In January 2020, no one could have predicted empty shelves in supermarkets, as people rushed to stockpile flour, pasta, and other essentials. For retailers it was a stark reminder that customer needs are unpredictable.

With more uncertainty ahead, one thing is clear. Customer behaviour has changed for good – 42% of people still shop online more frequently even after the lockdown in early 2020. As the shockwaves of the pandemic are felt throughout the sector, retailers are struggling to cope with rapid spikes or decline in demand. 

The pandemic has been an unprecedented accelerator for digital transformation, but these trends were already born before the crisis. There’s never been a better time to invest in your ecommerce strategy.

At our Salesforce Live: United Kingdom & Ireland event, both B2C and B2B businesses highlighted the importance of reacting to customer expectations to thrive in the new normal.  (To access the sessions we refer to here in full – along with a whole array of other useful sessions – head to the event page to catch-up on-demand.)

We’ve highlighted four key ways to optimise your ecommerce platform and strategy.

Ecommerce Strategy Tip #1: Connect the CX

Even before COVID-19, customer expectations were changing rapidly. Shoppers don’t just want amazing products at great prices, they demand an amazing end-to-end service, including same- or next-day delivery and easy returns. In fact, 60% of customers reported they’d pay more for a great experience, and 80% rated the experience as equally important as the product.

During Salesforce Live, Gordon Newman, the Go To Market Director at Life Style Sports revealed how his company pivoted the customer experience even before the pandemic:

“We changed our returns proposition in February to start collecting returns from customers’ homes. That enabled us to deliver a great experience from end to end regardless of whether customers were able to find the right size, have the right fit and keep that product, or if they wanted to return it to us or exchange.”

This highlights that the customer lifecycle doesn’t end when they click ‘buy’. Ordering and fulfilment can frustrate or amaze shoppers and drive customer loyalty. Commerce Cloud’s order management system enables a fast and easy shipping experience at scale, taking data out of silos into one central console

At Salesforce, we help you put customers at the heart of all you do with Customer 360, the world’s #1 CRM. 

Ecommerce Strategy Tip #2:  Focus on speed and agility

Preparing for the unexpected is a challenge, but it all comes down to agility and being able to react quickly to change. Fenwick’s Digital Director Kate Smyth shared the incredible story of how a small team pulled together to transform four branches into mini distribution centres to fulfil online orders. 

“Online became a real source of income. Because volumes [of orders] were so big we needed more stock, so we looked to our biggest store in Newcastle, and an amazing team of colleagues set up pack benches, installed tech, trained teams, got packaging delivered, and were up and running in just two weeks.”

Fenwick is an excellent example of how adopting the right ecommerce strategy can rapidly transform the customer experience. The 140-year-old retailer evolved from a content-only website to a hugely successful online store in just two years, and during lockdown was able to build on those foundations to add more value to customers and generate more sales.

This required a shift in its approach, but by uniting teams around the customer experience, it was still able to delight customers with a personalised experience even in this changed landscape. “We designed our website so everyone could customise the site to be their own version of Fenwick,” said Kate. 

An emerging trend in the retail sector is the shift towards brands selling directly to consumers, or D2C. This has been a key enabler for many businesses to survive in the changing retail landscape, with 40% of consumers actively looking to shop with D2C companies. 

Reports show that 59% of buyers prefer to research directly at the source, and 55% of them would like to buy directly too. Commerce Cloud has out-of-the-box functionality to help businesses set up a D2C offering in a matter of weeks.

Ecommerce Strategy Tip #3:  Be flexible

In this adapt or fail environment, flexibility is key. Businesses need to be hands-on when it comes to what’s happening today, but keep one eye on the future so they don’t lose sight of their long-term goals. 

Salesforce helps customers to future-proof their environment and stay ahead of the game. Commerce Cloud has all the functionality to get products to market faster and help launch B2B sales in a matter of weeks. 

As well as lowering the average cost per order by enabling customers to self-serve, launching new channels for business will increase revenues and unlock that all important Customer 360.

So, how can businesses take the risk out of breaking into new markets? The answer is to adopt an ecosystem-driven approach and restructure operations to fit the new normal. Weigh up how money spent equates to greater productivity, better decision-making and how businesses can do more with less.

Nick Cheesman, SVP IT for Health, Nutrition, eRB and Gr. China at Reckitt Benckiser has this advice:

“Internal and external partnerships are vital. Develop simple strategies and stay focused on doing the right things to drive the transformation. Don’t be afraid to change. Don’t be afraid to update your strategies, but equally don’t be afraid to walk away if your strategy’s not working.”

Ecommerce Strategy Tip #4:  Get smarter with customer data

One impact of COVID-19 is how it accelerated change in the B2B sector. Many industries were already seeing a shift in expectations, with more B2B customers wanting that personalised, B2C-like consumer experience they get everywhere else.

Connecting data with Customer 360 is key here, and Ranjit Gill, CIO and Head of B2B EMEA at McKesson talked about how the company is re-imagining B2B selling. Although the company had legacy platforms supporting digital sales, it was constrained by data silos and inconsistent processes. 

By moving sales to Commerce Cloud, it can offer competitive deals to customers and ensure more life-saving medicine reaches patients. But that’s only part of the picture – we discussed in point #1 how the customer lifecycle extends beyond the purchase, but the B2B lifecycle extends far beyond that of B2C customers, with more long-term relationships and fewer one-off purchases.

“Because we were already using Salesforce we were able to capture all of our interactions with customers in one place.” This gives service agents a complete picture of the customer experience so far, and as Ranjit continued: “The interaction we can give the customer now is far greater and more advanced than we could’ve given them historically.”

When you consider that 75% of B2B customers want to order online now, businesses with a robust ecommerce strategy are three times more likely to win, and keep the customer.

Delivering an amazing CX is timeless

One thing all our speakers have in common is their dedication to putting the customer experience at the heart of everything they do, and that’s what the power of the Salesforce Customer 360 is all about. While it may be difficult to predict what the next year – or even the next few months – might look like, giving customers a seamless and personalised end-to-end experience will always be key to success.

To find out more about how to optimise your ecommerce strategy with Salesforce, check out more videos from Salesforce Live: United Kingdom & Ireland.