4,500 billion dollars in 2021 e-Commerce doesn’t wait · • e-Commerce is a popular choice for...

4,500 billion dollars in 2021... e-Commerce doesn’t wait

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2 44.500 Billion Dollars in 2021, e-Commerce doesn't wait! - © Klee Studio

If two productshave the same characteristics,

the one that generatesan emotion will be chosen.

Nancy Duarte


Table of Contents

Introduction

The booming growth of e-Commerce

New buyers, new sales methods

The omni-consumer at the centre of retail digital revolution

Sell better and more

Conclusion

05

07

13

17

21

23

• An evolving market and its key figures• A direct channel to the Shopper• e-Commerce is a popular choice for manufacturers and retailers alike.The INCO Act changed the game

• The Customer at the heart of our priorities• The need to reinvent oneself

• Improve customer experience with digital content• Image and data in the customer journey

• Having the latest technology to stay ahead of the competition• Stimulated business operations


Introduction

In the age of the World Wide Web, initial thinking was oriented towards the free and open sharing of information. With the evolution and generalization of the Internet in the home, e-commerce has become a key area of development.

Even if the idea of free information is still present, this evolution was necessary because of the growing number of Internet users. The cost of telecom infrastructure implied the promotion of a viable economic model.

Every retail company recognizes the need for an Internet storefront; the market demands it. Brands have understood that they can address the connected customer (or shopper) differently and directly. Even the most reluctant, concerned about their economic development, have finally begun their digital transformation.

The EUR 100 billion (*) target has been exceeded in France in 2019. This market, which is constantly changing, is driven by the growing number of buyers, the frequency of their purchases, the development of new offers and new services. This growth is also benefiting from the increase in mobile purchases on tablets or smartphones.While customer relations are now necessarily omnichannel, their path is interruptible and fluctuates according to the equipment, location, needs and context of the consumer. An observation appears in a digital environment saturated with information. Shoppers no longer distinguish between the real and the virtual in their purchasing process. While most customers still enjoy going to a store, the physical and digital channels are starting to mix. They move from one channel to another very simply and can start by comparing products on the Internet, go to see them in the store, and finally buy them online, in order to benefit from a promotional code or home delivery.

Communication channels are adaptable and necessarily become interdependent. Data, whether textual or visual, is now at the heart of the purchasing process. Brands now know that it is a fundamental parameter to be taken into account in any implementation of efficient strategic thinking. FMCG (Consumer Goods) companies, concerned about their development, must be able to control their data production and use both within their organisation and throughout their value chain, including communication channels.


1


CHAPTER 1

The booming growth of e-Commerce

E-Commerce is increasingly attractive in the eyes of the connected customer who has evolved well, both in his consumption habits and in his expectations.In most sectors of activity, e-Commerce has irremediably changed the

structures of traditional sales - in B-to-B as well as B-to-C - and is growing by 15%(*) every year.

Europe today represents 30%(*) of the world's e-Commerce turnover, France being the 2nd largest market on the continent with 103.4 billion euros. This amount includes the sale of products (45%) and services (55%).If the store is boosted by digital, 90% of sales are still made physically.

It should also be noted that more than half of the sales of products on the Internet are carried out by the sites of brands that have store networks.80%(**) of e-merchants note that this vector has a positive impact on their turnover, catchment area, traffic and image.

The mobile channel - via smartphones or tablets - is also continuing its development and represents 26%(*) of the turnover of e-Commerce sites and 39%(*) for leading sites.

Today, digital technology offers tools for engagement, as it allows to multiply the points of contact with the Shopper, to communicate at the most opportune moment for him, on the device of his choice, through the format that suits him best, and wherever he is...

(*) Key figures 2020 – FEVAD (**) Smart Retail Barometer 2019

A CHANGING MARKET AND ITS KEY FIGURES

The French e-Commerce

market generates103.4 billion euros


Nearly 9 out of 10 Internet users (*) buy on the Internet, all screens combined. As technology has progressed at a more than sustained rhythm over the last ten years, the great challenge for FMCG companies is to find a way to

reach this public, which is digitally equipped, more and more aware and volatile, with complex and not very homogeneous purchasing paths.The reign of supply has given way to the reign of demand.

