By Aimee Chanthadavong
As online commerce continues to explode and more retailers recognise the need to invest in multi-channel platforms, we will see a growth in businesses utilising new technologies to create a seamless experience for consumers.
The best way to go about doing this is for retailers to invest into a joint venture where a technology provider is able to operate the online and mobile channels on behalf a business, according to Roy Rubin, Magneto CEO.
Magento is an e-commerce platform owned by eBay. It established a division called X.Commerce that assists retailers with creating an end-to-end commerce experience, from shopping carts to payment services, inventory management, merchandising, business management and more.
According to Rubin, the introduction of new paradigms for how retailers can reach customers is causing a blur between online and offline and this is resulting in seeing many struggling to keep up with the changing pace.
“We have set for ourselves a mission to help [retailers] across different paradigms because consumers expectations have grown, so whether that’s social, mobile, local or blending of offline and online we need retailers educate themselves about the product. There’s a very fast evolving world and [retailers] see eBay and X.Commerce as key partners,” he said.
“We want to simplify their lives and don’t look at their technology as a challenge and if we do it right and we lower the playing field and focus on what they do so well.”
Rubin also highlighted the growth of smartphones is a playing a key role and that retailers need to understand this.
“What we recognise across the board is merchants understand they need an online capability and exposure in order to be competitive in the market. They need to couple that with a mobile market, particularly since smartphones like the iPhone are moving at rocket speed, they’re becoming a big channel to get involved in,” he said.
“For example, you look at the penetration of mobile in Australia and it’s a key strategy merchants need to start enquiring about because it’s certainly where consumers are going as they use it to educate themselves and make purchases and conduct transactions.”
Going forward, Rubin said seamless channel integration will only become more crucial.
“Particularly in the emerging markets, we will see how important online is and see how merchants need to have a strategy to communicate their brands to customers,” he said.
“We expect the next generation of consumers are going to have access to smartphones more than ever before. So the reality of consumer behaviour is changing and the reality of merchants to be able to adapt to this new world will have to change as well. If we do our job right we’ll make it elegant and they don’t have to worry about the technology side of things.”