It was a fabulous event, studded with great speakers, more than 100 attendees, and brilliant views of a sunny London from the Altitude 360 tower.
There is no doubt how critical online has become to growth across all industries and categories, with different markets in Europe posing unique opportunities and challenges. With the stagnation of physical store retail, businesses cannot expect to accelerate growth without embracing the change needed to capture the online opportunity.
It was quite apropos that our day kicked off with Alan O’Neill, a veteran of change management and CEO of Kara Change Management. Alan reinforced how the ecommerce leaders of today need to act as change agents, and that success will be driven by the soft skills of facilitation and collaboration across functions and breaking down silos, as much as expertise on online business drivers and operations.
Jane Loveday and Georgina Bennett from Mars Petcare shared their journey and success at translating category management to online with key retailers in Europe. Differentiating their strategy between pure play, click & mortar, and generalists, acting as category captains and partnering with retailers to drive a win-win is what’s key to success for Mars. The critical challenge here is that digital shelf is in fact finite, and shoppers are frustrated with poor navigation. Mars has been working diligently on taxonomy and search with their retail partners to drive the Pet Care category to a better place for shoppers and retailers.
Oli Bradley rocked the audience with his compelling research on poor shopper experiences in a mobile first world. Sharing Unilever’s significant research and A/B testing, Oli built a water-tight case for why force fitting product images for a print and PC led world does not work in today’s world and the right way to go is hero images.
Once you’ve got that shopper engaged in your product, whether it’s on your brand website, a digital ad, or social channels, it’s key not to lose them. That brings in the need for the 'Buy Now' button. As Niall O’Gorman from ChannelSight reinforced, provide your shopper with a single click to transaction.
Olav Bus from Bazaar Voice reinforced the importance of consumer generated content driving Search and Conversion with 82% of shoppers consulting their mobiles in store and the growth of RoBo (Research Online Buy Offline).
The need for great content and data on products--organized and linked to retailer websites--while also being connected to digital shelf tracking from Clavis brought us back to the foundational basics. Digital transformation starts with smart data as Efrain Rosario from Alkemics clearly laid out.
All in all, a great day of learning from each other and from experts, sharing common challenges and struggles, celebrating breakthroughs and networks with peers!
