the […]

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The opportunity window for retailers between Black Friday and holiday shipping deadlines can seem narrow. The high-stakes weeks put pressure on operations and customer service to get the most out of every resource. And those resources can include new investments in AI retail strategy. Operations and customer service are both areas of focus for the business automation platform Kognitos. The startup closed a $20 million Series A round of funding in November and is looking to grow.

Drayton Wade, the head of operations at Kognitos, shared the San Jose, California-based startup’s perspective on AI strategy in retail. Wade is based out of Charleston, South Carolina, where the company is currently expanding its presence. He worked previously for the automation platform UiPath, eventually joining Kognitos in 2022.

Kognitos has already worked on use cases in retail and consumer packaged goods, as well as manufacturing and logistics. Companies using its tech include PepsiCo, Wipro, Century Supply Chain Solutions and Norco Industries. Wade explained to Digital Commerce 360 how he thinks Kognitos’ existing capabilities fit into AI strategy in retail. He also talked through the problems that the technology in the startup’s platform is designed to solve.

Current demand for AI solutions

“One of the main things we hear from executives, CIOs, CFOs, CEOs,” said Wade, is “‘Hey, I know I need to have an AI strategy. I know that I want to implement some form of generative AI. But I have various concerns about safety, or I don’t know where to begin.’”

That perspective at the executive level reflects known sentiments in the business world. A 2023 study from IT solutions integrator Insight and research firm The Harris Poll found that 73% of leaders at Fortune 500 companies expect to incorporate generative AI within the next three years to improve employee productivity. Also on the list of respondent priorities were customer engagement (66%), along with supply chain (41%) and inventory management (40%).

In the same survey, however, respondents acknowledged concerns about AI, with worries about quality and control (51%) and safety and security risks (49%) showing up most often.

Visibility and auditability

For Kognitos, Wade sees the way forward being to increase visibility where a high degree of documentation exists, focusing on accessibility through a natural language interface. The company touts its AI strengths with logic and pattern-recognition capabilities, but transparency and auditability are areas where Wade sees a chance to respond to common worries.

“When you type something into ChatGPT and it gives you an answer, you don’t know why it came up with that answer,” Wade explained. “Even if you’re fine-tuning a model, you don’t really know why it did what it did. And neither does OpenAI or anyone else, even though they have amazing technology.”

Protective vs. opportunistic needs

He believes that can be a way to differentiate their approach while anticipating organizational needs to govern and explain what Kognitos’ platform is doing at the client level. Visibility, meanwhile, is a demand he sees coming from both protective and opportunistic needs.

“No bank’s gonna do mortgage applications if they can’t see why it’s doing what it’s doing,” he said, citing an example of protective motivations. “It’s too much of a liability, because if [the AI] hallucinates once, you’re going to have serious issues.” Hallucinations are instances where an AI model sees patterns or conditions that don’t reflect what a human user would see, resulting in factually incorrect output.

From an opportunistic perspective, Wade sees shortening paths to internal data and information as a challenge that AI can answer, both in terms of time and reduced numbers of steps. Those needs for speed and efficiency may extend beyond AI in retail, but it’s a sector where Kognitos is already in use.

“We’re already working with some customers on that where they can go back through all the runs and query, ‘What was my average margin on all orders in November?’” he said. The next step on the platform would be to “ask the simple question and actually query on that data because now it’s all logged in English in a way that’s very easy to query,” he explained.

Reducing technical work to plain-language interactions

“We have built an interpreter for English, which effectively makes English code,” Wade said. “Then we use large language models in different ways to enhance the user experience.”

LLMs are one of the most common types of deep learning models for AI in use now from Amazon, Google, Meta, OpenAI, and other tech companies. Wade stressed that the interpreter is the “core” of what Kognitos is offering. On top of that, they use multiple LLMs to generate output.

