Personalizing the customer experience with big data has been identified as one of the top six 2019 e-commerce trends by OECN . To do this you need trust. The DMEXCO Board have identified ‘Trust in You’ as a key theme for EMEA’s leading tech summit, September 11 & 12. Dominik Matyka, chief advisor to DMEXCO comments:
“As users, we also need to trust that companies in the digital economy will treat us and our data with respect and responsibility.”
Trust is one of the key challenges that runs across all the future trends for 2019. In this article, we cover:
- Consumer skepticism
- Building trust through transparency
- Data Era – what next in personalisation
- China best practice: mobile, omnichannel marketing, building trust
- Voice Commerce
The consumer has become skeptical about online platforms
Customer trust in e-commerce platforms is at the heart of this move into this new era of data and needs to overcome any consumer skepticism towards technology companies, brought about by fake news and other online platform scandals. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, trust in technology has shown a precipitous decline, showing an overall drop in 16 of 28 markets surveyed. The USA (-19pt) and France (-18pt) were the biggest drops with Germany (-9pt) showing a less dramatic decline.
In his contribution to Forbes, Harley Finkelstein, COO of Shopify and speaker at DMEXCO 2019, wrote “It’s on retailers to earn consumer trust in the old-fashioned way-by adding value to their experience, not just pushing products.”
Building customer trust through brand transparency
The customer needs to be at the centre of any commercial enterprise and gaining their trust is certainly adding value to their experience. A recent Pega survey revealed that 69 per cent of consumers are more likely to do business with a company that handles their data transparently.
Hema China takes the technological lead
In the world of food, the Chinese consumer is very skeptical after the baby deaths scandals through contaminated milk. Hema supermarket, owned by Alibaba, is a great example of how tech and consumer trends towards more mobile and multiplatform use have been captured by the company to provide use of mobile a seamless and trustworthy online/offline experience for the customer. Customers can use the app on their mobile phone to scan and check products in the supermarket. The information is absolutely transparent as the QR code displays the origin of every product, where it was made, where it came from as a guarantee of quality and way to build consumer trust. This is enhanced in the offline world of the supermarkets with appealing displays and opportunities to taste while you shop, which are customer experiences that are rapidly distributed into social media. Omnichannel marketing has been maximized to provide the customer with all touchpoints. Delivery to the home is guaranteed within 30mn (in a 25 km radius) and payment is cashless through Alibaba pay as Hema integrates the real and online experience with the mobile phone as a lynchpin. Gabor has also been experimenting with this in Europe. It is no longer revolutionary but the Hema app maximises on data collection to store buying habits and make buying suggestions to the customer as well as recipe suggestions.
Amazon has been collecting customer data and individualizing product offers to customers for a long time and well ahead of European companies in terms of the range and possibilities it can offer. Amazon’s greatest asset has been its data but not all experts agree that the focus is on building consumer trust through transparency. Mark Steier a digital blogger comments “But it is precisely this asset that the platform is handling irresponsibly. A strange ecosystem has developed around the reviews. You could even call it a review mafia.”
Data tech increases personalization potential
In 2019, marketing will go a step beyond individualized advertising based on product purchases to communicating around individual habits, e.g. reminding a customer that their batteries may need changing or that it might be time to order more cat food. Seeing real benefits can motivate the customer to keep opting in and build trust in an e-commerce platform.
Will the customer trust voice commerce?
In the PwC report on the impact of Voice assistants on consumer behaviour in the USA, already further ahead than Europe, trust has been established as a key barrier to adoption. In the survey:
- 46% said “I don’t trust my voice assistant to correctly interpret and process my order”
- 45% said “I don’t trust or feel comfortable sending payment through my voice assistant”
Voice commerce, chatbot customer service has been a buzz for a while now but are customers using it? Have you moved to voice?
To find out more on all of these e-commerce trends, at DMEXCO, there will be over 500 speakers to inspire you and over 150 Seminars and Worklabs that will help you in your decision and over 1,000 exhibitors to show you how it works. The best way to stay informed is through the new DMEXCO App where you can download your ticket, access opinion leading information and stay in touch with the community.
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