From now on, the Shopper makes the law and lays down the rules. He has become a consum'actor who wants to interact with his brands when he wants, where he wants, by mixing channels. So it's up to the brands to adapt.

As a buyer of a good or service, the Shopper has indeed become a major focus of interest. The studies devoted to it are a precious help in defining the ad hoc merchandising referencing in relation to its expectations. While they initially interested retailers, brands are now legitimately concerned about them as well.

In particular, the e-Commerce boom has created a strong alternative to the physical store, while the consumer's buying journey, and in particular the process of choice, has become multi-channel. The physical store is therefore no longer the only place where the consumer interacts with the product. It can be just one point of contact among many, within a highly digitized journey.

Today, online sites offer the possibility of listing more products by eliminating some of the constraints of the physical world. Purchasing behaviors, reflexes or decision-making methods differ between the online shopper and the traditional in-store shopper.

Since the e-Commerce

boom, the shopper has

become a major focus of interest.

A DIRECT CHANNEL TO THE SHOPPER


HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE BUYING BEHAVIORS?

• Full Web: consumers are searching on the Internet and buying online.• Full Store: consumers do their research in convenience stores and buy in stores.• Showroomer consumers inquire in stores and then buy on the Internet.• ROPO (Research Online Purchase Offline) or Web-to-Store : consumers inform themselves

online before they go to the store.

Why go into e-Commerce as a manufacturer? The answer: because otherwise it would deprive itself of a constantly expanding channel.

THE SHOPPER 2.0

- Is familiar with digital in and out of the point of sale- Base your purchase more and more on emotion and experience.- Expects to find a personalised offer adapted to his or her tastes and habits- Has an opportunistic profile (ROPO: Research Online, Purchase Offline or Showroomer)

Discovering who the visitors are and what drives them to buy, is to be able to increase the turnover and margins of companies.

The big winners in e-Commerce stand out by capitalizing on their customers' loyalty and trust in a brand. Shoppers have higher expectations than before. They want to be rewarded for their loyalty with an experience that goes beyond just buying.

Technophiles and sophisticated, these buyers now expect e-merchants to make efforts to improve and personalize the context in which they are about to conclude transactions. It's all about the buying experience. It combines a set of emotional factors felt by the buyer before, during and after an online order, such as the atmosphere, the quality of the product's sales pitch (visual + descriptive), the sales tone, the relationship with the seller...

In the same way, users in the professional context are increasingly influenced by their consumer experience. They expect to find modern functionalities on a shopping site: a dynamic display, guided search tools, finely tuned and personalized content, availability indications, reactive customer support... (*) Key figures 2019 – FEVAD


First of all, as a consumer goods manufacturer, the problem is no longer to choose a distribution channel, nor to favour one to the detriment of another, but to combine them, to work in synergy. Customer satisfaction and the

resulting loyalty are objectives in themselves.

Although manufacturers have long been reticent about it, e-Commerce offers them advantages such as direct access to new targets, increased visibility of their offer, the possibility of offering a wider and complementary range of products, high value-added services, a refined knowledge of customer needs, etc. These are all assets that help to build customer loyalty and attract visitors.

In an era of omnicanality, the multiplication of entry points diversifies and considerably increases the number of interactions between the customer and the brand. We then witness cross paths between stores and the Web, whether it be the e-Commerce site, mobile services, social networks... without any geographical or temporal limits. Manufacturers and retailers must operate in symbiosis within a new ecosystem.

Manufacturers always want to be the preferred partners of retailers in order to maximize their revenues, while avoiding too much competition. Retailers always have the power to decide whether or not to prefer this or that brand. To stand out and attract a changing customer base, they must strive to develop innovative business concepts, different from those that brands can offer.

Retailers have other arguments: the phenomenal volume of sales they make and therefore their significant contribution to the manufacturer's turnover and margin, combined with a network of often regional and local brands.