“It’s a combination of fine-tuning LLMs like [Meta’s] Llama,” he stated. “And then we also use things like [OpenAI’s] ChatGPT at times.”

According to Wade, this approach allows Kognitos to avoid becoming too dependent on one single LLM. Use cases for leveraging them, though, can include asking questions about fields in non-standard forms. Those could be purchase orders coming from different vendors. In some cases, another search system might encounter an error because it is not aware of one vendor’s format. Kognitos hopes to do better by helping non-technical users troubleshoot through conversation.

Examples of output

“[The Kognitos platform] would actually create an English question of ‘Hey, I can’t find this purchase order or this purchase order number. Can you help me?’” he said. “And then the business user can respond in free-flowing English saying, ‘For Amazon, the purchase order is always directly below the date.’”

The system could also create an output for a response to the customer, based on internally available data.

“The other way large models come in is there’s times when we want to generate content or we want to use large language models to do things like translation or context,” Wade said, talking through the process flow. “We call it Koncierge, but we’ll say, ‘Ask Koncierge to create an email based on a summary of the customer support ticket. And we’ll say ‘Use the model GPT4.’” Alternative LLMs such as Llama or Falcon would also be options.

Customer service

Customer-facing impact could also potentially come from more efficient call-center experiences. This is an area where Wade expects to see an intersection with AI in retail.

“I think you see a lot of this in retail and ecommerce as well — both have large contact centers,” he explained. “We’re actually doing a use case with a contact center where we are live-transcribing, or we’re connected with the transcription tool that is live-transcribing the call. It then goes in and writes a note and uses a large language model to create a summary of that conversation into Snowflake.”

This is where documentation comes into play, because the platform can refer to known standard operating procedures.

“That information and then taken and based on that summary, we look up a standard operating procedure of what the agent should do in that particular scenario,” he said. “Based on that standard operating procedure, it will then take action and create an email to send out to the customer with what actions are being taken as a follow-up.”

Fraud prevention

One other area of focus for Kognitos is fraud prevention. Wade discussed that use case in the context of a loyalty points project with a Fortune 500 consumer brand.

“They have a program where you take a picture of your receipt, and it shows their products on that receipt, and you get points,” he said. “The issue is receipts from every single gas station and every single grocery store all are different formats. It’s largely unstructured.”

Again, unstructured data is where the platform is intended to provide value.

“With Kognitos, though, we’re able to actually take that information, extract it from all the different receipts, classify it into an Excel format that then gets uploaded into their marketing software for market research, look at the things that they’re buying with those particular products, and from there even run fraud detection.”

The intended outcome of that process would be the elimination of duplicate receipts being submitted. That outcome clears up multiple problems on the client’s end.

“We actually use large language models and some custom models we build, and we can run it within the interpreter to put those fraud signals in and make sure they’re not paying out extra points in those scenarios or corrupting their market research data.”

Ultimately, that will be part of the interpreter’s true test. Its mission will be to turn those signals into actionable insights that are easy to understand for general business users. That will involve not just speaking to people, but understanding them as well.

“We’ve always been teaching people how to communicate with machines, which is really backwards,” Wade stated. “Instead, we needed to build it to where machines can understand people at the end of the day.”

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How to acquire more B2B customers in 2024 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2023/12/12/how-to-acquire-more-b2b-customers-in-2024/ Tue, 12 Dec 2023 23:02:46 +0000 https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/?p=1314118 The uncertain economy has made it harder for B2B buyers to make purchases. The purchase cycle is longer, with more scrutiny on every dollar spent. When every sale is harder, B2B marketers turn their attention to increasing new customer acquisition to have more prospects in the pipeline. And that’s exactly what they did in 2023, […]

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The uncertain economy has made it harder for B2B buyers to make purchases. The purchase cycle is longer, with more scrutiny on every dollar spent. When every sale is harder, B2B marketers turn their attention to increasing new customer acquisition to have more prospects in the pipeline. And that’s exactly what they did in 2023, with 57% focused on creating new demand in the market.

