Last week, I talked about how retail is not undergoing a bricks-and-mortar renaissance, but rather we’re experiencing a fundamental paradigmatic shift in what retail is and how we shop.
Continuing in the vein of fostering an omni-channel future for retail and retailers alike where the focus is on truly remarkable experiences and not the mediocre middle, I believe that all businesses should have at least some degree of digital presence.
Whether your business is just starting out or you’ve been around the block for a while, making the jump into ecommerce is a daunting and often scary one. How do you know what to do? Where do you even start?
Don’t invest in technology for technology’s sake, and don’t pick technology based on what a sales person or popular opinion dictates.
First thing is first: make sure you know who you are. What does your brand stand for? Think beyond the product or service you offer, and define who your business is and where you are going, and what kind of emotion or experience you want to engender with your audience and customers. Second is building your website, which has become infinitely more accessible in recent years and months with build-it-yourself web applications and readily available responsive templates for peanuts a month.
Only after those two steps should you move on to choosing your ecommerce platform. And when it comes to choosing any technology for your omni-channel business, make sure you’re choosing the right technology for steps 1 & 2 above. Don’t invest in technology for technology’s sake, and for the love of all things good, don’t pick technology based on what a sales person or popular opinion dictates you should buy into. Start by doing your own research first.
If you’ve just started down the path of investigating ecommerce technology to build into your website, here’s a great infographic to get your research mojo going. But remember, make the right decision for you, your business, and your customer experience!
