a guide to e-commerce in europe - eywa - consultingmany online retailers use pop ups – those...

A GUIDE TO

E-COMMERCE

IN EUROPE

____________BOOK 3

DESIGNING THE BEST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Opening

The European consumer wants to live and share a 24/7 seamless experience, across channels and medias, from initial discovery to purchase, from payment to delivery, including product return options and other services.

These moments of truth can be either positive touch points or become pain points. Hence, companies aiming for customer loyalty and brand advocacy draw a detailed customer journey map and develop an integrated omni-channel strategy.

Your e-shop is the one-stop-space that links you to your customers before, during and after their purchase. And there is a big difference between designing a good looking e-commerce web site and running a digital business that converts leads into sales.

The online purchasing process has to be easy for your customer, supported by a powerful software solution, up-to-date technical features and compelling content. All this is valid both for B2C and B2B companies.

This third e-book gives you a glimpse into omni-channel experience, e-shop design and management, as well as key success factors and common pitfalls.

© NZTE/EYWA 2018The 2018 NZTE guide to e-commerce in Europe 2

CONTENTS

Designing the best customer experience

§ Offer a seamless omni-channel experience

§ What makes a winning e-shop?

§ Content is king

§ Facilitate the purchasing process

§ Trends in e-shop features

§ Technical implementation & investments

§ B2B implementation challenges

§ 7 Common pitfalls & recommendations

§ Reflective questions – things to consider in your decision process

© NZTE/EYWA 2018The 2018 NZTE guide to e-commerce in Europe 3

Copyright NZTE/EYWA 2018The 2018 NZTE guide to e-commerce in Europe 4

Offer an omni-channel experience

§ An omni-channel strategy is not only

expected by the European consumers,

it can also be highly profitable for the

company if it is well designed.

§ More channels drive more customers

and offer more possibilities to develop

loyalty.

§ It implies IT integration and appropriate

tools – CRM, Big Data - to manage the

process across channels and give the

company a 360° view of the customer

relationship.

§ Some brands embed predictive

intelligence to deliver a personalised

shopping experience, driving increased

engagement, loyalty and sales

conversion.

E-shoppers preferred omni-channel features

The 2018 NZTE guide to e-commerce in Europe 5

The e-customer’s journey does not start on your e-shop’s home page, it has begun long before and unfolds along his various encounters with your brand. Your online presence should embody your brand values and reflect your customer centricity at every step and in every media or channel. Each touch point can potentially become a pain point, leading customers to leave your e-shop.

Map your customer’s journey


Align your sales channels

§ Contractual issues with channel partners may become challenging if they go online with their own e-shop or on marketplaces of their choice.

Franchise agreements may need to be reviewed to include e-commerce rules and obligations.

§ The risk is not only to dilute your brand image, but also to reduce margin, create channel conflicts or earn the distrust of your channel partners.

Involving them in your decision to engage into e-commerce is crucial to your success.

§ In the top 3 online markets (UK, Germany, and France) retailers have diversified their channel approach to include both marketplaces and a branded online shop. Most have adopted a “bricks & click” strategy, aligning their physical presence and product offering with their online shop and social activity.


Trends in omni-channel features

§ Centralised call centre services, customer database consolidated across channels.

§ Inventory levels of products in the retail store can be checked in the online store.

§ Internet kiosks in the retail store enable customers to check product availability online.

§ The shopping cart is stored across online and mobile channels.

§ An integrated purchase history is kept online and in store.

§ Future purchase recommendations are made based on past consolidated purchases.

§ Customers can track their orders and get access to their wish list across different channels.

§ They can pay for their online purchases in the store.

§ Customers can receive a refund in cash in the store for a product originally ordered online.

§ They can return products purchased online in the retail store.

§ Vouchers can be redeemed across channels.


What makes a winning e-shop?


Key objectives for your e-shop

§ Welcome the online visitor in an immersive and branded digital environment that works smoothly on any device (computer, tablet, mobile, Mac/PC).

