WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: an update with the latest data about conversion rates in eCommerce. If anything this shows how wide the variations can be.

WHY IT MATTERS: search is clearly an essential component of eCommerce sites. With the move to small screen mobile devices and marketplaces with millions of products, finding what you need is not a question of browsing categories or keyword searches. eCommerce sites need AI-driven search solutions that enable users to ask questions in natural language and get personalized results in return. At least this is the claim here. With the rise of privacy, this is not easy . But data seems to suggest that users will give very personal information if and only if it delivers value to them, and indirectly for the retailer (higher conversion, etc.). Anyways, very interesting read.

WHY IT MATTERS: B2B clearly is the next frontier for eCommerce. Underlying this is the need to gain customer understanding and possibly direct connection, especially for manufacturers.

WHY IT MATTERS: NPS is widely known and used in eCommerce and retail in general. The new version based on earned growth is described here as NPS 3.0. It is interesting to see how it is calculated and should make a lot of readers wary that their internal legacy systems (from POS and ERPs to their newer eCommerce websites and mobile apps) lack the information to compute the new NPS metric... 

WHY IT MATTERS: an overview of retail technologies that live on the edge in retail stores. A good overview of what's possible. Waring, this is a Dell infomercial so much biais is expected.

WHY IT MATTERS: amazing read, and a great demonstration of the power of iterative improvements applied outside of the software industry...

WHY IT MATTERS: unit economics of eCommerce is always interesting to me. Here, an in depth analysis of the food delivery business, as seen by the restaurants, the delivery platform (think doordash) and the consumer. Full of good data tables. Summary: tough to make money if you are in the restaurant business, but possible.

WHY IT MATTERS: 2 of 2 interesting visualizations in this short post - unfortunately the full report is for members only ;-(

WHY IT MATTERS: 1 of 2 interesting visualizations in this short post - unfortunately the full report is for members only ;-(

WHY IT MATTERS: eCommerce growth continues, especially regarding B2B (see market overview, as usual it contains good insights). I always question the tool selection (17 over 140 solution gartner says it tracks) so read with huge grain of salt. Legacy solutions with serious technical limitations show up in leader quadrant (sap, salesforce), and niche solutions are positioned because I assume they have market penetration. So use other sources when selecting eCommerce solution but questions vendors in the quadrant on the PROs and CONs gartner highlights.

WHY IT MATTERS: much interesting short read from TheEconomist about Primark which sells dirt cheap apparel at rock bottom prices without any eCommerce and relying exclusively on physical store. The inverse of Amazon!

WHY IT MATTERS: interesting to see that software solutions that reach maturity - such as ERPs - have a tendency to specialize. This quadrant highlights leaders in a specific market (product centric enterprises). I wonder when we will start to see the same with eCommerce... Not that specialized solutions don't exist but that the industry remains so immature that companies are in their first or second versions of eCommerce and thus gravitate to generalist solutions like shopify, magento, etc.

WHY IT MATTERS: interesting the information you can find in an IPO prospectus about the costs, the margins and the other realities of running and retail business. 20% acquisition costs + 20% sales & service costs appear to be very good benchmarks for retailers doing back of the envelope cost calculations. So you need at least 40% gross margin to expect to turn a profit when selling online and in-store.

WHY IT MATTERS: seems you can get away asking for very personal info if it is perceived as useful in the shopping process.

WHY IT MATTERS: membership programs are popular and this report provides a number of good reference numbers.

WHY IT MATTERS: more insights and guidance on what retailers must do to transform.

WHY IT MATTERS:  a detailed report on disruption elements in a number of industries, including Retail and Finance which are most affected.

WHY IT MATTERS: everything in this article rings true, from the high cost of omnichannel and especially returns, to the opportunities that remain of having a physical store. The conclusion: you have to change processes, resource allocation and technology to make omnichannel work.

WHY IT MATTERS: always good to know from those who've been there before. Remember this is an infomercial from Mirakl so sprinkle with lots of salt before reading and making decisions based on this report ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: marketplaces are the new way to eCommerce. They are the same but yet so different. This is a good starting place to know why.

WHY IT MATTERS: as marketplaces become popular, finding a specific product in a catalog of millions of products will become harder and harder. The holy grail is visual search: snap a picture of something and get some AI to help you find something similar, or that matches well with that. eBay has made tests, Google lens has returned amazing results in my recent experience. Not sure what Amazon is doing but I assume it is top of their list.

Facebook is a major player in this game as it wants to make marketplace the shopping destination (don't forget it owns instagram as well). So the investment in grokNet is critical and recent results appear promising, though not yet perfect. 

So if you build a marketplace, as we are for panier bleu, then this is an area of innovation we cannot afford to bypass.

WHY IT MATTERS: warning! this article is not about your typical "robots will rule retail" or "everything has to be AI driven unless you die". Well, in some parts it is.

The reality check that retailers - and their technology vendors - must make is: retail is difficult, focused on the bottom line, with no appetite for innovation with short term results. Retail innovators must find a way to experiment while staying focussed on the bottom line.

Best quote: "‘I think the majority of the problems come from the unwillingness, perhaps the fear, of investing in something that
doesn’t automatically bring a load of cash onto your balance sheet."

WHY IT MATTERS: free delivery appears to be a myth based on this analysis from parcelLabs. And in-store pickup is the most popular option. Is this because customers really prefer to pay for delivery or go to the store? - or because the pick-pack-delivery-return costs are too high and as they come down with economies of scale, customers will naturally pick the free delivery option, as they do with Amazon?

WHY IT MATTERS: delivery is expensive and contributes to pollution. Last mile delivery alternatives are essential to make eCommerce efficient and eco-friendly. This project in Montreal is a great way to start in that direction.