E-COMMERCE IS THE PREFERRED CHOICE OF MANUFACTURERS AND RETAILERS


The challenges of food e-Commerce

- Comply with INCO 1169 legislation- Attract and retain Internet users on the site- Have a wide and attractive offer- Make information simple and understandable

The INCO Act changed the gameQuickly, all over Europe, consumers wanted visuals and descriptive labels that were more readable, more complete and above all comparable.

Since 2014, European legislation has contributed to this.Consumer information and visibility requirements have led to a framework now involving all e-Commerce players.

Thus, for example, food manufacturers are subject to a strong regulatory constraint. They have therefore had to step up their communication with consumers. Food labeling in the European Union is now governed by the INCO 1169 regulation, a text that harmonizes the labeling rules for all the players in the sector. Foodstuffs sold at a distance must meet the same mandatory information require-ments as those offered in shops. This information is now provided before the purchase is concluded.

There are many constraints: the aim is to improve brand awareness and the visibility of their products, to offer reliable and up-to-date information to consumers, and to ensure the constant quality of the visuals relayed through all their sales channels.

For the professionals of the Consumer Goods Industry, the path has been mapped out: increase their sales on all channels by controlling their image with their various audiences.

Extract from the INCO Act

"In order to ensure the provision of food infor-mation, it is necessary to take into account all means of distribution of food to consumers, in-cluding sale by means of distance communication technology. While it is clear that foods sold at a distance should meet the same information re-quirements as those offered in shops, it should be clarified that the relevant mandatory information should also be provided before the conclusion of the purchase".


2


CHAPTER 2

New buyers, new sales methods

In order to be successful, an e-Commerce player must attach great importance to knowing his customers and communicating with them. Quality and reactivity are therefore crucial: a consumer who does not find the

products he is looking for or does not receive relevant and appropriate offers in real time no longer hesitates to turn to the competition.

Customer satisfaction is an objective pursued by companies to ensure their long-term success. It contributes to building loyalty, standing out, generating new purchases, or benefiting from customer recommendations. However, satisfaction is a fleeting state. It must be repeated over the long term to have a positive impact and create a real relationship between the consumer and the company.

Good practice has shown that the completeness of a product offer is no longer sufficient. A selection of the latest products, with their visual representations on all sides and their descriptions, adapted to different search habits is more likely to increase the conversion rate of the site than when no product is promoted.This implies prior knowledge of the consumer. By completing the data collected via the various interfaces, we can then ideally generate a 360° view of the buyer. The data will be processed and transformed into usable information.

This global vision of the customer promises a smooth and coherent path, a better knowledge of the targets, a prediction of behaviours for more relevant actions, and a simplified management of the General Data Protection Regulations.In this perspective, offline and online data must be compared and updated - in real time and consolidated, in compliance with the GDPR.

THE CUSTOMER AT HEART OF THE CONCERNS


The new uses introduced by e-Commerce have made good old sales methods obsolete. Companies need to rethink them and adopt a structured approach to digital

transformation to adapt to this new context. This approach must be consistent across the entire spectrum, from management to sales staff.

While the market is populated by permanent ranges produced by manufacturers and offered by retailers, it is above all perpetually driven by promotional processes. The catalogue of some or the assortment of others are therefore not ends in themselves. There are always one-off offers, more or less ephemeral, which seek to better convince the consumer.

Needless to say, the promotional format has succeeded in imposing its presence in the FMCG sector in recent years and has gained such legitimacy that even the legislator in France has seen fit to put it in order.

Therefore, when one imagines the amount of effort that has been made to integrate and dominate these cycles in traditional networks, it is clear that the majority of e-Commerce players are still far from being up to speed on this subject. But given what is at stake, there is too much to lose by being among the latest entrants...

THE NEED TO REINVENT ONESELF


What is the real challenge of e-Commerce

for manufacturers? To create a link with

consumers so that they become customers.

Faced with an ever-increasing range of products and promotional overbidding, the consumer, being complex, requires more human contact, more proof and more meaning... Experience has become the prerequisite for the act of purchase. Indeed, thanks to digital technology, the customer often knows the brands, and sometimes the products better than the salesperson in the store. It will therefore be necessary to adapt and think "experience" before any action.

e-Commerce offers multiple advantages to manufacturers, the first being to improve their reputation. By offering a virtual storefront to its brand, its products, its name, the manufacturer reaches consumers more closely. It also allows them to go beyond geographical borders and reach a greater number of potential customers.

