PETALING JAYA: Brands need to focus on a holistic platform strategy in view of the country’s surging e-commerce growth and to overcome the challenges posed by online transactions.
Reprise (performance and tech) managing director Sujith Rao said the biggest challenge for brands when it comes to e-commerce is in crafting the e-retail experience, customer engagement and the omni-channel marketing strategy.
Reprise is an integrated communications agency within the IPG Mediabrands network.
He said additional investments are needed in terms of resources and talents but there is often a lack of proper structure around how each related department works together.
While there is an intent to craft the e-commerce strategy, a lack of knowledge is often one of the biggest hurdles, he added.
He said to overcome this, brands need to focus on a holistic platform strategy to drive a smooth, frictionless e-commerce experience.
“The role of media will, of course, remain crucial to driving consumers to brand stores whether direct-to-consumer or e-retail but the experience of shopping online will decide the level of success brands can expect to see in e-commerce.
“Consumer behaviour, as we know it from offline retail, may change when it comes to e-commerce.
“The digital, e-commerce consumer is likely to behave very differently across existing channels and there is a need for marketers to study these digital behaviours to craft the experience,” he told StarBiz.He said brands also need to cater to the right information at the right place by having a strong content strategy in place.
For agencies working with brands, Sujith said the objective is to understand e-commerce in the context of each business and share an assessment of requirements with brands to form a journey forward.
Given this huge shift in demand in e-commerce by brands, he said Reprise has taken a proactive step to drive the skillsets and equip the talent pool with the right resources through proprietary Reprise SOURCE training.
At the same time, he noted that a new e-commerce head has been brought in to work closely and align inter-agency to help brands make better and smarter decisions around their e-commerce journey at different stages.
In today’s world, he said the e-retail space has tangled into one another, making the customer journey more complicated – for example, mobile searches when in a retail outlet prior to making an offline purchase for price comparison.
However, Sujith said navigating through these complexities is possible when brands dig deep to evaluate their media and non-media assets.
By starting with the website, and marketplace brand stores which are their flagship stores online, he said brands can ensure that potential customers have a smooth e-retail experience overall.
“A priority for brands should be in minimising and eliminating points of friction to create an ideal shopping experience. Malaysian consumers have indicated that the shipping and returns process are top ‘pain’ points.
“Within Reprise, several audits are made available for brands to measure and audit brands across five parameters. With these scores, brands will then be able to analyse the key priority areas when planning the customer journey,” he added.
Reprise, in collaboration with Google in a recent survey, discovered that every one in two Malaysians do their product research online using social media platforms, and almost 40% of online shoppers also refer to online search portals for the same.
So how can brands then capture the imagination of people online and how can they maintain trust?
“Media channels have evolved to cater to e-commerce with every major digital advertising platform having commerce suites, hence brand engagement, creativity and innovation continue to be key differentiators.
“Brands can further build trust by tackling information asymmetry, and consistently displaying content that is true and accurate. Part of the onus also lies with consumers, as people constantly seek reviews as a key parameter for purchase,” Sujith said.
He said the survey indicated that reviews on the website are just as important as those on marketplaces.
“This is an area of opportunity for brands as good brand reviews will improve customer satisfaction scores and sales.
“Brands can empower customers to leave reviews, respond to these reviews and ensure an ideal brand health score online,” he added.
Reprise, in collaboration with Google, recently released consumer study into online shoppers’ buying behaviour and preferences across the Asia-Pacific, interviewing 13,000 shoppers.