Rinchi
TechInAfrica – Today’s online retail has gradually moved to frictionless commerce, going from online to offline or otherwise, from offline to online (O2O). Time and convenience are two components that drive the O2O shifting.
According to Nicole Willis from the Black Swan Theory Company, “The consumer needs you to value their time as a commodity and convenience as the currency and a seamless customer experience will respect this.
“It is much more than that; it is about understanding how people behave in environments and in doing so redefining the online to offline customer experience and distribution model to an integrated retail model,” She emphasizes.
Moreover, Wilis takes Alibaba’s Hemp store as an example of providing the best services, “The Hemp stores demonstrate that understanding and sensitivity to their customers time. It is a demonstration of how years of online data can be used to provide the most seamless and best customer experience. It is a step further than O2O and a demonstration of behavior that makes you are part of your customers’ lives.”
Besides Alibaba’s Hemp store, Amazon is also another example of a brand that moves from online to offline. Wilis says: “While it is moving into the bricks and mortar space, it is reinventing it because it knows what its customers want before they do and has reset their expectation of what they want. “For example, Amazon Prime started as a music provider and today it is an entire ecosystem of products with more than 100 million members. In the US in certain cities, Amazon will deliver within an hour. The brand offers the best possible experience, so why go anywhere else?”
When a brand or retail stores decide to move into online space, it means they have to offer customers a time-worth experience.
“If they are to give you their time, you have to give them something in return and this is an experience,” says Willis.