§ Convert visitors into clients, convince them of your product and your company,

§ Facilitate the purchasing process for the e-shoppers, from random browsing to filling their cart and placing the order.

§ Give clear and accurate information on terms and conditions, products, price, special offers, payment, delivery and return options.

§ Offer reassurance once the order has been sent, through delivery tracking services, notifications and regular personalised communications.

§ Follow-up on first order and propose a personalised selection of up-selling and cross-selling products.

§ Ensure you to keep in touch with your e-customer after purchase to trigger loyalty and brand advocacy.

Define your customer personas


Offer a great user experience

§ Each step along the customer journey presents new risks. E-shoppers get easily impatient

or frustrated online.

§ If the purchasing process is too complex, if there is too much non-relevant or outdated

information, or too little product insight, they will find what they need elsewhere in a few

clicks.

§ Ergonomic and modern design will facilitate the customer’s visit and ultimately speed up

the buying process.

§ The structure of your site should be inviting and meet the consumer’s needs.

§ The path to reach a

product page should

be simple and quick.

§ A direct access on

the home page to

product pages,

portfolios and offers

is recommended.


Be visually compelling

§ Visuals are particularly important for the European e-shopper: pictures should be professional and aligned with the brand style.

§ Illustrations, logos, labels, product highlights are needed brand differentiators.

§ Infographics, icons, action buttons, animated elements (moving sliders, text and headers) are also visual guides for the e-shopper.

§ Videos are always a good addition, as long as there are professional and not longer than 2 mn.


Get the address right

§ Like for a physical shop, getting the address right is crucial and “your-name.com” does

not necessarily offer the best exposure to your e-shop. Choose the best URL from the

consumer’s perspective.

§ Europeans prefer local e-shop addresses with .fr or .de or .co.uk extensions. To register a

.fr domain name, you need to have a real address in France.

§ It is now possible to register your e-shop with a “.your brand” extension.

§ On a number of online platforms such as Network Solutions (US), Eurodns or Sedo

(Europe) you can buy, sell, park and manage your domain names.

§ International brands tend to offer fully localized e-shops with an automatic geo-

localisation feature that guides the user to his local site.

§ Localisation not only simplifies the customers path, it also fosters trust in the brand. The

same goes for dynamic detection of the local currency.

The 2018 NZTE guide to e-commerce in Europe13

Content is king§ Your brand is unique. You should tell your story in a way that builds trust and creates an emotional

connection to the consumer. Sustainability, product components and origins, corporate social responsibility are some of the topics users like to read about.

§ Knowing the short attention span of web visitors, your sentences should be short and crisp, in brief paragraphs with highlighted titles and subtitles. No room for prose. Readability levels can be checked automatically by your CMS, as are the spelling and word count.


Tell your story well

§ Storytelling is a good technique to trigger your loyal customer’s interest. It takes more than just writing a few positive lines on your company or brand.

§ A true editorial line and tone of voice should be defined from the beginning and be aligned throughout all your communications and media (also offline, as consistency is essential).

§ You should definitely work with professional writers with an expertise in web writing.

§ Many content production providers can be found in Europe.

§ You should choose a supplier who knows about your businesssector (incl. your competition) as well as the country, language and culture of your targeted customers.


Give many product insights

§ On product pages, focus on relevant data, special offers, key features and impeccable

pictures. Enable filtering (by price, by size, by color) if relevant.

§ Various product viewing options (enlarge, zoom in, rotate, change color…) will support

your customer’s decision process.

§ Delivery & return options

should be visible on

product pages

§ If you sell clothing or shoes,

customers want to get the

size in the right formats.

They are different in Germany,

France, Italy and UK. Adapt

content accordingly.

§ For Consumer Packaged

Goods, contents and

compliance to

EU regulations must be

clearly stated.


Facilitate the purchasing process

§ Help the consumer discover your full range of products on each individual product page

by showing related products. You will support up and cross-selling.

