Rob is a Partner at Artisan, an innovation consultancy supporting global leaders with technology strategy and solution services.
With digital commerce trends and customer expectations evolving rapidly, retailers today find themselves in a continual pattern of transformation. As customers’ preference for shopping on different devices increases, traditional e-commerce via a website on a desktop accounts for a shrinking size of the commerce pie. Business Insider forecasts that mobile commerce will reach 44.2% of the U.S. e-commerce market by 2025, even as innovations like voice assistants, IoT and AR/VR applications continue to rise in popularity. The growing diversification of customer shopping patterns means retailers must have a strong presence on all platforms, making their core commerce framework even more critical to success.
In previous articles, I’ve shared why unified commerce is ideal for retailers seeking to enable flexibility to shift with changing customer demands while maintaining consistency and continuity across all channels. The experts at Broadleaf Commerce explain that “unified commerce is not a destination to be reached. It is a mindset or state of being that consistently embraces and empowers rapid change—it is a journey.” Unified commerce is about delivering personalized commerce and a seamless customer journey no matter what platform your customers are on.
While it may be easy to identify the ideal future state of your digital commerce framework, there are plenty of unique challenges each organization will face to actually make the shift. To drive a successful digital commerce transformation, technology leaders should consider and weigh several critical factors related to their current situation.
1. Legacy Dependencies
Most organizations have existing systems in place that they will need to manage carefully to enable a successful change. Typically, the most significant initial decision to make is whether the current systems can be modified and incorporated into a unified commerce model or if they must be removed and replaced. These can be difficult conversations since many legacy systems have years of investments that the business may struggle to release. Still, one 2020 study found that 65% of digital commerce executives are in the process of replacing legacy systems.
Those who choose to modernize legacy systems rather than replace them commonly utilize adapter or integration services to make them compatible with the new environment. This approach may save time and budget initially, but the additional layers can often lead to increased complexity and difficulty when it comes time to service future changes.
Regardless of how you handle legacy dependencies, it is important to remember that the goals are flexibility and unification across all platforms in order to serve customers better. If a legacy system is becoming an obstacle to consistency with customers or hindering the organization’s ability to be nimble, then it may need to go.
2. Intentional Channel Variance
Another critical consideration is the customer journey. While a unified commerce strategy makes sense for most organizations aiming for consistency across all shopping channels, there are many business-justified reasons for a retailer to differentiate between channels intentionally. For example, a temporary “pop-up store” used primarily as an awareness campaign should probably be set up to access the complete product inventory. However, spending the time and resources to enable that location to process returns may not make sense.
Even in situations of intentional channel variance, a unified commerce model can serve as a useful technology framework. Unified commerce models are fundamentally built around a flexible core that unites every channel around one master set of customer information. This type of flexibility enables variations when necessary and allows brands to differentiate through catered experiences without changing the core system.
3. Investment And Support
Finally, as with all technology projects, consider the overall support and investment from your business. A successful shift toward unified commerce requires approval across the enterprise. While IT or marketing may spearhead the efforts, they cannot achieve long-term success in a silo. The entire organization should embrace the strategy and set the transformation at the forefront of business priorities. A digital commerce transformation requires significant change management internally as new systems inevitably affect people and processes across the organization.
When leading commerce transformation, seek to build consensus upfront while also carefully managing expectations around budget, timeline and the organizational impacts of the change along the way. One way to build trust and maintain companywide support is by making thoughtful investments in only the solutions best-suited for your organization’s unique needs.
4. One Size Rarely Fits All
While there are plenty of viable all-in-one platforms on the market, not every retailer is poised for a full-scale lift-and-replace transformation. For example, if a retailer just finished a successful multiyear migration to a best-in-class inventory management system, it would be foolish to desert that investment and restart with an entirely new system. The proliferation of microservice options and open APIs means technologists have the freedom to architect a best-of-breed solution that leverages the previous investments and pairs them with industry-leading tools. One great benefit to utilizing a best-of-breed solution is the opportunity to differentiate your customer journey.
On the other hand, an all-in-one platform could be the ideal solution for smaller, more nimble organizations like startups or legacy retailers ready to completely overhaul their outdated systems. These platforms offer the benefit of having all the tools necessary for running an online business unified under one suite, with a single vendor relationship to manage.
Harnessing The Power Of Unified Commerce
Regardless of the sophistication level of your current e-commerce framework, we are all on a journey of continual improvement. The speed of innovation and shifting customer needs is not slowing down anytime soon, and retailers must be ready to respond quickly. Whether you adopt an all-in-one solution or pair together best-of-breed tools, a unified platform can help break down technological barriers and keep customer data flowing to enable market-leading CX regardless of what changes come at us next.
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