It can offer an innovative online service, such as personalizing the good, for example, selling unsold stock or testing new products on its e-commerce site before launching them through traditional distribution channels. In this case, the aim is to check the customer's appetite for these new products.

The interactions between the site and physical shops are numerous: care must be taken with traditional networks so that the online activity is complementary and not competitive.Improving brand awareness, boosting website traffic and boosting brand image are the motivations for brands to appear on social networks and other online communities.

For an manufacturer, the first benefit is definitely getting to know his customers better by analysing their behavior in his virtual store. In an era where choices appear virtually unlimited, only companies that engage consumers differently have a strong competitive advantage - by really understanding who they are, what they want and why they buy.

What is the real challenge of e-Commerce for manufacturers? To create a link with consumers so that they become customers.


3


CHAPTER 3

The consumer at the centre of the Retail transformation

Marketing innovations are increasingly rapid, and seasons and events drive merchandising deployments at a sustained pace. The digital revolution has reduced barriers to entry in many sectors and

exacerbated competition.

Time-to-market sets the pace. It is about innovating and optimizing the time to market for a new product, the objective being to be ahead of the competitors, by allocating a better positioning on the market. This can enable a company and/or brand to significantly improve its profitability, but also give it the opportunity to gain a decisive competitive advantage.

Today, customers interact via multiple channels (Web, stores, social networks, emails...). It is essential that they are recognized at each point of contact and that customer knowledge is centralized and available within the company.

A repository of sales and merchandising data will enable the sharing of up-to-date information within the various departments or with partner networks, to refine analyses and personalize customer relations in compliance with the regulations in force.

IMPROVE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THROUGH DIGITAL CONTENT


Since the creation of the department store at the end of the 19th century, then the hypermarket in the 1960s, e-Commerce has set the pace and now drives growth. Purchasing paths are becoming dematerialised and are accelerating

the change in consumption patterns.

Data, visual or textual, is essential. It is an integral part of the purchasing process, represented by the purchasing activity itself and the associated information. The reliability of their source and their quality are essential if purchases are to reach their full potential.

Today, the use of data offers an unprecedented opportunity to better understand customer expectations, detect friction points, but also to personalize the relationship for greater proximity. Content and visuals are the key to engaging an audience. They are the most effective today to ensure a strong and dynamic brand image, optimal natural referencing and increased visibility on the Web.

The image has become the flagship

digital content

IMAGE AND DATA IN THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY

Multi-faceted visuals and complete product description, videos in situation, instructions to download, photo slideshows about the product and its operation ... are all means to highlight the product and offer added value to the user. These additional contents can be decisive in the purchase decision.

It is therefore important for manufacturers to have a single database that allows them to deliver the same digital content to all their communication channels.By harmonising information, this will create and then maintain a competitive advantage.

The objectives are specific:

- The creation, management and sharing of a single product marketing repository, for all the company's uses and needs,

- Reducing the time and cost of catalogue creation by automating and streamlining processes,- The implementation of a multi-channel approach, using the complementarity of the media,- Increasing the impact and quality of product catalogues, enriched, adapted and personalized according to the

targets.- The automatic publication of product information and the declination in all its forms (catalogues, brochures,

price lists, flyers, product sheets) and on all media (paper, Web, smartphone, tablet, dynamic POS screen...).


THE CONTENTS WILL ALLOW TO:

- make the product more real by helping the consumer to project himself in his purchase- clearly explain its added value, its differentiating elements compared to comparable products- promote cross-selling or up-selling by also indicating the products

Digital content should express the perceived values of the brand or product and make people dream. They are therefore to be considered as a major pillar of the brand's global communication strategy.

If sectors such as luxury, tourism or automotive are increasing their efforts on images, others such as food must also have up-to-date product visuals and their characteristics, and intended to be disseminated throughout its ecosystem. They help to increase consumer traffic, better inform consumers about products, promote conversion, and reduce customer service requests...

