Retail Systems Research (RSR) analyst Nikki Baird recently published an informative and spot-on paper about Assembled Commerce and Optaros’ 3C’s framework (Commerce, Content and Community), looking at how retailers now have the ability to influence a customer’s purchase decision beyond just awareness-building to get consumers to a store. Retailers now have the ability to directly influence every aspect of the purchase funnel.
Baird argues, “The future is not about strengthening the retailer’s or brand’s position in the community but in the ability to bring the right community to bear for the right context. Early in the process, community plays an educational role — helping the shopper learn about products or categories of products. Later in the process, the community serves to validate the decision-making process, helping a shopper confirm that he or she is making the right product selection.” Baird goes on to say, “Too often, the mix of content, community and commerce is driven by enterprise silos, siloed content within siloed channels.”
At DecisionStep we’ve considered the difficulties of e-commerce sites in weighing the right mix of commerce, content and community, and in what context that mix is most effective. With ShopTogether, consumers can choose at which point in the purchase decision to access the community, whether that community be friends, family or other consumers shopping on a site at the same time. Rather than siloing a community on a microsite or away from the product pages and “add-to-cart” button, ShopTogether is accessible whenever and wherever the shopper wants to get real-time answers to questions directly on the brand’s site, near real-time feedback from their friends on Facebook or Twitter, or just to see what other shoppers in the store are looking at and talking about to generate purchase ideas.
No matter what step a shopper is in when deciding on a product or service to buy, ShopTogether integrates the 3C’s by connecting shoppers to their community of choice, on the retailer’s site where they can access brand-provided content and ultimately make a purchase.
Tags: assembled commerce, e-commerce, real-time, ShopTogether