During Wednesday morning’s session The Digital Channel: Retail’s New Growth Engine, Resource Interactive’s Kelly Mooney discussed the many ways in which the consumer has changed over the past few years. Retailers, Mooney said, need to be aware of where consumers are, from social networking sites to blogs. E-commerce sites need to cater to this new, type of customer — one who is online many hours a week, seeking experiences and conversations.
One retailer that has revamped how it approaches the digital consumer is Borders. For years the company’s online presence was limited to an Amazon.com partnership, according to Border’s Kevin Ertell, so it decided to launch its e-commerce site in 2008. The site tries to mimic the experience of the bricks-and-mortar book-browsing experience, but with all kinds of extra bells and whistles not available in stores.
The site allows users to virtually browse the bestselling book shelves and well as personalize their own shelf’s. So if I’m interested in historical nonfiction and cooking, I can populate a shelf that includes books that cater to those very specific interests.
For all those conversational readers, the site offers a virtual book club that has a TV show. And the author of the book can be an active participant in the discussion, rather than just responding to questions. The site also offers other TV shows that focus on very specific topics – from poetry to cooking.
Borders’ Web site is not just a place to buy books, it’s a place to have conversations, browse videos and learn. More and more, customers are going to be seeking these kinds of experiences on retailers’ Web sites.
4 Comments
Retailers must continuously strive to find new ways to inspire, particularly in today’s challenging environment. Context is the new content and Consumers – whether they are shopping online or in-store – want to be inspired and clearly envision how products fit into their world, including demonstrating different ways to use them that enhances their lives.
I just wonder who is wanting content with their shopping. I want to shop and then get out and do something else. I don’t need to talk with other shoppers, etc. A book club is a little different. But if I am buying shoes, I sure don’t need to talk to other shoe buyers … what am I going to talk to them about ? That is just so weird ….
I think that there will always be shoppers who want to get in and get out. Increasingly, however, there are shoppers who want to create that dialogue with others not necessarily in the social context (e.g. make e-friends), but to get & share information. In some cases, like social shopping, it’s to make sure that they are actually getting the BEST deal. They rely on these conversations to help guide them towards a purchase. Any retailer who welcomes and fosters this kind of communication is headed down a right path.
Helen
http://www.dealio.com
These comments are sound. There are a lot of shoppers who want to get exactly what they’re looking for, so we need to offer them the ability to get in and get out. In this particular scenario, we also need to offer other consumers the ability to browse. Not every shopper knows what they’re looking for. If all book buyers wanted to do was get their books and get out, there wouldn’t be coffee shops and people standing in book stores perusing for minutes or hours.
It’s great to think of the kind of shopping we like to do, but we have to be observant about other shopping styles. People read for different reasons and we need to cater to as many types of buys as we can.