Branding the Web and the Art of Online Shopkeeping

Extract from the Echo E-Business Evolution white Paper

Online and in-store experiences will always be very different for consumers. Shopping on the web is quick, convenient and available 24/7 – but it’s a world away from the sights and sounds of the store. However, as brands are built on customer loyalty, it’s vital that the web experience can complement real-life shopping. Successful e-commerce should offer all the choices, personalisation and price promises you’d get in store – while capturing the right look and feel to suit your brand.

First of all, setting up a brand online is much more than creating a homogenous user experience. While online tactics need to be closely aligned with your business strategy, they also need to take into account the individuality of each and every customer. Naturally, customers want to be treated as individuals – whether they’re on your shop floor or browsing your website. So just as you’d treat them in real life, so you should on the web.

So the biggest challenge here is personalising the impersonal. In stores, you can achieve the ultimate personalisation simply through dialogue between customers and staff. The online experience is by definition more generic, but must appeal to the same sense of customer trust and loyalty. How? Continued on Next Page >>

Author:

David Walmsley, then head of web selling at John Lewis Direct

Date:

February 2009