§ Products may be higher or lower in the same range, or similar products or even products

that may complement each other. (often used in the clothing and home decoration

sectors).

§ Special offers for larger

orders, seasonal offers,

or promotions may be

indicated.

§ Any information

on packaging is also

valuable (especially for

products that may be

sent as gifts).

The 2018 NZTE guide to e-commerce in Europe17

Call to action


§ An active button on the home page or any other page of your site, can guide your

customer on a quicker journey to product ordering.

§ You may also use a “call to action” button for subscriptions to your newsletter or to

memberships invites.

Many online retailers use pop ups – those messages popping up while the customer visits your site- to trigger e-shoppers’ interest and action. We may find them annoying sometimes, they nevertheless generate sales, opt-in and membership or newsletter subscriptions on many e-commerce sites.

The five most popular pop up types are:

1. Welcome popup: presented as soon as your visitor arrives. You can use this tool if you want your visitor to browse, already with a certain knowledge in mind (for example, that you’ve got a sale going on for a certain product category).

2. Exit intent: when the visitor moves the cursor to leave the page, the popup is shown to them, offering a deal that’s difficult to refuse, this way retaining the potential customer.

3. Behaviour-driven: shown when a visitor performs a certain behaviour and you’ll offer them just what they are looking for.

4. Time-driven: when a visitor has spent a certain amount of time on your site, you may offer them more content.

5. Push notifications sent to your visitor via their browser.


Use pop-ups wisely

§ A landing page is only accessible from the link you’re providing in your marketing content (the call-to-action in an email for example).

§ The purpose of a landing page is to capture leads that enable you to market to people in the future, or to “warm up” potential customers before sending them further into your sales funnel.

§ They provide enough information to inform the buyer, making them ready to purchase, before pushing them further down the funnel – probably to a shopping cart or checkout.


Design effective landing pagesA landing page can be any page that someone lands on after clicking on an online marketing call-to-action (an advertisement, a download of an e-book…). They are standalone pages included in your e-shop that are designed for a specific marketing campaign. They have no ties to your website, like general navigation.

Empower the consumer

§ Customer generated content is also important: reviews, comments, product rankings may be interesting for some retailers but not aligned with the brand image of others.

§ As Europeans are very active in social media, give them the possibility to share your content on most popular social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest…)


Respect rules & regulations

§ If your site is using cookies to facilitate the shopper’s visit or to support your marketing strategy, you have the obligation, in Europe, to clearly mention the use of cookies and to get the visitor’s consent. This “cookies information banner” has to be updated every year.

§ If you sell alcohol, you need to add a disclaimer at the opening of your site to check the age of the visitor.

§ A page should clearly state who is publishing the site and hosting it.

§ Terms and conditions as well as privacy policy have to be visible on all pages. Data privacy is being reinforced in 2018 in Europe (GDPR).


http://www.eugdpr.org/

Trends in e-shop features§ More transparency about product’s components & country of origin.

§ Mobile Commerce App both on iOS and Android. Mobile in-store features such as

payment, special offers to be redeemed in store, In-store information (map, news, events)

contact a sales person.

§ On the spot interactivity with the shopper via live chat and chatbots and other web call

features

§ New and faster delivery options: less than 3-hours delivery, Amazon Drone & Locker.

§ Online marketing and personalization based on purchase and browsing.

§ Online pop-up stores to test or launch a product or to support an event in a bricks and

mortar shop.

§ More omni-channel services such as Click & Collect, return/exchange in store, book an

appointment in store, reserve & collect

§ Connected devices in store to check product availability and / or place an order and in-

store mobile features.

Being aware of the technical possibilities and likely evolution is important, but there are design trends and a lot of hype in the digital world. Staying one step ahead does not necessarily mean jumping on the latest innovation. Always ask yourself if they add value to the customer’s shopping experience.


