Second edition of The Eccomplished Quarterly highlights the critical role of innovation in driving online retail success.
The second edition of The Eccomplished Quarterly explores online retailers’ investment plans for 2012 and beyond. Based on original research and drawing on detailed interviews with eCommerce Directors and Heads of eCommerce, it examines the extent to which those investment plans, and investment targeting, reflect respondents’ revenue ambitions for the year.
The report identifies that in a climate of economic uncertainty, retailers are planning for growth. Whilst for many the London Olympics represented a huge promotional and revenue generating opportunity, right now the day-to-day focus is on driving customer loyalty.
Darren Hitchcock, VP Europe at Rich Relevance and a founding member of Eccomplished comments “Three quarters (74%) of online retailers are investing in customer loyalty and retention, a priority that reflects the relative maturity of the online retail market. Within their core markets there are few untapped consumer segments, which makes retention and loyalty critical.”
Over the longer term, the big bets on social, mobile and personalisation will start to play out.
Dominic Edmonds, President, SaleCycle: “Longer term, it will be interesting to see which brands take the lead in responding to consumer demand for a new kind of eCommerce experience. Personalised shopping experiences are a case in point and I wonder who will be brave enough to offer a full optimised shopping experience, showing only products they believe to be relevant to each individual customer.”
The report paints a perhaps surprisingly optimistic picture when it comes to growth expectations, but also suggests that economic and technological pressures are playing a key role in shaping investments in innovation.
Steve Rivers, Managing Director of Intelligent Reach concludes: “Overall the picture is one of optimism and ambition – but backed by real investment in innovation. Retailers are determined to get to grips with the increasingly sophisticated and fickle demands of constantly connected consumers – the digital natives who have grown up with social and touch and who retailers must learn to attract and retain all over again across a whole range of new channels.
Download the Second edition of The Eccomplished Quarterly.
About…
Survey source: 100 detailed interviews were undertaken for this important survey – the first of the Innovation Index series. Only UK based companies with more than £3 million annual online revenues were included in the survey. Respondents were eCommerce Directors and Heads of eCommerce within the sampled organisations. All interviews were undertaken on the telephone using an agreed set of questions. MRS Code of Conduct rules regarding respondent and client confidentiality and anonymity were respected throughout.
Eccomplished is a free resource for online retailers, providing research and insight into how online consumers are behaving and retailers responding. Eccomplished is run on behalf of its members, leading ecommerce experts including RichRelevance, Intelligent Reach (formerly Ultimate Feed) and SaleCycle.