Finding new leads has proven to be a challenge, with low lead volume identified as a primary pain point. There are a lot of different factors that could be contributing to the new-lead drought that goes beyond tightened budgets. B2B marketers are contending with a new world of buyers who are much more digitally focused than even a few years ago. They act more like B2C consumers and want content and experiences that engage them.

It’s a tough situation for marketers to address with limited resources. Yet, despite a constrained budget, B2B marketers have opportunities in 2024 to adjust their approach and improve acquisition rates.

Rethink Top of Funnel Tactics

If B2B buyers are starting to act more like B2C consumers, then B2B marketers need to follow suit, which means trying new early funnel tactics. Everything from YouTube to Instagram should be on the table for testing in 2024. I often hear from B2B marketers that social media other than LinkedIn isn’t a good fit for their brand, but that’s often not proven out in an actual test. B2B buyers are people, and they definitely go to social media!

These social channels will become more prominent in the B2B buyer journey as younger generations get buying power at work. GenZ adults like YouTube the best and watch ads on the platform. They use the platform to look for information and to learn, not just to be entertained.

While making special creative for different social platforms used to be timely and costly,

the industry no longer has an excuse. Generative AI like Midjourney can repurpose creative that already exists into formats that fit each platform’s specifications in mere minutes. These platforms are also built to help advertisers with a library of templates, tips, and reports to help with testing.

Simplify Non-Brand Search

What better way to find new customers than for them to find you? Non-branded search can be a valuable way to drive self-guided buyers to content on the site without hard selling. And there are a lot of buyers who are doing more research online than ever before.

With Google’s push to more automated campaign types like Performance Max, I’ve seen less investment in pure non-brand search. Performance Max and automated campaigns like it go after the lowest-hanging fruit. People searching for a specific brand or product name might have already converted anyway, while non-branded search represents an audience that might be net-new.

If this isn’t in the cards, B2B marketers can at least move budget to non-branded search to see how it affects the new-acquisition funnel. Chances are it will make a noticeable, positive difference.

Make It Easier to Convert

There are many unnoticed hurdles in every B2B purchase process. The website might be confusing, there might not be the right product information to download, or there could be a lack of all-important peer reviews. A B2B marketer’s job in 2024 is to remove as many hurdles as possible from the purchase process.

Marketers should put themselves in the shoes of a new customer and scrutinize their website. The goal is to make sure that the site makes it easy to research and purchase, with as few steps as possible along the way.

For example, the more concise a form is, the more leads a marketer will generate. Similarly, if site search doesn’t display the right information, prospects will leave and look for the information elsewhere. Now that more buyers are self-service, the checkout experience makes a difference. According to Shopify, changing from a multipage to a single-page checkout increases conversion rate by 22%.

Forrester Research notes that recommendations from peers are also an important part of the journey. If there are no case studies, customer stories or access to peers, it could turn prospects off.

Some B2B marketers are getting creative with the peer aspect of the buying cycle, creating communities and forums where prospects can ask questions and hear more about different use cases. This interactive strategy not only helps them with their understanding of a B2B company’s solution, but it also creates a positive connection to the brand!

Time to Start the Detective Work

Simply spending more to get more leads is not an option for most marketers in the current economic landscape, but it is still important to test new initiatives. Before starting any of these new tactics, it’s a good idea for B2B marketers to look at 2023 data and see where their best new acquisitions came from and what they did. Then, look at where there was the biggest drop-off in different parts of the journey. This data will highlight opportunities to find more good leads and to address issues that might have turned prospects away.

Marketers will get the best uplift if they can dive deep into the data as they test new tactics. Knowing not just the topline volume but also the type of leads and their value  will help determine where to focus efforts.

About the author:

Andrea Duffy-Cabana is the Senior Director of Paid Media at Anteriad, where she helps B2B marketers maximize the value of their paid media strategies. 

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