Ecommerce in the Connected World

The special thing about the connected world is that it also changes where the very first interaction takes place. In the connected world, the majority of your customers are coming because of some form of sharing. That means that the first point of interaction, is what other people have shared about you.

In my book, "The Future of Social Commerce" (free for subscribers) I explore the shift that has and is happening to the world of commerce. The way we discover, discuss, and decide on what to buy has fundamentally changed. So let's explore this in more detail.

Many things have changed:

20 years ago, it was the norm to decide on a product by going shopping and browsing around your local city's shopping street. Today, most people browse *before* they go shopping. We look things up on the internet, to find what it is that we need, and only then do we go out to find the nearest place to buy it.

Sharing is another new and very important element. While we did tell our friends about what we bought in the past, sharing today is on a completely new scale and volume.

On top of this we have the big trends that also influence how and why we buy something.

• We have the connected trend, which fuels sharing and discovery between people.
• We have the trend of abundance, which raises the bar and puts an added pressure on you to be unique and relevant towards the individual.
• We have the trend of convenience, which demands the paths we have to take to be shorter, faster, and easier.

On top of this, we have the changing foundation of what we define as the 'new normal'. For instance, today we assume (as the new normal) that we can buy whatever we need online. The new normal is 'always available', whenever, and wherever.

All of these combined completely redefines how we need to approach ecommerce in the connected world.

The old model

In the past, all forms of commerce (digital and physical) followed this path:

Inspire, Refine, Select, and Buy

It is based on the concept that people don't know what they want to buy, so you need to first inspire them to visit your shop. Then when they visit it, they still don't know what they want, so you now need to help them refine their choices, move your potential customers on to the point of selection, and finally finish the transaction.

 

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