The era of ‘Living Commerce’ erases the lines between living and buying.
We’re in the Age of High Expectations, where consumers truly want and expect it all. We call it Living Commerce. Put in the voice of today’s consumer it sounds like this:
We see no line between living and buying. We make our purchase decisions 24/7, everywhere. When we buy, we expect everything — now. Wherever we are. It must be seamless and enhance our life. When we want to go deep, we expect brands and retailers to oblige. We want and expect them to be understanding, confident, and personalized. Our purchase decisions are affected as much by a brands services, experiences, and digital ecosystem as the product itself. We expect the brands and products we use to be disrupted. We are open to new players who innovate products and models. We know when we are being sold to. We don’t like it. We want to feel good about the decisions we make. We are the new point of purchase.
Brands that do not meet these expectations and create a new value exchange with consumers risk losing share, loyalty, and relevance.
So, in this new era, where lines are being erased, how do brands reinvent themselves to be digitally commercial and emotionally relevant? The good news is that the same data and technology advances that have created these escalating consumer expectations, if applied correctly, can help brands solve these challenges.
Balancing algorithms and humanity
Data intake has become as ubiquitous as taking a breath. Marketers need to be more curious to unlock human truths hidden behind data: How and why are people engaging with my brand, what problems do we solve for them, how does it differ from person to person, what inspires them? As we learned from our latest Living Commerce Study “How Creepy Is Too Creepy?”, 70% of consumers have pivoted from being creeped out by marketing using personal data to being accepting of it, as long as it provides solutions to enhance their lives.
Treating people as the new point of purchase
Consumers expect brands to deliver what they want, where and whenever they want it. As a result, brands need to treat people as the new point of purchase — which means purchasing and delivery of products and services needs to be fast and frictionless. For example, a mom who needs a meal solution for dinner tonight sees a recipe video on YouTube and can add all the ingredients to a shopping cart for same day delivery with the click of a button.
Going beyond purchase journeys only to moments
By shifting from thinking about personas to focusing on individual consumers, marketers can identify opportunities to influence consumers based on their mindset at a specific moment. This requires a move from activating along purchase journeys and down purchase funnels to activating the moments that matter the most.
Building roadmaps for change
To succeed with all of this, organizations need to build a culture around data. We as marketers need to go beyond ROAS and ROI and ask ourselves if we’ll know our consumers better and be closer to them after a campaign. Here at Geometry, our data scientists, creatives, and strategists are partnering to unlock moments that matter and deliver on them in ways that matter.
By blending creativity, data, technology, and humanity, brands can intuitively show up in the right moments, not only to make a sale or conversion, but also to inspire conversion and enhance life.
Jason Katz is executive vice-president, strategic planning, digital commerce at Geometry