It is well documented that the face of brick-n-mortar retail has changed forever, but all of those reports suggest that retailers need to pay more attention to the e-commerce experience and recognize the impact of Omni-Channel marketing and a Unified-Commerce experience. Regardless of the label, the trend has always been to build the fence out a little further and try to attract and keep consumers confined within our own ecosystems. The undercurrent fundamentally neglects the fact that consumers aren’t looking for a retailers’ ecosystem, because they have their own. Physical retail traffic is declining and brands can’t expect to make up that deficit in their e-commerce platforms alone.
Today’s retailing is about selling goods and services where the consumers are. Wherever they are. Whenever they are there. The marketplace dynamic is more ‘brand direct’ than at any time in history. The challenge to retail brands is to find ways to become a marketplace or leverage the marketplaces that already exist, as more people are buying more things and paying more for them.
Given that challenge, our Zimmerman retail strategists have written a white paper coining the term ‘Immersive Commerce’ and its revitalizing impact on the stagnant retail landscape. It’s an approach challenging retailers to step up the pace of change in order to keep up with the seismic shift in consumer behavior.
The premise of Immersive Commerce is simple: tear down the fence and sell. Sell anywhere. Sell everywhere. We used to think that anyone or any platform other than our own retail floor was a foe, but now we see each additional marketplace in our arsenal as a link to the consumer sales ecosystem. Today’s shoppers just want ease-of-use and that’s exactly what we strive for. In practice, this means using the most advanced data analysis and targeting methods to create and position customer-centric communications that drive behavioral change, not just attitudinal changes.
ROI has never been more critical, and brands who are not taking advantage of an Immersive Commerce strategic approach to market are truly missing the opportunity of a lifetime.
For a copy of the White Paper click here Immersive Commerce