We are at a time when the Retail industry is moving towards the digital world through the process known as “digital transformation”. Little by little physical commerce is becoming digital commerce and sometimes it is difficult to locate a company as digital or physical and this is probably because they are forced to be part of both worlds.

If we attend the customer journey, customers hesitate between purchasing online or going to the physical store in order to “see” and “test” the product.

You have the feeling that the retail trade is something contradictory or opposite to the e-commerce and that will end up disappearing in front of the online commerce. However, retail stores are resistant and are essential today, despite the decline in their sales fronts online channels. As differential aspects between both, we highlight 4 categories:

1. Cost: In general, opening an online business represents a lower cost, because expenses are avoided, especially of real estate, but in return others are generated like a developer, a domain, the online payment system, etc.

2. Inventory: The retail trade has a greater advantage in this sense, because customers prefer to see, touch or test the products, even more when we talk about articles of greater economic value.

3. Competition: In the online world there is greater competition, which is also immediate and makes it difficult to know the competition, its prices and strategies. Regarding retail, one of the most determining aspects is, for example, the geographical position.

4. Marketing: The actions of retailers can liar to a geographical area that is where their potential customers are, while in an online business, the customer base has no borders.

Despite the duality, both worlds have begun to integrate more with their markets. E-commerce companies try to expand to off-line business while retailers do not lose sight of the need to meet demand online.

What role does analytics play in the Customer Experience?

The winner of this “war” will be who offers the best shopping experience through any channel. There is no one better than another, the ideal is to complement them and this can be achieved through the correct use of analytics.

Customer Intelligence solutions that offer the e-commerce and retail industries the possibility to have a better knowledge of customers, their preferences, behaviors, what they say, etc. and obtain a greater fidelity and profitability.

No matter where we serve our customers, for them we are a single company and the experience must be the same in all channels. However, it is not enough to have the customer information, it is necessary to implement Customer Analytics to obtain a defined profile: to know who is, what to buy, through which channel, what interests you, what we have offered and how it has reacted.

Customer Analytics is presented as an opportunity to create a link between customers and brands, help improve the customer experience and measure ratios, gaining a competitive advantage.

REFERENCES

• Ariadna Solis., (2017), E-commerce y Retail, enemigos que se complementan. 2 de mayo de 2017. http://blogs.sas.com/content/sasla/2017/05/02/e-commerce-y-retail-enemigos-que-se-complementan/

• Sandra Hernandez., (2017), Contacto con gente real, una de las claves para Customer Experience. 6 de abril de 2017. http://blogs.sas.com/content/sasla/2017/04/06/claves-para-customer-experience/