In A Self-Serve World, Your Customer IS Your Salesperson
To see how business has changed over the past decade, you don’t need to look much further than the glum faces in the Australian retail sector
In recent years, no other sector has experienced such consistently low confidence rates as retail.
In 2017 alone – even before Amazon’s entry into the Australian market – Shoppertrak reported foot traffic in physical retail stores fell by 5% – and profit margins have consistently fallen since 2008-09.
(It’s no wonder shopping centres are turning to gimmicks and events – such as VIP nights with DJs and pop-up bars – to bring in shoppers.)
And it’s not because people aren’t spending money.
At the same time that foot traffic in retail stores fell by 5%, online shopping increased by 10% according to NAB’s Online Retail Sales Index (March 2017).
There’s been a revolution in retail shopping – and a democratisation of commerce in general.
These changes have killed off the traditional roles of the Salesperson and the Customer, and blurred the lines between the roles of sales and marketing.
Today, the customer IS the salesperson.
The US Department of Commerce notes that only 11.7% of retail sales in 2016 happened online.
But, 81% of all retail shoppers1 begin key purchasing decisions by searching online.
When they enter a retail store, they’re then avoiding the “can I help you?” trills of sales staff, and taking a “self-serve” approach in stores.
I hear you saying “But I have a B2B business… And B2B is different.”
You’re totally right.
In B2B, the figures are even bigger!
According to research by the Acquity Group, 94% of business buyers do some form of online research before making purchasing decisions2.
A Forrester Research study suggests the majority of those businesses (74%) conduct more than half of their research online3 before making a purchase – even when it comes to offline purchases.
If this is how your customers are buying in 2018… Is your website supporting their needs and habits?
1 GE Capital Retail Bank’s second annual Major Purchase Shopper Study
2 Acuity Group, 2014 State of B2B Procurement study
3 Lori Wizdo, “B2B Buyer Journey Mapping Basics”, Forrester Research, May 25, 2015, https://go.forrester.com/blogs/15-05-25-b2b_buyer_journey_mapping_basics/