24The 2018 NZTE guide to e-commerce in Europe

Technical implementation

Front & back office e-shop design

25

§ Responsive design§ Meaningful domain name § Localisation/currency§ Excellence in content§ Personalisation§ Social media sharing

§ Search engine optimisation§ Integrated search engine§ Security plug-in§ Google & shop analytics§ Shop management dashboard

The 2018 NZTE guide to e-commerce in Europe

Basic technical requirements

§ Choose a trustworthy Internet Service Provider (ISP) to host your e-shop, preferably on a dedicated and secured server.

§ Select a content management system (CMS) and technical solutions that enable you to easily update your content (visual, textual, pricing, offers), to enhance the various features of your e-shop and to refresh its design.

§ Knowing that shoppers use a variety of devices at the same time, your e-shop design needs to be responsive to smart phones and tablets as well as laptops and computers.

§ It should also support all the current web browsers such as Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari, to guarantee the same quality of experience to PC and Mac users, anytime, anywhere.


3 main implementation options

27

§ SaaS (Software as a Service): you pay a monthly or annual fee for a ready to use e-

shop. Cheap and fast option for small and medium sized shops. Little customisation.

Fully dependent on updates by the provider.

Example: Shopify, often recommended for social commerce.

§ Open Source plug-ins (extensions) uploaded to your web site. It offers more visual and

technical features, but every time you update your CMS you will have to update your e-

shop plug-in. Minimum features are for free. Not much personalisation. Some cyber-

security issues may occur.

Example: Woocommerce for Wordpress

§ E-shop software with a dedicated CMS is the preferred option. Offers flexibility and

creativity. Solutions to link your e-shop to a marketplace or a company ERP (enterprise

resources planning). More robust solution, more expensive, will support your growth

and changing needs overtime.

Examples: Prestashop & Magento


Invest in the right solution

28

§ Design and development costs for an e-shop depend on the size of your business: number of products, of shop-managers using the platform, number of payment options, single or multi-currency site, multiple language versions… It also depends on the level of security expected and your IT infrastructure.

§ Operational costs to be added are: IT services, personnel, photo & video shooting of products, copywriting, specific web designs or imagery, infographics, translation costs… as well as the technical maintenance (plug-ins and software installation, regular updates, security features, payment options installation and updates...).

These figures are based on a site done in France in a single language.>


29 € to 300 €/month

6 K€ to € 15 K€

10 K€ to € 30 K€

25 K€ to € 100+ K€

Other technical costs to budget

29

§ Web hosting varies with the size of your

site and the choice of a shared or

dedicated server from 500 € to 3000 €per year.

§ Registered domain names have to be

renewed annually. Premium domains

may reach high price levels in online

auctions like on Sedo.com.

§ You will need to plan a budget for SEO:

Key Word Tool is a web based annual

subscription that cost 89 euros/monthProfessional SEO services cost from 6000 € to 12000 € per year depending

on your market maturity, the number of

pages and products, the complexity of

your content, etc.


Development, installation and testing costs may

occur if you want to connect your e-shop to your

ERP, CRM or to a marketplace.

Being found on the net with SEO

§ The customer’s main entry point is often a search engine: Google is the N°1 in Europe

for 96 % of all users, thanks to its efficient algorithms and associated services.

§ The top ten results on page 1 get about 95 % of all clicks on generic search results.

Appearing amongst the ten first responses on a specific search is difficult to achieve.

§ With the upper space of the search page showing sponsored links your chances to be

seen are limited if you do not invest in Google AdWords and Search Engine

Optimization (SEO) tools and services. Google Shopping is also pushing its price

comparator on top of the Google Search pages.

§ Your content should be Search Engine Optimized (SEO) in its very fabric. Writing texts

in an SEO way will improve both readability and organic search. An integrated search

engine using long tail key wording is also expected from experienced e-shoppers

§ Adding contextual info (caption, description) to your images will also serve the SEO.

§ The keywords you will favor should be those that your customers would type in, not just

your product names or brand attributes or wording used in your business jargon


B2B implementation challenges


§ In B2B, cyber-security, confidentiality issues and seamless integration with IT & business systems are essential for e-procurement specialists.

