E-commerce is not just a trend, it's the future. Are you ready?

In 2020, consumers discovered the convenience of e-commerce and shopping online, which contributed to the more rapid growth of e-commerce as a share of total retail sales.

For example, e-commerce has grown 4.5 times in the UK and 2.3 times in Germany year-on-year.

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital sales channels. Three-quarters of consumers who started buying through digital channels during Covid-19 say they will continue to do so when things return to "normal".

According to Mc Kinsey, this shows that the trends accelerated by Covid-19 will not reverse after the crisis but confirms that they are here for the longer term.

Consumers are now getting used to a more instant, "always-on" product availability. Therefore, they expect a different and better customer experience than they were used to in the pre-pandemic era.

As customers' expectations have developed, has your business adjusted accordingly?

As Mc Kinsey reports, the differentiating factor is the ability to combine business model innovation together with strategic moves that allow businesses to reposition their product portfolios even ahead of trends.

Now, the availability and ability to feed and publish high-quality, structured product information are crucial assets for a business to succeed.

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Gartner prediction - Expanded Digital Go-To-Market Approaches: "By 2022, organisations using multiple go-to-market approaches for digital commerce will outperform non-commerce organisations by 30 percentage points in sales growth."

Digital commerce is no longer a "nice to have", nor will it guarantee increased revenue. Instead, the key to success now is leveraging multiple go-to-market approaches. For example, it could include channels such as direct-to-customer (DTC), business website or app, an online marketplace, social media or more.

As Gartner predicts, businesses that tap into the massive array of consumer touchpoints on offer today will gain a competitive advantage over companies that don't.

According to Gartner, by 2025, consumers' omnichannel buying behaviour will drive 60% of B2C brands to move toward functional rather than a channel-based organisation.

Like Mc Kinsey, Gartner reinforces that the pandemic has accelerated the blending of digital and brick-and-mortar commerce.

Leading B2C brands have adapted to this change and use digital and physical channels to support their customers' preferred shopping method, rather than keep them separate entities.

Brands should now re-direct their teams' efforts and objectives towards an omnichannel, customer-first, channel-agnostic strategy. 

Many businesses are now turning to automation, artificial intelligence and analytics to help and uncover new opportunities.

As these new consumer behaviours will remain dynamic and unique needs will emerge, companies must be ready and embrace this technology acceleration.

Companies can use tools and technology to put product and customer experience at the centre of their strategy without changing their entire infrastructure to meet customers' needs.

Our Omnichannel Content Hub can help you be ready for today and tomorrow.

Accessing data isn't enough. As a business, you should consider how data integration will help optimise your decision making and speed up digital commerce growth.

Some of X-Trade by Xeris features in our Omnichannel Content Hub: 

-       easily integrates with all your systems (ERP, PIM, DAM, CMS, Webshops and more) or can even replace them in some cases.

-       allows for effortless end-to-end automation through our "Connect and Forget" data adapter.

-      We are channel, system, standard, and classification agnostic. Product data mapping, classification and export in whatever format you or your partners need.

-       Production of catalogues, brochures, price lists on the fly through customisable datasets

-       Create whole assortments of even thousands of products for different markets, tenders, a new campaign, or to stay ahead of trends in just a few clicks with our "Assortment builder".

Seamless environmental data integration to make sustainable decision-making easier and increase transparency, loyalty, and sales as we are directly connected to issuing sources, such as the EcoPlatform and the EU Ecolabel, to validate certificates.

These are just some of our core features.

Read more about how you can benefit as a manufacturer or retailer in the furniture, interior, or building products industry in Scandinavia, UK & Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

Or get in touch through the form below to learn more and discover how we can help your business grow with structured product data.

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