Operation Efficiency

For first timers

We develop the feasibility study and financial plan and define the strategy for store retailers’ entry into multi-channel retail.

We help to develop the roadmap for implementation of the e-commerce channel with short, medium and long term developments in order to move to being fit for purpose or best in show.

Building the team

If you’re new to the space, we can help to clarify what the optimum structure should be for your in-house e-commerce team, and develop job descriptions, remits and processes for the day-to-day trading of your e-commerce channel, or alternatively provide training to address weaknesses within the existing operational capability.

Translate strategy into roles and tasks across the business

Develop new channels

Alternatively for established multiple channel businesses, we can build a business case and help a retailer understand the scope of opportunity from developing new channels to market including:

• E-commerce
• M-commerce
• Contact centres
• Web kiosks
• E-Catalogues
• Direct Mail

Setting the scene for the rest of the business

We run stakeholder workshops to gather requirements and get commitment from key stakeholders in the business; both at executive level as well as those who will be involved in the day-to-day operations of e-commerce or in the implementation of your digital strategy. Isn’t it going to be more effective if you’re all moving in the same direction with a shared consensus?

We brief other operational functions in the business to help them understand what impact e-commerce will have and how it will affect their role.

Supplier Selection

Develop a RFP (request for proposal) and take the business through a supplier selection process and help appoint various service providers.

Negotiate service levels and contracts with third party suppliers.

Help to clarify the benchmarks for performance and key metrics

Leverage our experience to provide benchmark KPIs for the performance of e-commerce; Including sales, conversion rates, average order values, units per transaction, traffic, returns rates etc

Internationalisation

Help to clarify the requirements and opportunities around the extension of the e-commerce channel into new international markets clarifying how to effectively enter new markets with a focused propositon around product, price, positioning, fulfillment, customer service and marketing. Also helping to determine and address other issues around Tax/VAT etc.

There are a number of ways to drive sales through customer service, but often this requires the implementation of new applications as highlighted below, as well as a change in culture and a move towards a sales focus, which can require re-training. We can help drive and develop all of this.

• Live chat
• A knowledge base for dynamic FAQs
• A contact solution to capture all customer communications
• Enable Customer Service Advisors to take credit card sales over the phone

We can help to drive efficiency, cost savings and performance enhancement

We review the structure and skill sets of the existing e-commerce team advising on how to optimise the performance of the structure by focusing on customer acquisition, conversion, retention and performance measurement.

Review the channel structure, supply chain, pain points, processes and workflow, advising on opportunities to improve productivity and reduce operating costs in existing e-commerce and multi channel retail businesses

Optimise the customer service capability online improving conversion, and in order to reduce the dependence upon physical customer service and subsequently reduce contact centre costs

Review existing supplier relationships and service levels determining opportunities for reducing costs and/or improving productivity. This would include the following suppliers and/or in-house service providers;

• Platform providers
• Web development
• Web design
• 3rd party software
• Marketing
• Hosting providers
• Fulfilment and distribution



Helping to trade the e-commerce channel; managing the in-house e-commerce team and third party suppliers with a focus on delivering the financial plan and key objectives




Benchmarking KPIs within the Companies sector and reviewing trading performance in relation to expected performance levels




Reviewing customer service and customer communications and make recommendations for improving productivity and effectiveness of this function

Customer Recruitment

Measure the performance of all marketing activity. Constantly review customer acquisition costs and the lifetime value (LTV) of customers and also measure this by different customer segments

And then feed this analysis into your marketing campaign and revise your activity accordingly. Digital marketing is a science, but you’ll only find out what works by constantly testing, tweaking and revising your activity

If you’re not doing so already, then we can help to develop your overall campaign to focus on the recruitment of new customers, the retention of existing customers and the reactivation of lapsed customers., by leveraging different media and different strategies and tactics for each of these approaches.

We can help you to segment your customer base by recency (When they last purchased), frequency (How often they purchase) and value (How much they spend), this in turn will enable you to focus on the most profitable customers when it comes to your retention strategy

In terms of media and the specific activity for the web, we would work with your marketing team to focus on the following;

• Email marketing to your existing customer base (Retention & reactivation)
• Search engine marketing, both natural search (SEO) and paid placement (Pay per click) this would form part of your recruitment strategy
• Behavioural targeting - Enables you to push your message to consumers who have shown in an interest in brands or categories with a proximity to yours (Recruitment)

Customer Retention and CRM

We can help you maximize the lifetime value of your customers, reduce churn rates and increase retention through the development of the following:

Develop loyalty programmes and reward customer loyalty;

This could take the form of discounts off another purchase, or incentives to purchase through another channel, loyalty programmes, early access to products on sale, access to exclusive products etc

Drive consumer behaviour;

This is achieved by developing a single customer view; Integrate information gathered from every stage of the customer lifecycle - from enquiry or requests for further information, through to initial and subsequent purchases and responses to campaigns, and even financial and billing information. This is also used to carry out loyalty building programmes. We help to integrate all data captured throughout all touch points and channels into a single data warehouse enabling you to dice and splice customer data as required.

Develop trigger and event based marketing communications;

We can help you to determine the key criteria for triggering personalised offers to be communicated to customers based on when they last bought, what they purchased, how much they spent etc

Produce integrated marketing communication programmes;

Where the advertising, direct communications, customer service, database marketing and sales programmes are all orchestrated together and designed to build loyalty

Ensure the customer service team is empowered to solve problems;

And that there are online customer service solutions in place for customers who need a bit more help making product choices (Live chat) and for self service customers who prefer to find the answer themselves (online knowledge base and dynamic FAQs)

Segment the customer base by lifetime value groups;

And create different marketing programmes designed for each segment.

Implementation

There are many factors that will determine the success of an e-commerce solution or multi channel integration project, but successful implementation can be determined by two key factors;

1. Scoping and agreeing upon the functional specification and requirements at the outset

2. Controlled, focussed and timely project management.

We can help you with the implementation piece in the following ways;

Develop all relevant documentation including; Functional specification, requirements document, project plan, risk log and impact assessment, resource plan, critical path, testing and release schedule etc

Helping to shape fulfillment and logistics and all subsequent integration, change and process requirements for both the DC and the courier company

Provide project governance, ensuring on-time, on-budget completion of the e-commerce project

Ensure that all suppliers meet their contracted service levels

Develop testing scenarios for user acceptance testing (UAT) and coordinate this internally feeding back bugs and required fixes to the supplier