§ Managing price will require B2B retailers to establish and enforce minimum advertised pricing (MAP) and pricing policies into the distribution channels.

§ Big data and live analytics are needed to enhance the customer journey in real time, to inform in-house “touch point” teams and ultimately increase sales.

§ B2B companies will also need to hire/train new talents who can fully embrace digital commerce, develop services that will respond to the next generation of buyers and lay the foundation of new business partnerships.

Benefits of e-commerce for B2B sales teams

The 2018 NZTE guide to e-commerce in Europe 32Source https://cloudcraze.com

§ Beyond faster response time and enhanced customer satisfaction, self-service offerings free up sales and service teams to spend more time building relationships with customers, including cross-selling and upselling products.

§ Sales teams become trusted advisors, reducing the average cost per transaction and increasing profits.

§ Teams can concentrate more on marketing and on high volume customer relationships.

§ B2B sales teams get empowered with digital sales tools such as real-time inventory information, product data, instant ordering and flexible delivery options.

https://cloudcraze.com/


7 Common implementation pitfalls1. Once the e-shop is online, do not believe business will flourish instantly… This is when the

work really starts! Prepare for a step by step launch and incremental changes.

2. You need to refresh the offering, provide customer support, do inventories, manage stock,

offer sales deals... It is commerce after all. Make sure you have the people and resources to

keep your e-shop alive, and measure its performance.

3. An e-shop works 24/7, often in many languages, for an impatient customer prone to return

your product. Don’t offer chatbots, live chat or both when no one is online to respond.

4. You will need to overcome resistance to change. Allocate time to educate and engage with

your personnel and channel partners long before you go live.

5. Do not spend all your time making the e-shop look perfect and underestimate the back-

office work (administration, IT, CRM, ERP, SEO…). Plan your project carefully.

6. Do not underestimate your e-marketing budget and the time needed to develop brand

awareness in Europe, on the web, in social and other medias.

7. Focus your energy and resources on customer satisfaction, not on technical performance.

Reflective questions

§ Do You have a clear understanding of your customer’s journey?

§ How can You design a seamless omni-channel strategy that enchants your customers?

§ How can you get your current distribution partners to embrace e-commerce?

§ How can you design, set up and manage your e-shop?

§ How will you produce and update your web site/e-shop content?

§ Which are the key new e-commerce features You should implement?

§ What are the IT, cybersecurity and regulation issues to consider?

§ What will be Your initial investment and operations costs?

§ How can You improve your e-shop’s visibility?

§ How can You avoid the most common implementation pitfalls?


The e-commerce project group at NZTE Europe

§ Ann Clifford –Trade Commissioner Italy [email protected]

§ Leslie Eaker – BDM France [email protected]

§ Nicola Taylor – BDM Germany [email protected]

§ Maria Hellyer – BDM UK [email protected]

§ Goksin Duman – BDM Turkey [email protected]

§ Laura Caccia – BDM Italy [email protected]

§ Maria Beltran – BDM Spain [email protected]

§ Lauren Bartlett – Marketing Europe UK [email protected]

§ Daniel Dellemann – Research Germany [email protected]


LESLIE EAKER

Business Development ManagerMail: [email protected]

T +33 1 45 01 43 13 M +33 6 80 43 78 10

Ambassade de Nouvelle-Zélande 103 rue de Grenelle, 75007 ParisFOR FURTHER

INFORMATION ON

THE E-COMMERCE

SERIES BY NZTE

MARIANNE KOPF

Eywa ConsultingMail: [email protected]

T +33 3 69 30 09 78 M +33 6 21 97 26 82

Eywa 6 rue du Général de Gaulle 67600 KINTZHEIM

Copyright NZTE/EYWA 2018© Credits: design & production by Eywa Consulting for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Paris March 2018 All rights reserved - Photos & infographics adobe stock & Eywa 36

a guide to e-commerce in europe - eywa - consultingmany online retailers use pop ups – those...

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