E-commerce typically refers to purchases made via personal computer and the Internet. Digital commerce is any computer-assisted purchase, whether the computer is a desktop, laptop, kiosk, internet-enabled phone, or Ipad. E-commerce was important when the Internet first provided a means of shopping online. But other kinds of digital commerce are gaining in importance and contribution to the retailer’s bottom line. As retailers rush into the mobile space, and in-store digital shopping assistance, they need to develop customer-centric purchase models, to ensure that the tools are context aware, and support a consistent shopping process across channels. The purchase model should be transferable to any digital commerce design, and the impact of that model should be seen in the design strategy.
As a simple example, consider a new homeowner who wants to buy appliances. Our hypothetical customer goes online to look at types of appliances, features, trends, and prices. After getting a sense of current offerings and retailers of choice, the customer visits the store. The customer has stored tear sheets for the products of interest on an Ipad, with quick access to the models that were in the consideration set. There is a kiosk with a video that shows advantages of the latest features on various models the store carries. The customer saves the most interesting videos to a personalized online account on the retailer’s site, to watch later at leisure. During the store visit, the customer finds a couple of models that are a better fit than those found earlier online, and wants to get comparative prices for similar models within a reasonable driving distance. Later at home, the customer views the models found in the store, views the videos again, and creates a detailed comparison table. The customer does a last minute price and availability check in the area, and then orders the appliances with the best price, fit to expected usage, and availability.
For the above scenario to work, the shopper has to have a platform agnostic account with the retailer, and a compatible shopping interaction using the various technology devices: computer, Ipad, and kiosk.
