Man v Machine - Why Humans still matter in Digital Retailing

© Chris Jones 2016

Chris JonesRedsock.biz

chris.jones@redsock.biz+44 7770 647038

www.linkedin.com/in/redsock

Ireland eCommerce Expo 2016

Man vs MachineWhy humans still matter in Digital retailing

© Chris Jones 2016

A quick stroll through Dublin city centre yesterday 2

© Chris Jones 2016

Chris JonesRedsock.biz

chris.jones@redsock.biz+44 7770 647038

www.linkedin.com/in/redsock

Ireland eCommerce Expo 2016 v2

Man Ireland vs MachineWhy humans still matter in Digital retailing

© Chris Jones 2016

Agenda 4

Agenda

1. About Me

2. Which Countries?

3. Which Customers?

4. Key Considerations & Roadmap

5. Practicalities

6. Costing & Timing

© Chris Jones 2016

Agenda 5

Agenda

1. About Me

2. Which Countries?

3. Which Customers?

4. Key Considerations & Roadmap

5. Practicalities

6. Costing & Timing

© Chris Jones 2016

About Me - Overview 6

Interim Global eCommerce Director

for Dr Martens

Even more fun stuff…

11 years freelance multichannel consultant

Fun Stuff

Working globally with Mars to help their

Digital Transformation

Interim Projects Director

Client experience in 16 countries

© Chris Jones 2015

© Chris Jones 2016

Stories from overseas

Effectively all UK retail growth (non-food) in the last 10 years has come from eCommerce

© Chris Jones 2016

The choice

© Chris Jones 2016

Sub-optimal outcomes… 9

By the way, lots of retailers have preferred to select the “die” option…

© Chris Jones 2016

So what if we don’t want the “die” option?

P Price Price Transparency

R Range Do we try to stock “everything” in our categories?

I Information Many shoppers visiting for research not purchase

C ConvenienceAre we more convenient than competitors? Faster shipping, better policies?

E Experience“Everything Else”If everything else were equal, would consumers prefer to shop here or elsewhere?

© Chris Jones 2016

Price

P Price Price Transparency

R Range Do we try to stock “everything” in our categories?

I Information Many shoppers visiting for research not purchase

C ConvenienceAre we more convenient than competitors? Faster shipping, better policies?

E Experience“Everything Else”If everything else were equal, would consumers prefer to shop here or elsewhere?

© Chris Jones 2016

Differentiating by price…

© Chris Jones 2016

Price competition: an option for Irish retailers or brands?

Amazon 10K 2013:“We strive to offer our customers the lowest prices possible through:• low everyday product pricing • shipping offers, including through membership in

Amazon Prime• improving our operating efficiencies so that we

can continue to lower prices for our customers.”

Highly automated. Robots scraping competitor sites.A victory for the machine!

© Chris Jones 2016

So what if we don’t want the “die” option?

P Price Price Transparency

R Range Do we try to stock “everything” in our categories?

I Information Many shoppers visiting for research not purchase

C ConvenienceAre we more convenient than competitors? Faster shipping, better policies?

E Experience“Everything Else”If everything else were equal, would consumers prefer to shop here or elsewhere?

© Chris Jones 2016

Information: new roles for new people?

© Chris Jones 2016

Information: verdict: score draw; man 1 machine 1.

© Chris Jones 2016

So what if we don’t want the “die” option?

P Price Price Transparency

R Range Do we try to stock “everything” in our categories?

I Information Many shoppers visiting for research not purchase

C ConvenienceAre we more convenient than competitors? Faster shipping, better policies?

E Experience“Everything Else”If everything else were equal, would consumers prefer to shop here or elsewhere?

© Chris Jones 2016

Convenience

© Chris Jones 2016

Convenience: possible, but all those UK retailers can do it to

Marks & Spencer

© Chris Jones 2016

Convenience: …and it’s expensive

© Chris Jones 2016

So what if we don’t want the “die” option?

P Price Price Transparency

R Range Do we try to stock “everything” in our categories?

I Information Many shoppers visiting for research not purchase

C ConvenienceAre we more convenient than competitors? Faster shipping, better policies?

E Experience“Everything Else”If everything else were equal, would consumers prefer to shop here or elsewhere?

© Chris Jones 2016

Experience?

P Price Price Transparency

R Range Do we try to stock “everything” in our categories?

I Information Many shoppers visiting for research not purchase

C ConvenienceAre we more convenient than competitors? Faster shipping, better policies?

E Experience“Everything Else”If everything else were equal, would consumers prefer to shop here or elsewhere?

© Chris Jones 2016

At first glance, this looks impossible

It seems to mean competing with some huge technology budgets(Ireland 0 Big Guys 1?)

© Chris Jones 2016

But western Europe or the US are anomalies in the world of eCommerce

In most eCommerce countries, including some of the biggest, someone else takes care of the big technology budgets for you…

© Chris Jones 2016

Platforms and marketplaces are where the action is in many countries…

…leaving you free to focus on being you: Man 1 Machine 0

Tmall, China

URL: clarins.tmall.com

© Chris Jones 2016

…and they’re also where around 2 billion consumers start their shopping

…leaving you free to focus on being you: Man 1 Machine 0

Rakuten, Japan

URL: rakuten.ne.jp/gold/adidas

© Chris Jones 2016

Range: a choice for Irish retailers and brands

P Price Price Transparency

R Range Do we try to stock “everything” in our categories?

I Information Many shoppers visiting for research not purchase

C ConvenienceAre we more convenient than competitors? Faster shipping, better policies?

E Experience“Everything Else”If everything else were equal, would consumers prefer to shop here or elsewhere?

© Chris Jones 2016

Option A: Ireland vs the machines of the world

Expected outcome: Ireland 0 Machines 1

© Chris Jones 2016

Option B: ride some dragons!

Expected outcome: Ireland 1 Machines 0

© Chris Jones 2016

Option B: ride some dragons!

Expected outcome: Ireland 1 Machines 0

An Irish retailer or brand’s USP in a world of predatory digital machines is unlikely to be:

PriceInformation

Convenience orExperience

But being Irish is a USP in itself… …if you go where the other things don’t matter or get taken care of

for you, and where western products have premium value

© Chris Jones 2016

Further reading 31

As you might guess from the title, I wrote this for the English!

But there’s still lots of information in it you might find interesting.

http://www.redsock.biz/a-nation-of-shopkeepers.pdf

© Chris Jones 2016

Thank you for listening!

Chris JonesRedsock.biz

chris.jones@redsock.biz+44 (0)7770 647038

www.linkedin/in/redsock