New challenges in e-commerce
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2025 7:04 am
kick-off was given by E-commerce Europe . Europe counts no less than 250 million e-shoppers with England, Germany and France as frontrunners and Turkey, Greece and Ukraine as emerging countries. I spoke to a Greek who was happy that at least one industry was growing in his country, e-commerce. The industry is good for 2 million jobs in Europe, more than half a million companies are active in it, more than 300 billion turnover is made and some 3.5 billion parcels are exchanged in Europe from seller to recipient.
Director of Customer Satisfaction
E-commerce has various approaches: you can bring your old family business online or make your international brand accessible in different countries and in different languages. But the most inspiring are the stories of companies that have gone back to the drawing board. That have launched a new concept on the market and do so entirely from a customer focus. Some even call this an obsessive customer focus.
Coolblue logoI think our own Coolblue (the nominee from the Netherlands for the best webshop, who walked away with a silver award) is a good example. Coolblue believes in specialization and customer focus. In addition to founder Pieter Zwart, there are two directors: a CFO and a director of Satisfied Customers (who is also really called that). And that they have satisfied customers is evident from their top score with the Net Promoter Score (NPS). A score of plus 62 is something to be very proud of. Many companies do not even get above the zero line. For example, insurers are around minus 30 .
Everything revolves around the customer: “people don’t buy because you say so, but because they need it and have empathy for the brand” and “necessity is the mother of invention”. Retail used to be location, location, location but is now convenience, convenience, convenience. Fortunately, there are also online stores that simply have their telephone number prominently displayed on every page; calling is allowed. The customer is therefore the source for new concepts, for innovation, development and of course for evaluating your concept. During the summit I came across many concepts that, precisely through this focus and through a clear combination of Hand and Heart, managed to strike the right chord with their target group.
Of course, there was also attention for the most important developments in the field of e-commerce. Trends and technological developments that deserve our attention. According to a speaker from America, these are the new challenges:
Face and body recognition for correct sizing;
recognizing images;
the application of augmented reality;
interactive TV and 3D printing in online and offline stores.
I, like the lady from the US, am optimistic philippines phone data about the discussion around privacy. There will be more and more people who have less trouble giving personal information. As long as there is something in return.
A/B testing alone won't get you there
Naturally, as a researcher I was particularly interested in the extent to which all players in e-commerce do user experience and usability research. The largest group does not test in the classical sense of the word at all, but simply gets to work. By means of A/B testing and based on the measured behavior, the site is continuously adjusted.
However, there is also much to learn from asking consumers, precisely the combination of observing behavior (statistics, routings, etc.) and asking questions yields very interesting learning points. GFK Germany showed in an eye-tracking film the frustration of a customer who could not find what she was looking for.
Director of Customer Satisfaction
E-commerce has various approaches: you can bring your old family business online or make your international brand accessible in different countries and in different languages. But the most inspiring are the stories of companies that have gone back to the drawing board. That have launched a new concept on the market and do so entirely from a customer focus. Some even call this an obsessive customer focus.
Coolblue logoI think our own Coolblue (the nominee from the Netherlands for the best webshop, who walked away with a silver award) is a good example. Coolblue believes in specialization and customer focus. In addition to founder Pieter Zwart, there are two directors: a CFO and a director of Satisfied Customers (who is also really called that). And that they have satisfied customers is evident from their top score with the Net Promoter Score (NPS). A score of plus 62 is something to be very proud of. Many companies do not even get above the zero line. For example, insurers are around minus 30 .
Everything revolves around the customer: “people don’t buy because you say so, but because they need it and have empathy for the brand” and “necessity is the mother of invention”. Retail used to be location, location, location but is now convenience, convenience, convenience. Fortunately, there are also online stores that simply have their telephone number prominently displayed on every page; calling is allowed. The customer is therefore the source for new concepts, for innovation, development and of course for evaluating your concept. During the summit I came across many concepts that, precisely through this focus and through a clear combination of Hand and Heart, managed to strike the right chord with their target group.
Of course, there was also attention for the most important developments in the field of e-commerce. Trends and technological developments that deserve our attention. According to a speaker from America, these are the new challenges:
Face and body recognition for correct sizing;
recognizing images;
the application of augmented reality;
interactive TV and 3D printing in online and offline stores.
I, like the lady from the US, am optimistic philippines phone data about the discussion around privacy. There will be more and more people who have less trouble giving personal information. As long as there is something in return.
A/B testing alone won't get you there
Naturally, as a researcher I was particularly interested in the extent to which all players in e-commerce do user experience and usability research. The largest group does not test in the classical sense of the word at all, but simply gets to work. By means of A/B testing and based on the measured behavior, the site is continuously adjusted.
However, there is also much to learn from asking consumers, precisely the combination of observing behavior (statistics, routings, etc.) and asking questions yields very interesting learning points. GFK Germany showed in an eye-tracking film the frustration of a customer who could not find what she was looking for.