“It's the customer journey, stupid”: the RetailDetail Omnichannel & E-Commerce Congress in 8 quotes

If the customer is not central in your strategy, no technology – no matter how brilliant it is – will be able to help you: that was the message that the speakers at yesterday’s RetailDetail Omnichannel & E-Commerce Congress conveyed.

“It’s not about online or offline, but about the customer”

Almost anything can be sold online now, from fresh meat over solar panels to skylights. But you have to do it well: “It’s not about online or offline, but about the customer journey”, moderator Gino Van Ossel explained. “The customer has to be at the centre of your thoughts, and no customer thinks in channels. We have to build channels that meet customer needs.” The other speakers confirmed that statement, although it also turned out that many speakers limited the customer journey to the sales funnel.

“Every euro we invest must pay off”

Femke Mussels, Ms online at ZEB, leaves no doubt: conversion is king. But how do you guide an online customer through a range of 45,000 products? How do you translate the strong visual merchandising from your shops to the webshop? Here to help is Tweakwise, the secret weapon that optimises the customer journey with smart filters and personalisation tools, CEO Stefan van Opstal reveals. Result: 15 to 25 % sales growth, courtesy of corona.

“Keep it simple”

Two square metres and one socket: that is all that the connected EXKi Fridge needs to offer office workers a healthy vegetable lunch or snack at any time of the day. A business model that responds perfectly to the new way of working. Digital restaurants full of RFID technology, tailored to each company. Soon it will also be a platform for other brands, CEO Nicolas Morlet says. An Exki meal box is on the way.

“A marketplace is a fishing net to catch new customers”.

Just as humanity took the step from tribal to urban life, retail is evolving from shops to online marketplaces: we were given a history lesson by Merkado‘s Maxence Vercruysse. When you know that one in two purchases are made on marketplaces, and that three in five shoppers start their online search on a marketplace, the conclusion is obvious: “Do not be the next Nokia.” Although he does admit: you get “a different kind of margin” out of it. Nice euphemism.

“You have to dare to take leaps”

De Gele Flamingo‘s Sophie Claes has an amazing entrepreneurial story that grabs the attention: started at the kitchen table, now the whole world is a customer. 150,000 followers on Instagram, 100,000 on Facebook, 40 % growth per year. She is already building a new warehouse, because a turnover of 25 million euros is planned by 2025. The next ambition: to develop her own brand. The success formula? There is none. Except for guts and strong-willed entrepreneurship.

“No channel conflict, but channel management”

Since last week, fashion label Xandres has also been active on marketplaces. The first weekly turnover: 1200 euros, CEO Patrick Desrumaux revealed. Customers hop from one-brand shops to multi-brand boutiques, to the webshop, to marketplaces and back again. Are there conflicts? Not if you can manage that. In order to increase the conversion of the webshop, Xandres hired the services of Dennis Kenis of Customer Collective. A few tricks? Reminding people when they leave the web shop of their forgotten shopping basket increases the conversion ratio by more than 15 %. An ugly red ball next to the shopping basket in the top right corner – completely at odds with the house style – adds another 5 %.

“The future of business is big understanding, not big data”

E-commerce and digital are in the top five priorities at Unilever, country lead Silvia Wiesner said in conversation with Salesforce’s Nick Botter. The figures: 44 % growth in 2021, already 13 % of total sales – while in 2016 it was only 2 %. A nice illustration is the ‘Ice Cream Now’ strategy with Ben & Jerry’s: from the sofa, consumers can order a cup of ice cream, which is delivered to their home within 15 minutes. “It used to be mobile first, now it is e-commerce first.” Marketing is only becoming more important in this regard: “If voice commerce continues to grow, we have to make sure that people call ‘Ben & Jerry’ and not ‘ice cream’, because then Amazon wins.”

“Our friendship with Google is too close”

To turn a rusty brick-and-mortar retailer into a cultural icon in a digital age: that is the lofty ambition Joris Van Rooy has in mind for C&A. “We have to turn a retailer that sells clothes into a fashion(able) brand again.” As ‘consumer & digital officer’ – emphasising that you cannot separate digital and marketing – he tinkers with the customer journey, which is atomised into micro-moments. “The purchase is the start of the customer relationship, not the end”, he warned his fellow retailers in the room. “We pay Google a lot of money for non-intentional traffic to our webshop. I want to change the classic funnel and create new habits.” It will take three to five years, he thinks. “I wish you good luck”, a participant from the audience said – I have no idea if that was meant to be ironic.

Inspired by leading retailers? You can do so again at our next event, the RetailDetail Congress on 28 April. Zalando, Alibaba, Rainpharma, Odette Lunettes, Cameleon, Polestar, La Bottega and Parfuma, among others, are on the international bill. More names will be announced shortly. More information and tickets can be found via this link.