Acquiring and retaining customers remains a challenging task. A good digital strategy is essential for success in e-Commerce. The image being a universal communication medium, it allows to arouse interest. Visuals and computer graphics can be adapted to all themes, all strategies and all users. Above all, they can be deployed on each of the current means of communication: Internet, traditional posters, television...

But above all, images have become the flagship digital content of social networks. On the latter, image and video generate engagement and sharing and allow to impact a large audience. Beware of the messages conveyed and the positive or negative reactions they can generate if they are of poor quality, obsolete or do not correspond to the reality of the product.


4


CHAPTER 4

Sell better and more

Sales channels are already interconnected, integrated and therefore often complementary. It is therefore necessary to reflect on new development models for e-Commerce and its new challenges.

One major one: the development of mobile phones.More than a source of information and access to promotions, the mobile is becoming the key intermediary in the act of buying, like Amazon Go in Seattle or Auchan Box in Shanghai. With no staff or checkout, these stores offer a "phygital" shopping experience. Thus, identification and payment are only done using consumers' mobile phones. Accompanied by their smartphone, consumers can even enjoy a fun and recreational experience. Used for augmented reality and virtual reality, the mobile connects the physical world to the virtual world.

Some significant examples: - Alibaba and its virtual reality shopping platform Buy+ offering an immersive shopping experience to better visualize products at 360 degrees.

- IKEA and its Augmented Reality shopping application that allows customers to test furniture from its catalogue.

The mobile thus brings a new meaning to the way of consuming. Omnipresent in the daily lives of consumers, it is an integral part of the development strategy of market players. At the end of 2016, mobile Internet surpassed fixed-line Internet for the first time in the world.Means of payment are also a source of innovation. China is the country to look to, as are online payment methods such as Klik&Pay, Alipay and Wechat.The new digital solutions meet the requirements of promotion, promotion follow-up and planograms by integrating figures, while offering a realistic vision of actions in the field. By facilitating dialogue and manufacturer/retailer collaboration with adapted and immersive technologies, the manufacturer is able to offer an effective categorical approach, integrating new consumer purchasing methods.

HAVE THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY TO STAY AHEAD OF THE COMPETITORS


Sales operations set the pace for the year and are aimed at developing product sales in the form of intensive actions carried out by the industrialist. Its objective is to attract more attention from consumers, by striving to make

the product better known, in order to make them buy it more easily.

Previously used when the company's image or notoriety was no longer sufficient to develop sales, these specific operations were a short-term tactical response designed to boost turnover.

The galloping competition has forced brands to change their methods. It is now a question of being the first to launch an attractive campaign, at the right time and often with a flagship product. Thus, this widespread practice has enabled the consumer to have a choice, but also to be more informed and perhaps more opportunistic.

Today, the operation must be customer-centric. And shopping can become a hobby in itself. The operations that work best are those that are designed as an experience.It is no longer a question of choosing a distribution channel, or favouring one over another, but of combining them, working in synergy. Customer satisfaction and the resulting loyalty are objectives in themselves.

More than ever, the business

operation must be customer-

centric.

STIMULATED BUSINESS OPERATIONS


OMNICANALITY, CHANGE IN CONTINUITY

In an age of omnicanality and influencers, consumers, bathed in a constant stream of visual information and data, see the world as a mixed environment, both physical and digital. This is now self-evident because consumption

patterns have simply changed as technology has advanced.Consumers want to do what they want, when they want, and where they want. They often give even more credit to the opinions of their peers than to experts or official institutions.

In the years to come, the most successful brands will be those that have taken the measure of the emotional dimension of digital to create commitment and attachment, both for B-to-C and B-to-B. A unified data base to convey consistent messages and visuals will help strengthen product adoption.Manufacturers who do direct distribution, distributors who create their own brand... Interactions are becoming more complex. Maintaining the complementarity of each activity remains at the heart of relations between retailers and manufacturers.

The players in the mass consumption sector need to be accessible and worthy of interest in order to attract these new consumers. There are markets to be taken, e-Commerce invites them!

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