Increasing Importance of Commerce Adaptability in the Era of Multiple Selling Channels

An increasing number of companies are reconsidering their investment in digital commerce as customers' shopping behavior doesn't follow the traditional pattern anymore and transactions can start on one channel and be completed on another one. This tendency affects the discussion about digital commerce transformation services.

Flexibility has become an important factor when making a choice due to the fact that companies understand that their customer interactions will continue changing. The desire for adaptability influences the planning of transformation projects.

Now, companies pay special attention to such factors as manageability of product information, adjustability of pricing policies, and possibilities of introducing additional selling channels in the future. In other words, decisions which were made on the basis of current requirements should be evaluated in terms of long-term flexibility.

In particular, it becomes evident in the case of enterprises which work with B2B as well as B2C clients. As expectations related to product availability and shopping experience emerge in the consumer market and migrate into B2B purchasing environments, businesses which cannot react fast enough may have difficulties keeping up.

More and more often digital commerce transformation services are sought after in order to re-think internal organization of the commercial functions. It turns out that sales teams, marketing departments, and IT departments of businesses often take independent decisions regarding the introduction of new selling channels.

The focus of the discussion around digital commerce transformation has also changed – commerce is moving beyond websites. It starts including such elements as customer portals, self-service options and connected commerce through the whole buyer journey. Providers of digital commerce transformation services are expected to help their clients to prepare for types of engagement which may not exist yet but are considered likely.

This uncertainty influences the decision-making process. Buyers don't seem to be looking for the most convenient solution any longer, and questions about extensibility and possible future changes of the platform or process are now a part of the evaluation criteria.

Providers of digital commerce transformation services find themselves facing quite specific challenges – they need to help their clients to make decisions under conditions of uncertainty. Decisions which seem appropriate at the moment may prove to be too narrow in the future when the expectations of the customers will change once again.

It seems that digital commerce transformation services have evolved into the process aimed at creation of space for further evolution. Companies want to invest into technologies which will allow absorbing future requirements without having to go through a costly re-factoring of their system once again.

It looks like digital commerce transformation has transformed into the planning exercise just as much as technological one. Companies which understand digital commerce transformation as an ongoing process of adaptation may benefit from it more than those who consider it to be a project with a specific ending point.