Retail Dude

It is considered as a part of CRM but actually it will empower retailers to uplift their bottom lines. The new trend is here and it’s known as Social Commerce. It’s not long back when we heard about e-commerce and m-commerce, many retailers are still experimenting and evaluating these concept. And this Social commerce is an add-on to these previous concepts. In the market there is lot of buzz and talk about social commerce but some analysts are predicting that the concept will take over market by early 2011. But you can visualize some minor elements of social commerce even now like rating system on most shopping websites, customer’s testimonials and their blog hosted on retailer’s website etc.

Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang told CRM magazine about the past, present, and future state of the social Web, and he categorized it into five overlapping eras –

1. The era of social relationships: Beginning in the mid-1990s, people signed up for online profiles and connected with their friends to share information.

2. The era of social functionality:As it exists today, social networking is more than just a platform for “friending,” but one that can support a broader array of what Owyang calls “social interactive applications.” However, identities are essentially disconnected silos within individual sites.

3. The era of social colonization:By late 2009, technologies such as OpenID and Facebook Connect will begin to break down the barriers of social networks and allow individuals to integrate their social connections as part of their online experience, blurring the lines between networks and traditional sites.

4. The era of social context:In 2010, sites will begin to recognize personal identities and social relationships to deliver customized online experiences. Social networks will become the “base of operation for everyone’s online experiences.”

5. The era of social commerce: In approximately two years, social networks will be more powerful than corporate Web sites and CRM systems, as individual identities and relationships are built on this platform. Brands will serve community interests and grow based on community advocacy as users continue to drive innovation in this direction.

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-Prateek Katiyar

Source: CRM magazine & Forrester Research

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Before proceeding to the main topic let me build up some context. I will first of all like to define what touch point means for a retailer.  Actually touch points are the instances of interactions between retailer and customer/potential customer. But take these interactions into broader meaning, because in retail if a window display attracts a customer to a store, this eventually comes under an interaction. So keeping retail business in mind I categorized these touch points in two broad categories –

1.       Active touch Points

2.       Passive touch points

Now the active touch points are those where a retailer/associate/customer facing group has a face-to-face/phone/email interaction. But a passive touch point includes advertisement/windows display/store atmosphere/word of mouth etc but these also have equal amount of influence on customer as compared to active touch points. Further these two touch points can be divided into “Managed touch points” like store atmospheres and the customer facing group these things a retailer can managed according his own wish and can also manipulate things , but there are some “Non-managed touch points” like word of mouth on which the retail don’t have any control.

But now in this era of technology one more dimension has been added to the touch points for the retailers. Now we can classify touch points for the retailers into –

1.       Traditional touch points

2.       Digital touch points

Traditional touch points are the touch points which include store display ambience etc, customer facing group, and TV/banners/Radio advertisements. But the digital touch points are those which involve websites/email/mobile SMS/MMS or Mobile applications.

Internet is here for many years now and maximum retailers now know the potential of web and are using it as a good touch point for their customers. This not only increases the reach of a retailer but also facilitates customers in many ways most prominent of them is convenience and time. But with the evolution of smartphones and the launch of much talked and promoted iphone this interaction/touch point reached a new height about which I will talk in my next post till then happy reading guyzz ………

-Prateek Katiyar

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