The Clyde platform was created to meet the needs of eCommerce companies. To stay abreast of the latest trends and developments within the space, we’ve invested time and resources to remain well read on the subjects that matter most to our customers. Check in on this weekly “conversation” to read, watch and listen to stories that are shaping the eCommerce industry.
Perfecting Your Phygital Experiences
The word “phygital” refers to the blending of the physical and the digital world. For eCommerce companies this execution of this idea remains critical.
“As the separation between physical and digital continues to blur, retailers are throwing out traditional ideas about the role physical locations play in the customer journey. Stores are becoming inspiration hubs and fulfillment centers as much as they are purchase points, and eCommerce touchpoints, such as apps and websites, are becoming crucial facilitators for all stages of shopping,” wrote Nicole Silberstein of the RFID Journal.
"Where we're moving to, it's not going to be siloed into physical and digital," says Matt Maher, the founder of technology-focused consultancy M7 Innovations . "It's going to be one customer experience, and [shoppers] are going to want what they want, when they want it, wherever they want it."
Key to success will be the ability to offer a unified, seamless flow, from online to brick-and-mortar and back again. That means having one system of record for customer data that all other systems can tap into, according to Emily Pfeiffer, a senior analyst at Forrester.
"[Store] retailers and digital businesses still talk about the experiences they create as if they are two separate things," Pfeiffer states, "but customers don't think about it that way. [Consumers] have an experience with a brand or a retailer—it's all tied together, whether they're in an app, in a store, online, talking to someone or calling. And if they have an interaction in one channel that the next channel is unaware of, they feel like they're not understood, not respected by that retailer. That omnichannel view of understanding is terribly important."
In our series, "Growth Reimagined: eComm Strategies That Work, No Lease Required," we featured a pair of articles detailing the value of Pop-Up locations for eCommerce retailers, and how they can bridge the phygital gap. You can read them here and here .
A DTC Shift, As Supply Chain Pain Persists
Global retail powers like Nike are feeling the effects of supply chain bottlenecks, ahead of the holiday season. According to Lauren Thomas of CNBC, “Nike slashed its fiscal 2022 revenue outlook Thursday because of the temporary bottlenecks plaguing the logistics of its business.” As a result, The sneaker giant indicated on its most recent earnings call that it will be decidedly more strategic about where it’s stocking its merchandise, while accelerating it’s direct-to-consumer push.
“It now takes Nike roughly 80 days to get goods from Asia to North America, which is double pre-pandemic transit times. Manufacturing facilities across Vietnam are beginning to reopen, but Nike has lost about 10 weeks of production due to pandemic shutdowns. About 43% of its total footwear and apparel units are made in the country,” wrote Thomas last week. Nike executives told the Wall Street Journal that the company’s inventories heading into the holidays are low and it will take several months to get back to full production. The company is shifting some production out of Vietnam and using air freight to avoid bottlenecks at ocean ports.
“As long as inventory is constrained, it’s fair to assume the pivot to direct will be accelerated,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Simeon Siegel said on CNBC. “They’re prioritizing their own channels with product first.”
To learn how Clyde is assisting eCommerce companies facing supply chain issues, click here .
Split Testing Your Product Prices: Lucrative, Crazy or Both?
The eCommerceFuel podcast welcomed Adam Kitain and Drew Marconi to discuss product pricing and split testing. Listen in as they discuss how to test your prices—with the goal of raising those prices to increase profitability—including some not-so-obvious ways that you can test without actually changing your prices. They also dive into the science behind price testing, how to optimize your testing, and ways that you can DIY price testing and mitigate any potential customer service risk.
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