e-Commerce and the Evolution to True Cross-Channel Commerce

As a merchant today, you have no choice but to rethink how you entice and interact with demanding buyers who lead extremely busy lives. Neither buying retail goods, nor booking hotel reservations, nor applying for insurance is a straightforward, predictable process anymore. After all, you're dealing with well-informed "anytime, anywhere consumers" who are likely to have a smartphone in hand, ubiquitous access to broadband, and immediate access to social media and their social network. Their pathway to a purchase may involve numerous interactions across many channels and multiple touchpoints. It�s not just about the web, store, and contact center. The shopping journey is more complex now that mobile and social channels have exploded onto the scene.

Understanding the Cross-Channel Commerce Consumer

To accommodate their time-constrained schedules, consumers prefer to research and communicate in bite-size chunks, at their convenience. Increasingly, they consume information via mobile devices, whether at home, on the road, or in the store. As they consider their options, consumers are relying more heavily on peers, friends, and family for input, all while accessing reviews and shopper comparison sites, along with the details you provide about your offering.

When all is said and done, today's consumers will have numerous interactions across channels with your brand, your competitors, and their personal communities before making a purchase decision. In fact, a survey commissioned by ATG in late 2009 revealed that more than three-quarters of consumers use two or more channels to research and complete a transaction. Furthermore, one-third of the 1,054 U.S. consumers polled said they use three or more channels before making a purchase. To top it off, today's consumers expect integration and consistency across channels, largely driven by their experiences with innovative brick & mortar stores that offer the convenience of buying online and picking up merchandise in the store.

A single purchase cycle involves many interactions as consumers research and shop across multiple commerce channels.

Recognizing the Pitfalls and the Potential

To succeed in today's commerce environment, you need to shift your approach to interacting with and serving consumers. You need to find ways to understand where a shopper is in this new, complex buying cycle. And you need to treat your customers consistently and intelligently based on the channel they're using and their needs at any given moment. Otherwise, you'll lower your conversion rates, tarnish your brand image, and potentially lose a customer for life.

If you can successfully make the shift, you stand much to gain. The fact is that today's cross-channel commerce reality offers a tremendous opportunity. According to McKinsey, "...consumers who shop across a number of channels�physical stores, the Internet, and catalogs�spend about four times more annually than those who shop in just one (Source: McKinsey Quarterly, The promise of multichannel retailing, October 2009)."

Seize a Golden Opportunity to Increase Conversion Rates

By drawing upon insight into this increasingly complex consumer journey and leveraging data about consumers' behavior and preferences across channels, you can intelligently connect with your customers, no matter where they are and how they shop. In fact, by serving today's cross-channel consumer right, you'll see a spike in customer satisfaction and loyalty, all while building a stronger brand. Success depends upon your ability to mirror the commerce experience in the physical world, by treating consumers intelligently, based on their previous interactions with your brand. What you need is the ability to precisely market your products or services, deliver personalized user experiences, and make relevant recommendations in real time across channels.

The Leading Platform for Cross-Channel Commerce

"Commerce anywhere" is our vision for the next generation of commerce solutions that serve "anytime, anywhere" consumers in a personalized way, even as they engage in multiple interactions via numerous channels while moving from consideration to purchase. With the ATG Commerce Suite powering commerce initiatives across all your key customer interaction channels, you can deliver a unified, multi-channel experience to increase revenue, exceed your customers� expectations, and position your organization for maximum, long-term business growth.